ChatInbox: Chat-Style Email
All your mail, one chat
Free · In-App Purchases
In a traditional inbox, emails from the people who matter most get buried under everything else. ChatInbox puts people first — grouping every message by contact, so each person's conversation is always one tap away.
Tap a contact. See everything you've ever exchanged — messages, attachments, history — all in one clean, chat-style view. No more hunting through a chronological pile of unread mail to find that one message from your client, your accountant, or your kid's school.
If you've ever wished email worked like iMessage — but for every account, every provider, all in one place — ChatInbox is what you've been looking for.
CONTACT-CENTERED INBOX
Every email is grouped by sender. Your contact list shows the most recent conversation first, each person appearing only once. Open a contact to see your full history, displayed as a natural back-and-forth conversation.
UNIFIED ACCOUNTS
Connect Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, and any IMAP account. All your email, all your contacts, one inbox — synced across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
SMART CONTACT GROUPING
ChatInbox automatically groups related contacts — airlines, hotels, online shopping, subscriptions — so you can manage entire categories of email at once.
CALENDAR EMAIL FILTER
Browse your inbox by date using the built-in calendar view. Find any message from any day without searching.
VISUAL ORGANIZATION
Tag and organize emails on a Kanban board. Track what needs attention, what's waiting for a reply, and what's done.
REMINDERS & NOTIFICATIONS
Set custom reminders on any email. Get notified about messages that matter and let the rest wait.
MARKDOWN COMPOSER
Write polished emails with built-in Markdown formatting. Style text clearly without wrestling with toolbars.
PRIVACY FIRST
Your emails stay on your devices. ChatInbox connects directly to your mail servers — no third-party servers, no data mining, no tracking.
Previously used Unibox and miss email grouped by sender? ChatInbox carries that vision forward — rebuilt from the ground up for modern Apple platforms, with features Unibox never had.
Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
more Not able to use it with an Outlook Account. Account not visible even after signing in. Users please don’t subscribe until they rectify the bugs.
Developer Response Thanks for the feedback! We have fixed the outlook account issue in the latest version.
Not able to use it with an Outlook Account. Account not visible even after signing in. Users please don’t subscribe until they rectify the bugs.
Thanks for the feedback! We have fixed the outlook account issue in the latest version.
New Features
- New bottom tab bar: a simpler way to get around — swap the side menu for a familiar bottom bar with Inbox, Folders, Calendar, Tags, and Settings, plus a redesigned Folders tab with search, per-account filtering, and a Snoozed view.
- Calendar, rebuilt for iOS: a clean Apple Calendar–style day view with a week strip you can swipe through, an unscheduled drawer, long-press anywhere to add an event, and drag to reschedule.
- Add to Calendar from a message: turn any email into an event or to-do with one tap, and see a badge on messages that already have something scheduled.
- Snoozed messages stay in view: instead of disappearing from the thread, snoozed messages now show up so you don't lose the context.
- Smarter search: type multiple words and only results matching all of them come back, or use quotes for exact phrases. Search now ignores trash and spam, just like your inbox does.
- Attachment previews: see thumbnails for documents and other files right in the chat list — not just images.
- Refreshed Folders banner: a cleaner, full-width filter row at the top of folder views.
- Polished Tags: a more native look and smoother drag-and-drop on the kanban board.
Improvements and Fixes
- Mail stays in sync: a long-standing issue where syncing would silently stop has been fixed, along with several causes of stuck or frozen accounts — including iCloud accounts that wouldn't load message bodies.
- Stuck messages and attachments now self-recover: if a message body or attachment failed to load, it now retries automatically instead of staying stuck.
- Gmail accounts recover better after long gaps without opening the app.
- No more unread badge flicker when you open a feed — the newest message opens as read immediately.
- Back-to-Top button redesigned as a smaller round button that's easier to tap.
- Avatars: fixed a bug where colleagues at the same company would briefly show the wrong logo after restarting the app.
