All the best third party communication apps allow a choice of UI font if not default reading font. Can we get some San Francisco love?
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Popular iOS Email App 'Spark' Expands to the iPad
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All the best third party communication apps allow a choice of UI font if not default reading font. Can we get some San Francisco love?
Interesting idea
For the moment we are thinking about special themes for Spark UI and maybe changing font type in future updates. best regards,
Readdle Team
I decided to give it another go today and notifications are now working perfectly. I also like the fact my settings synchronise across my iPad and iPhone.
We are working on version for Mac and improvements to iOS version right now
best regards,
Readdle Team
Much as I really tried to like the app it has a major shortcoming for me which makes it unusable. I have multiple email accounts and at differing times of day, different accounts are important to monitor. The problem with Spark is knowing which SPECIFIC accounts have unread mails.
Unlike Apple Mail and even Outlook (which handles it less well) Spark has no individual unread mail count ANYWHERE. Not in Smart Inbox, Inbox, not against each individual account banner and not even against the Inbox of each individual account if you open the folder cascade button. So, if I have 10 accounts each with and 5 have 25 unread mails I have to go to the inbox of each of the 10 accounts to try and identify if they even have unread mail or plough through 125 mails in random order in Inbox.
With Apple Mail you can go to the all accounts screen and see unread counts in Inbox (all accounts), Today and against each account title. If I'm in a rush I might only deal with 2-3 of them. But I know at a glance where they are. Outlook is not so easy but the info is there. You get the overall count under Inbox and against each account BUT you have to click the cascade arrow to drop the account mailboxes down first.
Given organisation is a key USP for this app it's a failing that is a showstopper for me. It has some nice to have features but I can live without them more than I can live without not knowing where unread mails are. I'll certainly look again once it has that basic functionality. Meantime, back to Apple Mail.
Unlike Apple Mail and even Outlook (which handles it less well) Spark has no individual unread mail count ANYWHERE. Not in Smart Inbox, Inbox, not against each individual account banner and not even against the Inbox of each individual account if you open the folder cascade button. So, if I have 10 accounts each with and 5 have 25 unread mails I have to go to the inbox of each of the 10 accounts to try and identify if they even have unread mail or plough through 125 mails in random order in Inbox.
With Apple Mail you can go to the all accounts screen and see unread counts in Inbox (all accounts), Today and against each account title. If I'm in a rush I might only deal with 2-3 of them. But I know at a glance where they are. Outlook is not so easy but the info is there. You get the overall count under Inbox and against each account BUT you have to click the cascade arrow to drop the account mailboxes down first.
Given organisation is a key USP for this app it's a failing that is a showstopper for me. It has some nice to have features but I can live without them more than I can live without not knowing where unread mails are. I'll certainly look again once it has that basic functionality. Meantime, back to Apple Mail.
Have you also tried using Airmail and Email by Easylido as well? They also offer quite a few features not sure if they offer what you want though.
Not yet. Airmail has quite a few bad reviews though. Less reluctant to try out paid apps if I'm not sure they aren't missing features I need. Not looked at Email. Thanks anyway.
Definitely look at Email app I'm now having it on my main screen besides Spark. There are still a few things that could improve but overall it's fast. My main concern now is that I can't search in e-mails older then 5 months with that app other then that I like it a lot better then Spark. UI wish they are pretty similar. Spark has more options to customise though. Main advantages of Email by Easilydo is having the attachments above a message which is a major thing for me.
Mac version can't come soon enough. Good to hear about it on here but there's not a sniff of it on the Readdle site.We are working on version for Mac and improvements to iOS version right now
best regards,
Readdle Team
@Readdlemate Hi, do you plan to add any better text editing options for composing an email? For example, Airmail does it wonderfully with all the buttons for bold, italics, underline etc etc within fingers' reach on iPhone. It'd be great if you could add something similar.
@Readdlemate: Also, I have a question about email viewing: if I receive an email with several recipients, I can't see who else it was sent to right away, unless I tap on "Details". Can you add an option to have Spark display other recipients right when you open the email? Otherwise it's a bit inconvenient.
