Google Inbox, don’t leave me!

September 24, 2018 4:24 PM

Google is discontinuing its Inbox app. The Gmail iOS app is comparatively a trashfire. Now what?

I get a ton of mileage out of Inbox features like automatic categorizing and archiving all of my Forum/Social/Promo emails in one swoop after skimming the subject lines. And don’t get me started on Gmail’s excellent spam identification features. Inbox on my iPad Pro is my primary email client for all my professional business. I don’t know how I’ll function once Inbox is gone.

When I’ve strayed in the past, I’ve only found apps that need a lot of training, and none of them seem to do a lot of the easing-friction tricks I’m used to from Inbox, like making a fast link to track your package or to find out if your flight is delayed.

But with Inbox leaving us, I guess I’ve got to find an alternative. Is there any iOS app that comes a close second these days, ideally with minimal training on my part?

posted by Andrhia to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Aww, that's too bad. Inbox wasn't perfect (particularly the desktop version) but agreed, the iOS app was a great improvement over the alternatives. However Google is planning to migrate the bundling feature to Gmail so you should be good on the first point.
posted by acidic at 4:56 PM on September 24, 2018

I use Spark and like it. Top three pros: swipe different directions for customizable actions, ability to batch-archive, ability snooze or pin emails for future review.
posted by basalganglia at 5:02 PM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'd like to know, too. I'm so bummed about Inbox that I actually tried setting up Outlook on my PC.
posted by JamesBay at 8:38 PM on September 24, 2018

Came here to suggest Spark. Edison might also be worth a shot if you're mainly on iPhone/iPad.
posted by thebots at 10:09 PM on September 24, 2018

I don’t use it, but a friend was waxing poetic about Spark, too, yesterday. She liked it better than Inbox.
posted by greermahoney at 10:10 PM on September 24, 2018

I’m in the same boat as the OP. I’ve given Spark a cursory look, but it wasn’t immediately clear what the cost was. Given that the app is free, how is our use of it being monetized?

(I appreciate that since I’m currently reliant on Google for email, this is a something of a horses/barn door question)
posted by mumkin at 11:15 AM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Gmail already does a decent job of categorization, in my experience, and it’s not hard to create rules to give it more oomph. And the ability to snooze has been added, too.
posted by lhauser at 7:46 PM on September 25, 2018