Spark for iOS and Mac Gain New Reminder and Send Later Features

[MacRumors]

Popular email app Spark for Mac and iOS was today updated with several new features aimed at professionals, including "Send Later" and "Follow-up Reminders."

Send Later is designed to allow users to schedule emails to be sent at a later time instead of right away. Spark users can compose an email and then schedule it at the time when it's most likely to be read.

The feature can be accessed by choosing the Send Later icon when composing an email, which will pop up an option to choose a time.

Follow-up reminders are meant to remind Spark users to follow up on emails that have been sent out and not responded to.

Professional follow-up is an art that both sender and recipient appreciate. Everyone gets busy and can easily miss important emails. In this case, friendly follow-up reminders help you get a response when the timing is right. Use follow-up Reminders in Spark to ensure that your message doesn't end up in limbo.

On iOS devices, the Spark app has been updated with a new email composer to accommodate the two new features. The new design is meant to make it easier to choose the From email address, and more explicit CC and BCC buttons are supposed to make it easier to manage CC/Bcc contacts.

The new Spark features are available today in both the iOS and Mac apps, which are free downloads. [iOS: Direct Link] [Mac: Direct Link]

Article Link: Spark for iOS and Mac Gain New Reminder and Send Later Features

 

[Aston441]

Spark is second best to Edison Mail, however Edison Mail has no Watch app. Unfortunately the Spark Watch app still is iPhone dependant on the LTE Watch. Hopefully Spark will make the Watch app independent soon.

Apple should buy this company and make them default on Watch and iPhone. The current default apps are horrible.

I also use Spark as my default mail on macOS.

 

[stulaw11]

Spark is second best to Edison Mail, however Edison Mail has no Watch app. Unfortunately the Spark Watch app still is iPhone dependant on the LTE Watch. Hopefully Spark will make the Watch app independent soon.

Apple should buy this company and make them default on Watch and iPhone. The current default apps are horrible.

I also use Spark as my default mail on macOS.

Edison, formerly Easilydo, was good but their threading methodology drives me nuts. The second screen list of thread bits and then have to click into each email or reply separately and back again to the list is counter-intuitive to the default mail app or Spark where the threads collapse and expand to view the conversation all on the same screen without having to dive into each bit and back.

Another issue I found is their snooze is on device only so if you snooze an email on the iphone and go to say Gmail on the web (or Outlook on your PC) the email is still in your inbox; not moved to a snooze folder like spark and other email apps to reappear later.

Those 2 major issues keep me from using it. I do like the attachments at the top of the email like the Outlook app does. It's a little "basic" in terms of features if you don't use the assistant stuff.

I also had some issues in search that it wasnt finding all emails that Spark does really well.

But Spark has disappointed me in general. It started off really good (it's still really good) and then got stale for about a year now with nothing but bug fixes besides drag and drop for ipad. There was a 6 month period with a single app update to it. These are the first major new features for iphones in a long time, and it's still missing a lot of stuff. It drive me absolutely nuts that Spark has no edge swipe to get to the side menu like Outlook and Edison; getting to that top left on a Plus device is not fun one handed.

Outlook was the black sheep to me for a long time; it did nothing very well. Im not all keen on the social media esque redesign but the search and features are starting to get a LOT better and updated weekly. It's missing a lot of customization though, even simple things like in-app browser though.

Really I have yet to find a really good 3rd party email app. Airmail was the closest but a buggy mess that seems they will never fix up to a stable state.

 

[Aston441]

Now that you mention it the threading in Edison Mail drives me nuts too. Maybe I'll go back to Spark on the iPhone again for a while and see how it does with this update. I use it everywhere else already.

 

[adamjackson]

This always happens. New shareware app that's lightweight, easy to use and much simpler than Gmail or Outlook

Then over the subsequent years, it gets bloated by adding all of those features back that made us ditch traditional clients to begin with.

then someone else comes along that's lightweight and we all switch to that.

I use mail.app. It's free and integrates with Exchange server for Calendar & contacts

 

[GadgetGeek407]

I used spark until last year when I forget some major issue they had, I currently use Alto which is great. I like the package tracking feature on Edison mail better then Alto and Edison was great at the travel thing as well.
I have like 6-7 different email accounts and always looking for better options with most features

 

[stulaw11]

This always happens. New shareware app that's lightweight, easy to use and much simpler than Gmail or Outlook

Then over the subsequent years, it gets bloated by adding all of those features back that made us ditch traditional clients to begin with.

then someone else comes along that's lightweight and we all switch to that.

