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

ahostmadsen said:
And have every email you send infected by ads: "sent with spark."

I can accept that they put new features behind a paywall. But requiring you to pay to remove "sent with spark" is like blackmail.
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Yeah I agree, it sucks they did that. I no longer use Spark since Apple Mail does enough for me.
 
gank41 said:
I find Edison's Mail App to look very similar to Apple's Mail.app. I've recently switched to using that as of a few weeks ago due to Spark's issues accurately reporting the current number of Unread Emails. I did try Airmail, but found there to be TOO much customization options.. Edison has been "just right" for me..
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Dr. Gank41!
I downloaded Edison and it is awesome! Lightning fast in switching between messages and accounts, and I love the simplified yet well designed UI. Thanks much for the recommendation. The only thing I may miss from Spark is the scheduled send feature, but not enough to go back, even if the free version remains.
 
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Aaaaaaand uninstalled. Been using it for years and it always worked well for me. I'm fine with some stuff being paywalled, but having to delete "sent from Spark" out of every email I send is a non starter. I have Office installed so I just migrated to Outlook. Won't be coming back.
 
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Whelp, to those that are concerned about removing the Email Signature they force on you, I was hoping to be “grandfathered in” due to settings being in place or something…

092C688D-E6E8-42C2-B2BB-F70C817B7308.png

Nope! Which means I can’t use it for work, and TBH, who really wants to send an email with a blurb like this anyway? Looks like I’m officially moving away from Spark to Edison and then Outlook for work. Super Booooo…
 
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gank41 said:
Whelp, to those that are concerned about removing the Email Signature they force on you, I was hoping to be “grandfathered in” due to settings being in place or something…

View attachment 2088054

Nope! Which means I can’t use it for work, and TBH, who really wants to send an email with a blurb like this anyway? Looks like I’m officially moving away from Spark to Edison and then Outlook for work. Super Booooo…
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That's a bold no from me, not upgrading
 
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jonobin said:
That's a bold no from me, not upgrading
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You would then have to turn off automatic updates in the App Store and then manually update each and every App Store installed app going forward, so that you could continue to filter out Spark's updates.
 
....and yes, I'm aware that you can just use the keyboard & the Delete key too remove it on an Email by Email basis. But for that one time I'd overlook it, I can't use it.
 
cateye said:
....

That's why Spark works for me. It may not work for you. Isn't it nice we both have a choice that works for us?
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I like Spark, it's a functional, good looking app. I'd happily pay a subscription to use it but there are two things that stop me.

1. The lack of clean linking of emails. It doesn't even work with Hook. So I can't easily paste a link to an email in Obsidian.
2. Leave my goddamn calendar alone. Just let me open .ics files on the default app. In my case Fantastical. Don't try to be clever and show the invite instead of the body of the email when there is an invite attachment.

I'd happily pay if it worked nicely as a fair partner in MacOs but it doesn't. It's far too controlling.
 
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GeoStructural said:
I don’t understand the appeal for services like this. What is missing from native/built in apps?

I use Apple Mail, it does everything I could think anyone needs. It even has an Undo option now. I use Outlook and Microsoft Mail on my other devices, they too have pretty much what I need.

Why pay for a subscription? This is an honest question.
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I get you, and I for example try to stick with stock stuff as much as possible, i dailydrive Safari and use Pages. There is a flaw in Apple Mail, that pisses me off to the core. How it handles attachments, for the love of christ, why show photos and 1 page pdf's in email body? What is wrong with showing an Icon? Honestly, that is the only reasons, i paid a 1 time fee for Canary Mail. Agree on everything else though.
 
I'm a bit confused: How exactly should I upgrade? I don't see any update in the App Store. But it's available on the website. Is this the only way to get it now?
 
cateye said:
I'll take your bait: Because for ages Mail.app had serious issues interacting with both Outlook-based and Google-based email accounts, including lost emails, inability to fetch email on a timely basis, and lost credentials. Those issues are lagely fixed (although not entirely), but I long ago left Mail.app behind and see little reason to come back to it. Also, I dislike Mail.app's user interface and it lacks several organizational features (particularly on MacOS) I've come to depend on in other email clients, including pinning and prioritizing email.

