Popular Email Client Spark Gets Major Redesign For Mac, Moves to Subscription Model

[adammusic]

But,
spark has been buggy since ios 16.
Emails turn white and wont load after viewing a bunch of emails.
Spark is aware of the bug.
New update might have fixed it (it didnt). But im already seeing some bugs with the new update. Buttons are nonresponsive in the toolbar.

 

[matt_and_187_like_this]

There needs to be more consumer protection from companies changing their business models. They should have to refund all purchases within the past 2 years.

 

[cateye]

And yah know what? My photoshop CS6 still works great and I don’t need to buy anything new. Adobe forcing everyone to support the upkeep of every new version is BS. they’re just forcing people to have the most up to date version and not giving choices.

FYI, for those of us who use Adobe products professionally, that most users are on a uniform version with consistent file formats and capabilities is absolutely a pro and not "BS." It aids collaboration and removes the constant struggle of working around users or companies that would lag in upgrades and made exchanging files or using more advanced techniques or features difficult.

 

[matt_and_187_like_this]

Spark is way better than stock mail app. Specially because you can customize your bottom toolbar.
I use email to get RSS feeds.
I put the delete button in the bottom middle of the toolbar, and use Spark as an RSS reader. Easiest way to go through articles.

Wow, you can move a button in the bottom toolbar. That's worth $8/month lol

 

[applefanboysince93]

Ugg the signature is indeed mandatory. Bye bye Spark.

 

[carl76tr]

At this point, it’s pretty hard to invent some must-have new feature for an email client. And that’s the point at which companies often switch to a subscription model. If you can’t figure out a new feature that will induce users to pay for an upgrade, then you start charging to use the features you already have, and make money for as long as possible until users fade away. Death spiral entered.

 

[cateye]

I believe Gmail / Google is preferring to use the Gmail API over IMAP for notifications, hence it doesn't exist? Whilst Spark does polling on their servers.

Apple's push APIs are private and only available to iCloud-based accounts. If you want to use Mail.app and have push on iOS, you can only get it with iCloud. This is why every client implements their own push system.

 

[fiatlux]

Can I just buy a phone, computer, a few apps, and be left alone?

No 😁

 

[adammusic]

Wow, you can move a button in the bottom toolbar. That's worth $8/month lol

You don’t have to subscribe for $8 a month to do this. The new subscription fee is for new features. You can still use Spark for free.

 

[d686546s]

I don't like subscriptions any better than anyone else. But the economics of software has changed. The iPhone App software, through competition, has driven the cost of software down to the point of being non-viable. This is due to a) the low initial price ($5?), b) Apple not allowing an in-app upgrade option, c) the expectation of long-term support. In order for any business to survive, they need cash-flow. And the subscription model provides regular revenue.
As I said, I don't like it; but I also do not bemoan them.

I agree expecting long-term or forever support for a one-time fee is not reasonable, particularly when Apple does not allow upgrade payments.

Personally, and others' mileage may vary, I usually find that there is a massive gap between what developers apparently need to charge and what the app is actually "worth" in terms of value added to my life.

I'm sure many developers put their best in their apps, but for private use even the most brilliant email client or calendar or notes app usually falls short of something like $60. The gains are really marginal and I'd rather go to the theatre for that money.

I've bought a lot of apps over the years and I'd probably pay $5 for an app like Spark to use for several years. It is what it is.

 

[rocknrollme]

$60 per year for an email client?

I pay about that for Office 365 with 6 accounts, 1 TB cloud space per account, all Office apps including Outlook, all platforms including Mac, iOS and Android.

Outlook and Spark don't compete at the same scale.

Microsoft has 300 million active paying users. That's probably 300x what Spark has set as a target. So they obviously have a little more money to invest onto their roadmap and offer a way better service / price ratio.

I'm also ashamed at the idea of having to pay $5 a month to get access to my emails.

Still I'm an Apple user and that company is now selling me phones twice the price it used to 10 years ago. Plus I'm giving them an extra $300 a year, otherwise I'll have no Photos, no music no nothing. All those things I used to have for free back in the day (sure, free was me investing time to have all this working, but it costed me nothing).

I'll give credit to Spark for a least trying to make a living of what they believe in.