I use mail.app. It's free and integrates with Exchange server for Calendar & contacts

I personally don't care how "easy" it is to use; I never used Mailbox and dont want a replacement for it. Features are good if done right.

The problem is different apps have different features right now and have their good parts and lacking. No one has stepped up and made the "best" email app.

The stock app works fine, if it wasnt for Apple's failure to play nice with Google and Gmail accounts. iOS rarely fetches accurately even at 15 min; Ive gone in and seen a last checked time easily 45 min before. So fetch is just pretty terrible in the stock app is the real kicker.

 

[Aston441]

I personally don't care how "easy" it is to use; I never used Mailbox and dont want a replacement for it. Features are good if done right.

The problem is different apps have different features right now and have their good parts and lacking. No one has stepped up and made the "best" email app.

The stock app works fine, if it wasnt for Apple's failure to play nice with Google and Gmail accounts. iOS rarely fetches accurately even at 15 min; Ive gone in and seen a last checked time easily 45 min before. So fetch is just pretty terrible in the stock app is the real kicker.

My issue with Apple's app is the darn notification badge needs to be cleared on my other two iOS devices after I've marked an email read. Why they can't sync that baffles me.
[doublepost=1507766638][/doublepost]

I used spark until last year when I forget some major issue they had, I currently use Alto which is great. I like the package tracking feature on Edison mail better then Alto and Edison was great at the travel thing as well.
I have like 6-7 different email accounts and always looking for better options with most features

I don't think I've ever tried Alto. I'll give it a shot.

 

[turtlebud]

the delayed send and followup remind me of boomerang. glad they added those features in. may give spark a second look.

 

[Aston441]

the delayed send and followup remind me of boomerang. glad they added those features in. may give spark a second look.

Delayed send is super cool!!!
[doublepost=1507768592][/doublepost]

My issue with Apple's app is the darn notification badge needs to be cleared on my other two iOS devices after I've marked an email read. Why they can't sync that baffles me.
[doublepost=1507766638][/doublepost]


I don't think I've ever tried Alto. I'll give it a shot.

Well I tried Alto. I think it's clunky. My first impression anyway.

I wish Spark would use better fonts or give some size control of fonts. I find it least readable of all the email apps.

 

[iTone]

I tried to use this app but I found it so confusing. The “smart inbox” section was the number one issue. I labeled accounts different names for what I used them for but the name would appear on other accounts. It was so annoying.

 

[drumcat]

I used spark until last year when I forget some major issue they had, I currently use Alto which is great. I like the package tracking feature on Edison mail better then Alto and Edison was great at the travel thing as well.
I have like 6-7 different email accounts and always looking for better options with most features

So that "major problem" they had... that's the one where they store your password on their servers, and check mail on their servers for you, and then send you your email through them... and botch your password with Apple. Three times.

BTW, if you use a third party email app, you are giving the third party complete visibility to all your email and your password. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[stulaw11]

So that "major problem" they had... that's the one where they store your password on their servers, and check mail on their servers for you, and then send you your email through them... and botch your password with Apple. Three times.

BTW, if you use a third party email app, you are giving the third party complete visibility to all your email and your password. What could possibly go wrong?

Except these apps use OAuth and that is a great oversimplification of the issue. You are logging directly into google and handing off access to the account to the app from there. The third party app or their servers NEVER have your password for google exchange or yahoo accounts at least.

 

[drumcat]

Except these apps use OAuth and that is a great oversimplification of the issue. You are logging directly into google and handing off access to the account to the app from there. The third party app or their servers NEVER have your password.

Right, but they do receive all your emails on their servers first. And even with OAuth, they still proved that they can stuff up your password for all your iCloud services multiple times.

 

[stulaw11]

Right, but they do receive all your emails on their servers first. And even with OAuth, they still proved that they can stuff up your password for all your iCloud services multiple times.

Again a gross oversimplification. They obtain the header and enough of the first few words to create a push notification; that's it. Your full emails are not running through their servers.

Once you get the push notification and open the app your full email is pulled from your account and downloaded into the app inbox.

And if you are using Gmail, outlook.com, yahoo, or most commercial consumer emails your email is ALREADY being scanned by them to begin with; companies with far more vindictive uses for your information.

 

[drumcat]

Again a gross oversimplification. They obtain the header and enough of the first few words to create a push notification; that's it. Your full emails are not running through their servers.