Spark is one of the few clients that was (and continues to be, if you read the article) free across iOS, iPadOS, and MacOS. That it now offers a Windows client is even more gravy for someone like me that likes its workflow and appreciates a unified interface across mobile and desktop devices.

Another thing to note is that Apple has never opened its private APIs for push email, and the iOS/iPadOS clients don't support IDLE, which means if Push email (and its battery savings) are important to you, you either need to use iCloud-based accounts exclusively, or use a client that has its own push implementation, like Spark.

Finally: I use email primarily for business. I have a personal iCloud-based account, and then several Google Workspace-based accounts that are high volume. Spark allows me to receive and organize that email in a way that is intelligent to me, rather than fighting Mail.app's conventions that feel very under-developed and basic.

Whether or not I will subscribe or continue to use the free version I have no idea. Need to explore the new version better and see whether the subscription-only features are important to me or not. But this knee-jerk against subscription software is tilting at windmills. Apple itself is actively lobbying developers to adopt the model. You're going to see Apple start to gatekeep more and more of their own software and services behind paywalls as well.

That's why Spark works for me. It may not work for you. Isn't it nice we both have a choice that works for us?
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Oh my god! :D You work for them? I understand charging a business, for premium options, I do. But regular users? I agree, that Mail.app has it's flaws, yes, but there is Canary that is 1time purchase and offers everything one would need, unified inbox included.
 
rodpascoe said:
I've just downloaded the new version, if you've been a previous Spark user then you get to keep all your old features so it didn't add a Sent with Spark signature to my test email.
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that's because they give you 7 days free premium :D Wait till it expires.
 
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I’ve used Spark for years. Just uninstalled it. Not only does it look horrible now, but I noticed that some of the features are gone. I wouldn’t pay one dollar per month for it as it is now. I happily went right back to Apple mail after all of these years.
 
I've been using the free version on my iPhone and prefer it to the Apple Mail App, although still prefer using the Mail App on macOS. I'll be ditching it now though if I can't remove the 'Sent with Spark' signature.
 
Oh my, how can I disable the smart inbox? I can't believe that I can't figure it out. Could someone please help me? I don't want my emails automatically grouped into categories.

Edit: And how do I get my column layout back? And how can I enable dark mode? I think I never had this much issues after I updated an app as I have with Spark now.
 
TrancyGoose said:
I get you, and I for example try to stick with stock stuff as much as possible, i dailydrive Safari and use Pages. There is a flaw in Apple Mail, that pisses me off to the core. How it handles attachments, for the love of christ, why show photos and 1 page pdf's in email body? What is wrong with showing an Icon? Honestly, that is the only reasons, i paid a 1 time fee for Canary Mail. Agree on everything else though.
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I use mostly stock stuff, but Mail has been a complete **** show for years. You'd think with all the resources Apple has, that they could make a decent mail client. Apparently not!
 
I used Spark for the longest time up until iOS 15 and Monterey, where I decided to give Mail another chance and I haven't gone back. The features that I used in Spark are all on Mail (now, at least, with the Snooze feature), and while I don't think it's as visually appealing as Spark, it beats not having to hand out any of my email credentials to a third party company. Had I still been using it regularly, I would have dropped it for the "Sent with Spark" tagline alone and looked elsewhere. May have to move my parents to Mail from Spark with the next phone upgrade.
 
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I just removed Spark from both my Mac and iPhone. I liked the iOS app but im sure it will follow suit right with its desktop counterpart and since I just started using them both (Last week) I figured I would move right along before I get to adjust to their UI and have to learn a new one over again. I'm not going to pay to check my email, and the thing is the perks of the Spark subscription is really not that good and not worth the price imo.
 
TrancyGoose said:
I get you, and I for example try to stick with stock stuff as much as possible, i dailydrive Safari and use Pages. There is a flaw in Apple Mail, that pisses me off to the core. How it handles attachments, for the love of christ, why show photos and 1 page pdf's in email body? What is wrong with showing an Icon? Honestly, that is the only reasons, i paid a 1 time fee for Canary Mail. Agree on everything else though.
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1-time fee? I checked out Canary Mail and it seems to be a recurring monthly subscription, forever.

I used to enjoy Sparrow but don't know of anything besides Thunderbird, Postbox and Mailbird for Windows.
 
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