Dropbox is killing Mailbox by 26th February, 2016. And if you are a satisfied Mailbox user, you must be shocked to hear this.
The best part that we all love about Mailbox is its multi swipe (Long-swipe and Short-swipe) gesture solution which works as a dream. With that comes the celebrated “Zero” mode to archive all your mails to give the inbox a brand new start. This definitely helped a lot in increasing our e-mail activity by giving us a fresh start. We can also sync all our email accounts (Gmail, iCloud) to Mailbox without much hassle and decide whether to get all the mails from those in one place or to browse them separately.
But, it is inevitable that Mailbox will no longer be there after 26th February to make our email world feel awesome. So, here, in this article, we have tried to give you a fair idea about some other email management apps which have the potential to fill the void in a positive manner.
CloudMagic
The first alternative that we are talking about is the app called CloudMagic. The user interface of CloudMagic is similar to Mailbox, which will give you a candid feeling while using it for the first time. Here we have discussed some other points which make the app a great substitute of Mailbox:
- App Badge Count:
In CloudMagic, you can customize the pop up notifications in the order you like to have them. Just like Mailbox, CloudMagic also has the App Badge Count option. A great number of users among us get irritated with the app badge count popping up showing all the unread mails. There are obviously some mails that we don’t intend to read and would like to just avoid them. So, a constant reminder of those unwanted mails really irks our patience. Mailbox came with an option, with which you can customize the app badge count and luckily for us, CloudMagic has also come with a similar solution.
- Dropbox like CloudMagic Account:
A lot like Dropbox, CloudMagic helps you in setting up all your email accounts in one place and getting them ready for any other device by simply logging into your CloudMagic account. This has another integrated feature which enables the users to remotely wipe out any mail or data, if their device gets lost or stolen.
- Cards:
This feature is a new one for Mailbox users, but you may find it pretty helpful for your business related activities. It allows you to make an integrated connection with all the other business related apps like Evernote, ZenDesk, Pocket, Trello, Salesforce and many more. It unifies all your cloud accounts simultaneously and makes them accessible pretty easily from your mail inbox. So, for all the users out there who are using Mailbox mainly for business reasons, this is a pretty healthy reason for you to shift to CloudMagic after Mailbox shuts itself down.
The main difference that you will find with CloudMagic to Mailbox is the absence of the multi swipe gesture. Here, in CloudMagic, the right swipe will take you directly to the sidebar and the left swipe gives you an option for archiving or deleting mail by tapping the icon that appears with the swipe. But with that expense, you are getting the Dropbox like feature to assist you with other devices as well as the legendary App Badge Count option. If you can deal with that, CloudMagic will definitely not disappoint you while moving from Mailbox. But if you are very much devoted to the swiping action, you should take a look at Outlook from Microsoft.
Outlook by Microsoft
Over the years, Outlook has grown to become one of the most preferred e-mail clients in the world. There are some features of Outlook, which will make you feel at home once you shift from Mailbox. The prime of which is the Swipe option modification. Here we have discussed the reasons why you may switch to Outlook after Mailbox:
- Quick Swipe:
The one feature that will make you to shift to Outlook right away is the Swipe option modification which is a similar version of the Multi Swipe Gesture of Mailbox. This feature works almost like Mailbox and provides you two different options with swiping in both directions.
- Multiple e-mail account support:
Just like Mailbox and CloudMagic, Outlook too can manage multiple e-mail accounts in unison. So, if you are switching from Mailbox, you will not get the initial user-shock and this will give ample time to get used to with the new e-mail client app. There is one problem though. You will not find anything like Dropbox in Outlook and will need to sign in separately for all your mail accounts while switching devices.
- Email priority and cloud storage:
This is a feature that you did not get in Mailbox but may excite you in having Outlook. According to existing users, prioritizing your e-mails is the best feature of Outlook. It scans the trend of mails you get and take the idea of the mails which are most important to you. They will flash the “Important” mails before the others to help you go to the actual part in absolutely no time. Apart from that, Outlook lets you attach files and images directly from your cloud storage.
The biggest problem that you will face while using Outlook after Mailbox is the absence of Dropbox account (settings sync) and the custom app badge count option. You will need to login for individual accounts separately and maintain the settings from the very beginning while setting up Outlook in a new device. Outlook is also void of any option either to reduce the numbers on the pop ups on arrival of new mails. So, this may be another thing that might irritate you a bit. Other than that, if you are more concerned with getting the swipe gestures, Outlook is the best option for you after Mailbox.
Inbox by Gmail
There is a third option too, which is not exactly like Mailbox; you can try Inbox from Google as a new option. The features are unique and you will feel the usage too is something similar to those you are accustomed to
Inbox by Gmail was designed keeping in mind the heavy usage of e-mails in modern days. The best features of this app are:
- Highlights:
This feature will provide you a snippet of the e-mail that you receive. This might not feel like a useful addition, but for people who deal with a lot of e-mails on daily basis and need something to help them with picking up the important messages among the lot, this feature works as a blessing. As a user, you can see what the message body says and can open or discard it accordingly.
- Bundle:
The second most important feature of Inbox is Bundle. This feature actually groups together e-mails which are similar in approach or subject. Thus, you will not need to look through the whole archive or inbox to look for a particular email; you can just select the Bundle it falls on and the searching will become a lot easier.
- Snooze:
The third feature is the Snooze option. It makes you able to snooze some e-mail for a particular date or time when you would want to read or reread the mail. This basically acts like a reminder and will provide you with a likewise feeling that you are now having with Mailbox.
There are some drawbacks of Inbox too. The main area of folly is the lack of support for Microsoft Exchange and it is not yet able to work in perfect sync with Google Apps. Another problem you may face is that Inbox may feel a little bit cluttered for the way too much it tries to do in such a short space. Other than these, Inbox is a pretty good e-mail client available for Android, iOS and Windows.
If you are a Multi Swipe fan, Outlook is the best option for you. But, if you are more concerned about the app badge count and Dropbox like services, you should probably move to CloudMagic after Mailbox. We would, however, recommend you to try all these apps for a few days to get a flavour of all of them before deciding upon on one of them in particular.