And if you are using Gmail, outlook.com, yahoo, or most commercial consumer emails your email is ALREADY being scanned by them to begin with.

If I use Gmail, I have an expectation that my email is looked at by Google. That's a choice that's obvious. It's not obvious that when you sign up for a third-party mail app that every bit of mail that shows up on your device is one that went through that app's servers, subject to that app's T&C.

And it's not oversimplified that they can stuff your password. It's just a fact. It has happened, by Spark.

I'm not suggesting people shouldn't have the choice, but I would suggest that if people understood that their messages passed through an app's servers, some wouldn't be so ready to use it.

For example, now that you knew this information, would you sign up for a KasperskyMail app under any circumstance?

 

[stulaw11]

If I use Gmail, I have an expectation that my email is looked at by Google. That's a choice that's obvious. It's not obvious that when you sign up for a third-party mail app that every bit of mail that shows up on your device is one that went through that app's servers, subject to that app's T&C.

And it's not oversimplified that they can stuff your password. It's just a fact. It has happened, by Spark.

I'm not suggesting people shouldn't have the choice, but I would suggest that if people understood that their messages passed through an app's servers, some wouldn't be so ready to use it.

For example, now that you knew this information, would you sign up for a KasperskyMail app under any circumstance?

https://sparkmailapp.com/privacy

I would suggest actually reading how their app works in their privacy policy before making assumption you read on the internet. Lot of fake news from conspiracy theory tin foil hat wearers

Again your full mail is not going through their servers, but for some reason don't seem to want to listen to the actual facts here.

"All general email activity is mostly done on your device. Our servers are only involved for delivering the push notifications and, in some cases, for sending your email messages (for example, when using Send Later functionality).

Accounts are added to Spark through OAuth where possible."

"Primary function of Spark servers is to send push notifications and badge numbers to your device. To do that, Spark servers download email headers and text parts from your email service provider and use them to compose push notifications. We delete email headers and text as soon as push message has been prepared and sent. We store messages and emails in encrypted form on secure cloud-based servers."

 

[Bawstun]

Best app is Email. Their 1-click unsubscribe itself is a must. I love it.

 

[drumcat]

https://sparkmailapp.com/privacy

Again your full mail is not going through their servers, ...

"All general email activity is mostly done on your device. Our servers are only involved for delivering the push notifications and, in some cases, for sending your email messages (for example, when using Send Later functionality).

Accounts are added to Spark through OAuth where possible."

"Primary function of Spark servers is to send push notifications and badge numbers to your device. To do that, Spark servers download email headers and text parts from your email service provider and use them to compose push notifications. We delete email headers and text as soon as push message has been prepared and sent. We store messages and emails in encrypted form on secure cloud-based servers."

If you do "Send Later", you store the entire outbound message on their server. Before you freak out, I'm aware that #1 they have no interest in keeping it, and #2 it behooves them to keep it securely.

Text "parts"... ok. Maybe they just grab the first 250ch? I dunno... again, #1 and #2.

The last sentence is pretty clear though. "We store messages and emails" says that they clearly are dealing with complete messages a lot.

Am I still oversimplifying? Maybe for you Stu, but I think it's fair to say that you've done a good job in both pointing out the nuances of what third party mail apps do, as well as point out that, in fact, many times your full messages do go through Spark.

BUT I DON'T CARE ABOUT SPARK so much as I'm pointing out that ANY third-party email client on iOS has to get your password and log in as you to provide services. I'm not even declaring a moral evil here. I'm just saying that the disclosure of this kind of information is important. While you might be ok with this on a personal email account, maybe it's not such a good idea to use this on a sensitive account. Maybe, someone is going to assume that email is email on iPhone, and that this is a core service like a calendar/reminder, when it isn't like that.

But for what it's worth, thanks for pointing this stuff out. Now, if you go back to my first statement, "BTW, if you use a third party email app, you are giving the third party complete visibility to all your email and your password. What could possibly go wrong?" -- are you sure that's still oversimplified?

 

[Steeley]

I know this sounds dumb, but I don’t use Spark because of the notification sound choices - either a loud garish spark one or an iOS sound that’s actually meant for app notifications not emails.

I’ve been using Airmail because of it, and Spark is much better.

Just give me a nice little ding like the default mail app or like Airmail. I’ve been asking them for 2 years now!