- Fewer battery drains: stopped a case where a spinner would keep animating invisibly and use CPU.
- Cleaner conversations: stray "references" to threads no longer clutter your chat list.
- Small polish to the mail list so the first section header no longer sits flush against the top edge.
2026.12 3 Jun
New Features
- Search, redesigned: unified Filters control with live person autocomplete in From / To, parallel-query results, and tab count badges that show hits per tab at a glance.
- Snooze: new snoozed banner and section in chat, plus a custom date/time picker that stays open during native popups.
- Sync progress toast: a freshness-gated pill at the bottom of the screen with a self-creeping progress bar, so you always know when mail is catching up.
- Profile avatars: Gravatar-first chain, corner domain badge on initials avatars (toggleable), and favicon avatars for group/domain contacts.
- Custom filter chip counts: see message counts next to each filter chip (toggleable in Preferences).
Improvements and Fixes
- New Preferences toggles for the corner domain badge and filter chip counts.
- Contact swipe: trailing swipe defaults to delete-latest, pin, and move-to-group actions.
- Snoozed banner localized; iOS banner alignment refined with bigger type.
- Chat auto-pops back to the list when a thread becomes empty; undo toast aligns with the back-to-top control.
- Fixed random empty pane and ghost toolbar after rapid back/forward thread navigation.
- Attachments hide the extension label when there isn't one.
- Sync reliability: stopped zombie syncs from clearing a fresh sync's account state; full sync no longer blanks the filtered contact list between batches; woke-up snoozed rows with empty bodies are now surfaced.
- IMAP / Outlook: cross-folder MOVE label handling, orphan-folder reclaim, adaptive throttling, single-message archive sync, non-English folder-type detection, and view-switch sync for custom folders shown by leaf name.
- Folder-type mapping surfaces a missing-folder warning at Settings entry points.
2026.11.1 7 May
New features
- Customizable hover actions on the contact list (Preferences)
- Toggle to hide thread references in chats
- Expanded message font styles with a dropdown picker
- Sender-only contact grouping mode with merge-by-From banner
Improvements and fixes
- Sending: failed sends now recover the message instead of losing it
- Drafts: discard actually removes the saved draft, no more duplicate creation, body preserved across save/reopen, Pending draft badge clickable
- Trash: retries on transient failures, no more stale folder badges, Gmail no longer resurrects INBOX on trashed messages
- Capitalized account emails no longer drop rows from chat list and contacts
- Folder view refreshes when new mail arrives for the selected sender
2026.11 30 Apr
Improvements and fixes
- Redesigned message compose screen with a cleaner layout.
- Camera is now a one-tap option in the attachment menu.
- New animated “Sending…” toast in the bottom-right that confirms when your message has gone out.
- Trash, Spam, and Archive can now be undone for both single messages and bulk actions, with a toast offering Undo. Fixes for Gmail/Outlook/IMAP so undone messages actually return to your inbox.
2026.10 26 Apr
New
- Added a "Back to Top" pill for contact, sender, and mail lists — tap to jump back after scrolling.
- Redesigned Triage view
- Some improvements and bug fixes
2026.9 20 Apr
Fixed a bug which may cause inconsistent messages display for selected sender in folder view
2026.8.12 18 Apr
Fixes:
- Fixed: chats for the selected contact now refresh automatically when new messages arrive, without marking them as read.
- Fixed: attachments appearing on a message show right away instead of waiting for a reload.
- Fixed: removed an unnecessary spinner when switching contacts in the activity view for a snappier feel.
- Fixed: Outlook no longer shows repeating "authentication failed" alerts when a refresh token is invalidated.
2026.8.11 18 Apr
Improvements
- Added Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal) language support.
- Pinned contacts collapse to 3 by default for a cleaner list.
- Message header shows clearer "from" info with improved label styling.
- Unified attachment icons with simplified download status.
- Chat list now shows a loading / end-of-messages footer.
- Search is now case-insensitive.
- Gmail forwards are correctly distinguished from replies; quoted content is now hidden only in replies, not forwards.
