This is pure conjecture but I’m wondering what the hive mind thinks, will Apple announce upgrades to Apple Mail at WWDC?
My apologies for being out of the loop if Apple botched Mail in Big Sur in some infamous way—I’m still on Mojave. But what about Mail needs improving? It feels like a pretty mature and stable app that too many serious users rely on for Apple to start tinkering with it.
Here’s hoping!
Search is untenable.
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Well, if your wishlist is sync based you might get it since Apple is pushing for subscriptions and cloud services to become their bread and butter like iPhones are going out of style. But you surprised me with the PDF one. Aren’t you able to print to PDF now…?
+1 iOS PRINT…TO…PDF 
Improves or tries to improve? 
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Mail on Mac regularly crashes when I attempt to print.
The single improvement I want is the ability to edit server side rules on the Mac or iPad. With server side rules my mail is sorted before it hits the device.
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Last time I seriously attempted to make macOS Mail my primary, I was gobsmacked at what seemed like a total miss on spam treatment. There were rules in Mail itself and rules on the (iCloud) server and they seemed to be totally unaware of one another! Then when an email was marked as spam, you could say “Not spam” but it would leave it in the spam folder!
Coupled with the “one missing preference” that I absolutely insist on in any mail client on any platform — DO NOT open an email, even in a preview pane, unless I ask for it – I just could not cope with using it. I settled on Spark, and still use this on iOS/iPadOS but am now loving Mimestream because it’s everything Apple Mail should be (like, you know, constantly updated for a start) and as a Gmail user it knows how to integrate properly.
I’d say the likelihood of Apple improving mail is near 0
They might make some changes, but improvements?
The tendency to show off “features” seems to have crept into the Apple production cycle
(like memoji stickers in iMessage and so on)
Actual functionality improvements seem limited to mobile first, and then only for the apps most likely to be used by the younger audience (iMessage)
I really, really hope they finally give mail.app a sharesheet on all platforms.
It’s 2021, and it’s still stuck in 1980
I’ve been hoping that for years now, so I’m not all that optimistic.
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It seems the Apple way of releasing stuff is now to bring a huge overhaul, followed by minor iterations over the years (see Notes, Music). An Apple Mail redesign / service is probably written somewhere on a whiteboard in Cupertino, but with all the Mx released and iPad Pro software improvements that are sorely needed, I don’t think we’ll see this redesign this year, and not for 3-4 more years.
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Both the mail.app and the iCloud mail service needs to TLC:
- improved search
- reliable email experience (recent frequent outages are frustrating)
- improved web experience
- spy pixel blocking
- custom domain
- Send from external email address using SMTP (similar to Gmail’s send as feature)
- snooze (nice to have, not necessary)
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I have tried so many times to default to Spark but the way it handles links stopped me cold in my tracks. With Apple Mail I can drag an email into applications and the link “just works” even when I’m offline. With Spark, the link takes you to a webpage from where you can then elect to open the message in the app. Worse, the link will not work if you are offline.
My needs are not complex. I wish I could find a Mac/iOS email client that:
- Is a native app for the Mac and iOS/iPadOS (Apple Mail, Yes)
- Has drag and drop link creation with links that work offline and “follow” the message if/when it is moved to another folder (AM, Yes)
- Has strong search and spam filtering (AM–sort of)
- Has the ability to create saved searches and/or smart rules/mailboxes (AM, smart mailboxes)
- Has send later and snooze (AM, No)
- Integrates with Apple Calendar and Reminders (AM, Yes)
- A share sheet (AM, No)
Sigh, I haven’t found a client that meets the above criteria.
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Just curious, what email system(s) do you use (Exchange, MS365, Google, etc)?
Gmail Enterprise for work, one personal “junk” gmail address, and an iCloud email address (my “real” personal email). That’s it.
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my wish list.
tags
improve search
share list
better spam/junk
beef up export
I have tried virtually all of the alternatives. for various reasons I don’t like them.
I presume you are like me, “stuck” with Apple Mail?
It definitely feels like mail.app hasn’t improved since 1980. Apple has made backend changes to improve connections to Exchange and Google, etc. and they’ve made tweaks in a few other areas, but user functionality has remained much the same since Snow Leopard, if memory serves.
I’d love to see a sharesheet on IOS too. I gave up on any real changes to the mac mail app years ago.
Folder selection autocomplete when archiving messages. I don’t get why they don’t have this funcionality when it’s present in almost every other mail application. There is one “predicted” folder to move to but it’s basically a hit or miss in my experience.
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No, they aren’t.
I never found an email client that worked for me. So I run my Google Workspace (G Suite) account in Chrome (which I use only as a dedicated email client) and use the Gmail and Google Calendar apps on IOS.
This gives me excellent phishing protection when I use Chrome and the Gmail app, and great spam filtering. It has Snooze and Send Later, and I sort and label messages with server side rules. When I add email messages to the Google Task List they appear on the Google Calendar on IOS. And I sync my Google Calendar with the Apple Calendar for those rare times I want Travel time notifications.
Apple has never shown any indication that they have plans to provide anything more than basic services through their default apps. So if basic isn’t enough, IMO, we have to look elsewhere for our solutions.