 

[angusticeps]

Yeah, the inability to properly customize notification sounds is very annoying. On the other hand, AFAIK Spark is the only mail client that allows you to collapse mail folders. Why this feature is not provided by default in any Mail client is beyond me. In summary, there is no perfect mail app, yet. A real shame.

 

[bruno7]

Spark is second best to Edison Mail, however Edison Mail has no Watch app. Unfortunately the Spark Watch app still is iPhone dependant on the LTE Watch. Hopefully Spark will make the Watch app independent soon.

Apple should buy this company and make them default on Watch and iPhone. The current default apps are horrible.

I also use Spark as my default mail on macOS.

Oh God let's hope Apple will never buy this company. I believe they'd mess it up big time.

 

[jonnysods]

I can't do it. Every time I try a mail app I go back to the default mail app. I don't love Mail but it seems to have the simplest features I need. Just wish it looked as slick as Spark.

 

[stulaw11]

If you do "Send Later", you store the entire outbound message on their server. Before you freak out, I'm aware that #1 they have no interest in keeping it, and #2 it behooves them to keep it securely.

Text "parts"... ok. Maybe they just grab the first 250ch? I dunno... again, #1 and #2.

The last sentence is pretty clear though. "We store messages and emails" says that they clearly are dealing with complete messages a lot.

Am I still oversimplifying? Maybe for you Stu, but I think it's fair to say that you've done a good job in both pointing out the nuances of what third party mail apps do, as well as point out that, in fact, many times your full messages do go through Spark.

BUT I DON'T CARE ABOUT SPARK so much as I'm pointing out that ANY third-party email client on iOS has to get your password and log in as you to provide services. I'm not even declaring a moral evil here. I'm just saying that the disclosure of this kind of information is important. While you might be ok with this on a personal email account, maybe it's not such a good idea to use this on a sensitive account. Maybe, someone is going to assume that email is email on iPhone, and that this is a core service like a calendar/reminder, when it isn't like that.

But for what it's worth, thanks for pointing this stuff out. Now, if you go back to my first statement, "BTW, if you use a third party email app, you are giving the third party complete visibility to all your email and your password. What could possibly go wrong?" -- are you sure that's still oversimplified?

This can go around in circles all day but this thread is NOT a privacy debate. ANY third party app out there on your device that you log into is a privacy concern on some level (password, email address getting spammed, even location data as many apps were busted). If one cannot accept the rather low risk then perhaps one should be using a flip phone and stick to call/texting and throw away their home computer and never log into any website again as well because you know that could get a virus or be hacked

To the counterpoint you dont HAVE to use send later or snooze and have the full mail message go through their server; the app still functions as a perfectly good mail app with Gmail that is pushed to device which Apple will never have. One must know the risk reading the T&C of an app and accept the level of risk or not and delete the app

And since those features are done on server it is something Apple will not be adding anytime in the near future to the stock mail app due to their own personal beliefs on privacy; which is their prerogative. That is why choices like this app exist. Understanding the risk the risk is very low using this app taken their claims at face value (and no one has found contrary code in the app to date that I know of).

But again, this is not a privacy debate Spark or otherwise, there are other threads if you want to go debate that.

You can continue to blindly misstate that you are giving with app your password using OAuth (I see no claims against many other apps that let you login via Google with OAuth) but it doesn't make it any more true the more times you misstate the facts (and clearly still dont understand how OAuth works).

No need to reply as I will not be wasting more thread space here about the app update addressing the continuing misstatements/fallacies and off-topic privacy conspiracy theories. If you have evidence to back up mere wild accusations and presumptions that someone is doing wrong merely because they have the opportunity to do so, then start a thread and present said evidence. People smarter than you are I are involved in watchdog groups over apps as a full time career and I have seen no legit claims anywhere against Spark about privacy issues or misuse of data.

 

[bwintx]

Have been switching back and forth among several iOS mail apps in recent months -- Outlook, the Apple app, Airmail, Spark, and the Edison Email app. Thought Edison was what I wanted except for, as others have noted, the threads-handling problems; also, wanted an app with both Mac and iOS versions, and Edison doesn't have a Mac version. Will give Spark another try, although there are still some customizations I'd prefer to make (not a big fan of not getting to choose my own font, for one thing).

**EDIT later in the day**
...and, so much for that try. Now giving Edison Email just one more run, especially since it is supposed to be developing a Mac version, too. Whether I can live with the threads-handling remains to be seen. *Sigh*