Fixes:
- Fixed plain-text-only messages missing from chat.
- Fixed wrong contact / thread grouping for sent messages with multiple recipients and replyTo-based contacts.
- Fixed incorrect thread and unread badge counts; fixed unread count flashing after mark-as-read.
- Fixed group contacts showing too few messages.
- Fixed merge/split resetting the selected contact or losing scroll position.
- Read/unread changes now replay on failure instead of reverting locally.
- IMAP sync self-heals from stuck states, dead connections, and zombie IDLE sessions; fixed missing IMAP emails and duplicate parallel syncs.
2026.8.10 17 Apr
Fixes
- Fixed floating reply bar not appearing when "Expand All" setting is enabled
- Fixed spacer images in HTML emails appearing as huge squares
- Fixed price amounts in email tables breaking mid-number
- Fixed line-height distortions in certain HTML emails
- Fixed a rare crash in background mail processing
- Fixed unread count showing 0 for merged contacts
- Fixed PDF attachments being unopenable when email contained certain inline images
- Fixed Gmail full sync not triggering on launch
- Fixed Outlook/Office 365 accounts re-syncing from scratch on every launch
- Fixed memory growth during full mailbox sync
2026.8.8 13 Apr
Improvements and fixes:
- Sender name field — you can now set a display name when adding IMAP email accounts
- Fixed search results — resolved issues where search contacts could show empty or incorrect messages
- Fixed unread badge flashing — group contacts with reply-to addresses no longer flash their unread count
- Fixed stuck refresh button — compact sidebar refresh button no longer gets stuck spinning
- Fixed memory leaks — eliminated overlapping sync memory spikes and context leaks
2026.8.6 4 Apr
Improvements and fixes:
- Faster email loading — Emails now appear progressively as they load instead of waiting for everything to finish, so you see your inbox sooner after launching the app.
- Quicker startup sync — Email sync begins immediately when the app opens, reducing the delay before new messages appear.
- Auto-expand single messages — When a conversation has only one message, the content automatically expands so you don't have to tap to read it.
- Resolved a rare crash that could occur when opening the app.
- Fixed a layout animation glitch when the app first opens.
2026.8.5 31 Mar
Improvements and fixes:
- Faster incoming Gmail and IMAP — New emails from Gmail and IMAP accounts arrive sooner thanks to connection reuse
- Faster app launch — Startup operations are now staggered to get you into the app faster
- Gmail alias reply fix — Replying from a Gmail alias no longer incorrectly defaults to the main account
- Contact name sync — Contact names now update properly when a sender changes their display name
2026.8.4 30 Mar
Improvements:
- Draft Caching — Reply drafts are now saved per-contact so you can switch between conversations without losing your in-progress reply. A banner indicates when a saved draft is available.
- File Browser Upgrades — Search, filtering by file type, Quick Look preview, file count badges on filter chips, and improved thumbnail rendering.
Fixes:
- Fixed a crash issue when running the app for a while
- Fixed Battery Drain — IMAP IDLE and sync loops now properly stop when the app is backgrounded.
- Resolved an issue where emails could go missing when MODSEQ gap detection didn't run correctly.
- Blocking/unblocking contacts now syncs correctly across devices via iCloud, and duplicate blocked entries are cleaned up.
2026.8.3 29 Mar
Improvements:
- Floating collapse button for long messages — A floating button now appears on long emails so you can quickly collapse them without scrolling back to the top.
Fixes:
- Fixed a crash that could occur when switching between contacts rapidly due to concurrent database access.
- Fixed message content briefly flashing blank when opening a thread.
- Fixed contact list items shifting height when the unread indicator appears or disappears.
