Spark Mail - AI Email & Inbox 4+

Almost there

I have been using Spark for over 5 years because it is the only email app that integrates my task list with my email. That one feature alone makes it better than all other applications out there. I committed to make the switch to the new Spark when intigrations were added. I have to admit it has been a bit of a learning curve because many of my prior workflows do not apply in the new app and things feel much differenet in the desktop app compared to the iPhone app. Mostly, I miss the "Classic" view with all of my emails in the inbox, which means I have to spend more time than I would like to make sure senders are correctly tagged as Notification and Newsletter. However, I have noticed the steady progress the Spark team is making and I think it will eventually catch up the original Spark 2.

Painful to use

I've been a paid Spark user for a couple of years. Before the redesign the app was really solid. More powerful than Apple Mail and less bloated than Outlook it did a great job of managing multiple email accounts.
The new client design is far less usable and useful, and the AI, Smart inbox features, and searchable feature set don't make up for missing and hidden features for mail management that are so commonplace they make the app seem like a prototype for people who have never used a mail app. Simplicity is a good goal, but the design team appears to have embraced minimalism for its own sake. For example, I have 5 different email accounts. Switching between those accounts requires that I have to expand the accounts sidebar every time I open a message in the reading pane, and because they aren't labeled, I need to hover over the account thumbnail to distinguish which account to select. This violates well known usability practices. Reply all to a thread is hidden, which causes broken email threads unless you search for that feature, and most frustrating of all, you can't even window out an email, which makes pasting information between messages or refering to something said in a prior message cumbersome. There is no way to see the email list while the reading view is open, and multi-selecting emails in the list isn't intuitive. Frankly, if I hadn't paid for a full year prior to this release, I would have given up on the app by now.

Developer Response ,

Hello! We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback regarding your experience with Spark. We regret to learn of your dissatisfaction and apologize for any inconvenience you may have encountered. If you have any further remarks, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at support@sparkmailapp.com. Your input is valuable to us, and we are committed to improving our email application to better align with your requirements. Kate

So nice

The ui on this new app is terrific! For a user like me, I feel really *in control* of my email. The visuals are supreme and just editable enough to be streamlined to my needs without being clunky and over-editable, and the command center is a stellar idea for keyboard-heavy app users like myself. Email is almost fun because of this app! Hats off to the team. That said, I just hope they don't get too greedy with all this premium garbage. I'd pay for a lifetime license for an app that works like this, but I sure hate companies going subscription routes. I love this app, BUT this is the first time I've seen something as criminal and villainous as microtransactions for AI resources in an app. Essentially, you have a finite resource of AI energy. If you use that up (and the amount is arbitrary, as agreed upon by the developers money-hungry marketing team), you need to buy more AI energy. That's just pure evil. Give me a feature, and I will pay you for it. Don't give me a feature and make me continuously pay you for it. Give me a new version of an app and I will pay you again for it, but don't make me pay you monthly or yearly to cling on to your lack of implementation! So for that creative and sinister approach to money grubbing development, I dock two stars!