What's a good replacement for Gmail Notifier?

January 17, 2014 5:58 AM

Anyone of an alternative to Gmail Notifier? Must be able to play a sound when new email arrives.

Got an email from Google yesterday saying it'll stop working at the end of the month. Their suggestion is to use Chrome, which I don't use much and keep closed anyway.

I have Thunderbird, and it's supposed to do sound notifications, but those just don't work...and I prefer to keep it closed also.
Also have Trillian, but I have a whole bunch of old/unimportant email accounts on that and it seems that sound notifications must be turned on globally, which I don't want to do.

Is there anything else?

posted by aerotive to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Best answer: Some suggestions can be found at alternativeto.net - although many (if not all) of them seem to only deal with Gmail.

I've not used any of them, instead I keep FireFox open and use X-notifier (which also only deals with Gmail) - however that's mainly due to the security policies on this laptop.
posted by mr_silver at 6:38 AM on January 17, 2014

Do you have a smartphone? I'm rarely more than a few feet away from my phone, even when I'm sitting at my computer, and I let the sound notifications on my phone alert me to new email. (Which I then check on my computer.)
posted by phunniemee at 6:40 AM on January 17, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks I picked the one with the most votes at alternativeto--Pop Peeper-- and it looks good. Sounds notifications work properly.

As for a smartphone, yes I have one (and Google mentioned that in their email too) but I don't always hear those notifications.
posted by aerotive at 6:57 AM on January 17, 2014

Chrome can actually run those notifications in the background, without "Chrome" having to launch now. (Chrome has background processes just for this purpose.)

I use Trillian as my IM/chat client, which also features sound-making email notifications.
posted by disillusioned at 9:21 AM on January 17, 2014

I keep Gmail open in a "pinned" tab (right click on tab), and just use html5 desktop notifications. I think Gmail has an option to play a sound when new mail arrives, can't check right now because phone.
posted by Hackworth at 12:45 PM on January 22, 2014