 

[Guischmitt]

Don't think anyone mentioned this yet, but it seems like they also went from mostly Native → Electron on the Mac to support cross-platform. The app size and average RAM consumption has doubled.

 

[adammusic]

****, they want $8 a month to use the block feature. Thats why its not working for me.
Oh well, ill just mark as spam now instead of blocking.
Wonder if my thousands and thousands of blocked emails will appear now.
Come on Spark

 

[ct2k7]

Apple's push APIs are private and only available to iCloud-based accounts. If you want to use Mail.app and have push on iOS, you can only get it with iCloud. This is why every client implements their own push system.

That is annoying, really annoying. I thought they used push IMAP, but it’s based on XMPP that I see

 

[fiatlux]

I use Airmail.

You need a subscription for Airmail, although a cheaper one than Spark, with no free tier available.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Don't think anyone mentioned this yet, but it seems like they also went from mostly Native → Electron on the Mac to support cross-platform. The app size and average RAM consumption has doubled.

Yeah it is definitely running more sluggish and consuming more resources at the same time.

 

[SpitUK]

Used Spark on Mac for years and Edison on my iPhone. Just played with the new Spark and not keen on the changes. Think I will go all in on Edison now.

 

[adammusic]

You don’t have to subscribe for $8 a month to do this. The new subscription fee is for new features. You can still use Spark for free.

$8 a month is insane here for what you get. Its not much.

 

[GeoStructural]

Spark is way better than stock mail app. Specially because you can customize your bottom toolbar.
I use email to get RSS feeds.
I put the delete button in the bottom middle of the toolbar, and use Spark as an RSS reader. Easiest way to go through articles.

As on current version you can customize your toolbar in Mail.app too.

 

[Bryan Bowler]

See ya Spark! I am deleting your app right now. I do not support subscription models, period.

 

[mashdots]

I paid for Spark. I don’t plan to pay for it again. Uninstalled And good bye.

this is where i get really frustrated. making previously-paying customers pay again for a subscription is a bad practice.

 

[bbplayer5]

You don't have to pay. All features of the previous version of Spark remain free.

Did you think that was a direct reply to my question? I don’t care about the free model. Who the hell is paying a sub to an app for email? That is insane.

 

[Ridge Racer]

First thing I noticed was the app size has gone from 294mb to 598mb!! Literally double!!

It's also now an Electron app and laggy as h*ll on my Mac. (1Password is also now Electron but at least it's highly optimised now, and fast. Doesn't look as though Readdle have done any work in this area.)

I'll stick with v2 for as long as possible. v3 has been deleted already.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

There needs to be more consumer protection from companies changing their business models. They should have to refund all purchases within the past 2 years.

E.U. is working on that kind of legislation.

We can't keep investing hundreds if not thousands of dollars into software to just lose support and updates within a few months or years when the company moves to subscription.

Obviously, the app in question isn't asking for several hundred dollars per year.

But it just piles up when all these little apps and service switch to subscription. It's not right.

If they didn't build the product as subscription only then they shouldn't be allowed to switch to it.

 

[JM]

FYI, for those of us who use Adobe products professionally, that most users are on a uniform version with consistent file formats and capabilities is absolutely a pro and not "BS." It aids collaboration and removes the constant struggle of working around users or companies that would lag in upgrades and made exchanging files or using more advanced techniques or features difficult.

*I stand corrected. There’s no way to save as to cs6 or earlier anymore… only “maximize psd compatibility”, which may take care of older versions of Photoshop.

I’m used to working in AutoCAD mostly, where the save as in previous year versions is more commonplace for working with other offices.

These advanced features you speak of: Adobe is top-down deciding that everyone should pay for them, but does everyone HAVE to use them? No, I would think not.

There’s this handy feature called save as and you can save files in previous versions.

For those of us that work with Adobe products professionally it is a Pro to have that feature

Adobe did no one but their stock holders any favors by forcing the subscription model, and their top-down decisive monopolistic practice of coercive “join us or die” subscription pricing policy reeks of big-tech arrogance.

The part of all of it that bothers me the most is that there is no alternative to subscription, and you’re forced to pay for upgrades you might not need.