2026.8.2 25 Mar
Improvements
- Sync progress indicator replaces the refresh button during sync
- Smaller, polished sync progress ring
- Smoother sync progress animation without instant jumps
- Faster conversation switching with optimized queries
- Instant chat message loading without blank flash on contact switch
- Faster email sync with pipelined fetching and smarter concurrency
- Lower memory usage during sync and large thread viewing
Fixes
- Fixed section cache not updating when content is backfilled
- Fixed crash after extended use during sync
- Fixed spam/trash/draft messages appearing in Chats view
- Fixed contact list not reordering after message deletion
- Fixed login failures on servers that disable plain LOGIN command
- Badge count now shows all unread messages instead of today only
- Snoozed folder moved above Archive
2026.8.1 23 Mar
New Features
- Snooze and waking up — snooze conversations and see them reappear when they wake up, with a dedicated Snoozed view in the side menu
- Customizable text size — adjust both interface and message text size in settings
- Filters moved to toolbar — replaced the bottom tab bar filters with a cleaner toolbar dropdown menu
Fixes
- Read/unread status now syncs reliably across devices
- Messages are now grouped under the correct contact
- Filter counts display accurately
- Deleting a contact properly removes its messages
- Calendar (ICS) attachments now work for IMAP accounts
- Profile image placeholders show initials instead of "..."
- Unread badge color matches other badges in dark mode
- Folder message counts load at startup
- Snoozed selection and folder count colors are correct in the side menu
- Fixed contact list race condition when switching filters
- Fixed Gmail authentication issue
- Fixed memory leaks and CPU spikes
2026.8 19 Mar
Some improvements and fixes
2026.7.1 12 Mar
New features
- Messages now display in a modern chat bubble layout with inline avatars, badges, and streamlined reply/forward actions — making conversations easier to follow.
- Notifications are now faster and more reliable. You'll see the sender's profile picture in notifications, and false/duplicate alerts have been eliminated.
- Email attachments with calendar events now show rich event cards. Image attachments display inline thumbnails.
- Account sync now shows detailed progress — which folder is syncing, percentage complete, and overall folder count.
2026.7 10 Mar
New Features
- Search overhaul — Added recent searches, natural language search parsing, advanced filters (attachment type, account scope, sort options), smart suggestions, search
highlighting, and result count
- Text selection in messages — You can now select and copy text in iOS message content
- Thread references in chat — Messages that reference other threads now appear as compact inline elements with timeline connectors, giving better context in conversations
- Contact grouping preference — Choose per-sender whether to group contacts by "from" or "reply-to" address, with a new capsule UI replacing the old banner
- Notification improvements — Quick actions on notifications, plus better reliability for receiving new message notifications while the app is open
- Polished animations — Smooth expand/collapse for chat messages, consistent animation constants across the app
- Discard confirmation — Prompted when closing the editor with unsaved edits
Bug Fixes
- Sync reliability — Fixed sync getting permanently stuck, Gmail partial sync silently failing, and endless loading when refreshing during a concurrent sync
- Missing/disappearing messages — Fixed messages disappearing when they exist in multiple IMAP folders, chat messages missing from multi-account threads, and sent messages briefly vanishing after send
- Contact list issues — Fixed contact list emptying after navigation, profile images disappearing, pinned contacts showing wrong last message, and unread counters not updating
- Pagination fix — Resolved compact iOS chat pagination getting stuck when prefetched data matches page 0
- Notification delivery — Fixed iOS not receiving notifications for new messages during foreground sync
- Sending UX — Faster SMTP sending with instant sent message display, persistent sending indicator, and inline shimmer effect
- Signature handling — Fixed GIF signatures incorrectly displaying as attachments
- Reply-all accuracy — Fixed false positives in thread references from duplicate addresses
- Batch delete — Fixed batch delete by sender failing due to address matching issues
- Dark mode — Fixed race condition where WebView dark mode was lost on app relaunch
2026.6.1 3 Mar
New Features
- Onboarding experience — A welcoming view now guides you through your first account sync