I would suggest to also look at alternatives like Email by Easylido. I switched a while ago and since then I really love it. It does have this feature you are asking and is a lot quicker then Spark and UI wise it's kind of similar. Is it perfect? Nope. See also my comparison which is still kind of up to date.
Pros Spark:
- attach multiple Dropbox files in one go
- widgets in app itself
- Mac app
Cons Spark:
- slow startup, download e-mails
- can't show attachments above message
- has issues with syncing between iPhone <> iPad still showing badge for new e-mails on iPad ages after you removed it on iPhone app
- doesn't show cc'd people instantly (you can with pressing 'Details')
Pros Email by Easylido:
- speed
- shows attachments above message
- easy unsubscribe from newsletters
- does show cc'd people instantly
Cons by Easylido:
- can't show e-mails older then 5 month (I can live with this for private e-mails but they should definitely fix this)
- lacks build-in calendar
- lacks URL scheme for new e-mail creation
- lacks Mac app
- lacks widgets in app
- lacks attaching multiple Dropbox files in one go
- has issues with syncing between iPhone <> iPad still showing badge for new e-mails on iPad ages after you removed it on iPhone app.
- badge icon for a private domain extension is totally wrong, my Gmail accounts work fine btw
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Hi @pacorob, thanks for your reply. Airmail, for example, also has the above feature I was asking for.
I tried Email by Easilydo last month upon your recommendation. However, it's not yet ready to serve as a primary mail app in my opinion.
One thing that bothers me is that it's only available in the US App Store. I'm not sure about other countries, but it surely isn't available in mine. If I download it from the US store, will I always have to log into the US Store in order to be able to update, or will I be able to update even if I'm logged into a different country's account?
Although Email has a likable, clean UI, it lack features. What really bothered me was when I tried adding pic attachments to an email. It seemed only possible to add 1 pic at a time?!? This is a total deal breaker in my opinion. It's really annoying how you can only "scroll" through your pics by swiping to the left (i.e. one by one, rather than seeing the whole palette of pics like in other mail apps). And if you tap on the blue button it will take you to the Moments, which is useless to me. Why doesn't it offer an easier way to choose pics from the Camera Roll?? Plus it doesn't show the size of the pic(s) you are about to send. Again a nuisance.
Oh, and hyperlinks problem: when you open an email with a link inside it takes a second or two before the link inside becomes a hyperlink you can tap on. In Spark there is no such issue.
Btw, what about security? How safe is Email compared to Spark? Does it store your info on its servers?
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It's definitely not only available in the US App Store. I'm in the Netherlands but I've also checked where else it's available and noticed it also is available in Germany, France, UK, Ireland. I did notice though that for some reason it's not available in the App Store in Belgium.
I wasn't aware that it had a limitation to add only one picture at a time. I don't send much pictures over e-mail. The majority I send over WhatsApp or iMessage. I do agree such a future should definitely be there. I did found it annoying that you can't attach multiple files in one go from Dropbox though like you (only) can with Spark. Airmail also doesn't offer that. It would indeed be very helpfull to see the image size as well I agree.
I do know what you mean with that hyperlink problem but I didn't have that anymore. I'm not sure but I guess they fixed it.
As far as security goes it's similar to Spark I think.
This is what they say in the App Store description:
Secure and Private
- Email is fetched from the phone and stored on the phone.
Is my e-mail secure (see FAQ)?
Yes! We follow the leading industry standards and then some. We know how important it is for your data to remain secure and private. Email credentials are encrypted on your device, and all communication with our Email server is encrypted (IMAP over SSL). Additionally, emails are NOT stored on our cloud.
The main reason I'm sticking with Email by Easylido know in comparison to Spark is speed and that you can see attachments above messages and it's more secure then e.g. Outlook. I do hope though that they implement quite a few things that you and I mentioned in this topic.
Maybe you could also reach out to the developers so they may implement these changes sooner. I already reached out to Spark, Airmail and Email by Easylido with various things. As soon as Spark implements the option to show attachments above an e-mail message I'm back to them I guess.