- Text selection in messages — You can now select and copy text from email content
- Kanban board — Rich thread cards, collapsible columns, hide-empty toggle, manual reorder, quick-add, inline editing, and emoji picker
Improvements
- Refreshed login UI — Modernized sign-in screens with localized text across all supported languages
- Polished contact list — Richer profile avatars with overlapping multi-person layout, improved unread indicators, and better typography
- Better iPad layout — Full-screen message editor and fixed the overdue actions panel showing empty
- Signature editor — Improved font size, line spacing, and tappability; signature images now keep their custom size when sending
- Faster Gmail sync — Two-phase partial sync and larger pages for quicker full syncs
Bug Fixes
- Fixed dark mode occasionally lost on app relaunch
- Fixed IMAP deleted messages not disappearing after pull-to-refresh
- Fixed batch delete from spam not removing messages from server
- Fixed move-to-folder failing when using the folder picker
- Fixed email links with empty URLs opening a blank page
- Fixed contact names sometimes showing stale or incorrect names
- Fixed false "send failed" error when IMAP copy-to-Sent fails
-Fixed app slowdown after extended use (memory growth issue)
2026.5 20 Feb
Some improvements and fixes
2026.4.8 14 Feb
Some improvements and fixes
2026.4.3 5 Feb
In version 2026.4.1 (iOS), we’ve added powerful new AI features and streamlined email management, including:
- AI-powered proofreading for drafted email content
- Smarter AI Compose that auto-detects recipient names
- A new filter option to show groups only
- The ability to manage groups and blocked senders directly in Settings
- Removal of the Contacts view to eliminate redundancy with the Chats view
- A configurable un-send window (5 to 30 seconds) for more control over message recalls
- Fixed a possible sync delay when using multiple accounts
- Fixed a UI issue where updates could fail after syncing new messages
2026.4.2 4 Feb
In version 2026.3 for iOS, we’ve made several improvements to enhance your contact management experience, including:
- Separating the contact list by date for better organization
- Supporting pinned contacts that stay at the top of your contact list view
- Adding custom profile icons for contacts
- Delivering some performance improvements for smoother usage
2026.3 23 Jan
Some improvements and fixes
2026.2.1 15 Jan
New Features
- New bottom tab bar: a simpler way to get around — swap the side menu for a familiar bottom bar with Inbox, Folders, Calendar, Tags, and Settings, plus a redesigned Folders tab with search, per-account filtering, and a Snoozed view.
- Calendar, rebuilt for iOS: a clean Apple Calendar–style day view with a week strip you can swipe through, an unscheduled drawer, long-press anywhere to add an event, and drag to reschedule.
- Add to Calendar from a message: turn any email into an event or to-do with one tap, and see a badge on messages that already have something scheduled.
- Snoozed messages stay in view: instead of disappearing from the thread, snoozed messages now show up so you don't lose the context.
- Smarter search: type multiple words and only results matching all of them come back, or use quotes for exact phrases. Search now ignores trash and spam, just like your inbox does.
- Attachment previews: see thumbnails for documents and other files right in the chat list — not just images.
- Refreshed Folders banner: a cleaner, full-width filter row at the top of folder views.
- Polished Tags: a more native look and smoother drag-and-drop on the kanban board.
Improvements and Fixes
- Mail stays in sync: a long-standing issue where syncing would silently stop has been fixed, along with several causes of stuck or frozen accounts — including iCloud accounts that wouldn't load message bodies.
- Stuck messages and attachments now self-recover: if a message body or attachment failed to load, it now retries automatically instead of staying stuck.
- Gmail accounts recover better after long gaps without opening the app.
- No more unread badge flicker when you open a feed — the newest message opens as read immediately.
- Back-to-Top button redesigned as a smaller round button that's easier to tap.
- Avatars: fixed a bug where colleagues at the same company would briefly show the wrong logo after restarting the app.
- Fewer battery drains: stopped a case where a spinner would keep animating invisibly and use CPU.
- Cleaner conversations: stray "references" to threads no longer clutter your chat list.
- Small polish to the mail list so the first section header no longer sits flush against the top edge.
more Version 2026.12 3 Jun
Data Not Collected The developer does not collect any data from this app.