{"slug": "apple-mail", "name": "Apple Mail", "category": "communication", "category_name": "Email and chat", "description": "", "recommenders": 2, "commenters": 12, "warners": 7, "score": -3.82, "rising": 0.67, "first": "2025-12-10", "latest": "2026-10-13", "why": "provided you don\u2019t have an exotic setup and can deal with only average search capabilities, it works well", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 8}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "provided you don\u2019t have an exotic setup and can deal with only average search capabilities, it works well", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Apple Mail"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 789741200, "item_id": 49358825, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49358825", "by": "sandreas", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There is nothing like Apple Mail in my opinion", "excerpt": "There is nothing like Apple Mail in my opinion, but here are some alternatives... I use Evolution in Linux, but since you explicetely need Windows, I only listed cross Plattform... Vivaldi MailSpring Pelton BetterBird Aerion Self-hosted: Kurrier NextCloud", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP email client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Good IMAP Email Clients?"}, {"id": 786960433, "item_id": 49185027, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49185027", "by": "sandreas", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple Mail Search - you can filter by nearly every aspect, even between dates", "excerpt": "Here are some things that existed for a long time but still blow my mind (note: this is not \"modern macOS\", I migrated to Linux long time ago, so forgive me ignoring modern flaws). - The preview app - document editing at its best - Apple Mail Search - you can filter by nearly every aspect, even between dates - the mighty Alt key (alt+click unlocks an extra feature all the time, alt + shift + volume makes smaller step", "context": "Linux user who migrated from macOS", "use_case": "email search", "switched_from": "", "story": "\"Gravity is worth asking about.\""}, {"id": 778407507, "item_id": 48650469, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48650469", "by": "kdtsh", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "provided you don\u2019t have an exotic setup and can deal with only average search capabilities, it works well", "excerpt": "Homebrew and mise-en-place are the only must have apps for me (both of which are not .app applications). Everything else is pretty well context-dependant and/or built in. For me, the better-than-you-think built in apps are: - Reminders - I haven\u2019t gone all in on any other task management software, but I don\u2019t bother because Reminders does everything I need - Mail - it is fiddly and idiot proof to a fault, but provide", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 801286992, "item_id": 50080437, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50080437", "by": "breatheoften", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "apple mail search has been insufficient on ios and macos for 15 years or more at this point", "excerpt": "I use icloud and this does not match my experience ... apple mail search has been insufficient on ios and macos for 15 years or more at this point ...", "context": "iCloud mail user", "use_case": "email search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Thunderbird for iOS"}, {"id": 801285329, "item_id": 50080333, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50080333", "by": "isaachinman", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "out of frustration with Apple Mail", "excerpt": "For those seeking a non-profit alternative that syncs between iOS and Mac OS, give Marco a try. We support proper offline-first behaviour and instant push notifications, among many other features. I built this for myself out of frustration with Apple Mail and cover all operational costs. Privacy and speed are two of our most important pillars. https://marcoapp.io", "context": "", "use_case": "email client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Thunderbird for iOS"}, {"id": 801258992, "item_id": 50078687, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50078687", "by": "godelski", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Mail hid all signals people would normally use.", "excerpt": "Yeah that too! I've only had an iPhone for a few years but as soon as I used Mail I immediately understood why my parents got phished. Mail hid all signals people would normally use. Their spam detection is bad too. In my first week I got a PayPal used to buy bitcoin scam and neither Gmail nor Thunderbird showed it (both flagged as spam). Both also just showed it was an empty email with only a PDF attachment whereas ", "context": "iPhone user for a few years", "use_case": "iPhone email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Thunderbird for iOS"}, {"id": 796108608, "item_id": 49756788, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49756788", "by": "hedgehog", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it's been a buggy mess since Catalina", "excerpt": "I'm not even elderly but I would really like an e-mail client with a stable UI. I used to like Apple Mail but it's been a buggy mess since Catalina. It doesn't even sort or search mail reliably any more. It's basically a trope at this point but a robot-rewrite-in-Rust seems inevitable at this point.", "context": "", "use_case": "email client", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't like passkeys"}]}], "who": [{"by": "sandreas", "context": "Linux user who migrated from macOS", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49185027", "date": "2026-08-05"}, {"by": "tambourine_man", "context": "has 300k+ emails dating back to the late 90s", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48378168", "date": "2026-06-02"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["email client", "email search", "email", "iphone email", "gmail email client", "imap email client"], "compared": [{"slug": "gmail", "name": "Gmail", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "gnus", "name": "Gnus", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "mu4e", "name": "mu4e", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "thunderbird", "name": "Thunderbird", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "homebrew", "name": "Homebrew", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50072913", "title": "Thunderbird for iOS", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49956092", "title": "All I wanted was a custom domain email", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49753211", "title": "I don't like passkeys", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49701004", "title": "iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49585594", "title": "Don't Use a gmail.com Address", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49353921", "title": "Ask HN: Good IMAP Email Clients?", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"warn": 1}, "2026-01": {"warn": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"warn": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1, "warn": 2}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1, "warn": 3}}, "quotes": [{"id": 801286992, "item_id": 50080437, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50080437", "by": "breatheoften", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "apple mail search has been insufficient on ios and macos for 15 years or more at this point", "excerpt": "I use icloud and this does not match my experience ... apple mail search has been insufficient on ios and macos for 15 years or more at this point ...", "context": "iCloud mail user", "use_case": "email search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Thunderbird for iOS"}, {"id": 801285329, "item_id": 50080333, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50080333", "by": "isaachinman", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "out of frustration with Apple Mail", "excerpt": "For those seeking a non-profit alternative that syncs between iOS and Mac OS, give Marco a try. We support proper offline-first behaviour and instant push notifications, among many other features. I built this for myself out of frustration with Apple Mail and cover all operational costs. Privacy and speed are two of our most important pillars. https://marcoapp.io", "context": "", "use_case": "email client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Thunderbird for iOS"}, {"id": 801258992, "item_id": 50078687, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50078687", "by": "godelski", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Mail hid all signals people would normally use.", "excerpt": "Yeah that too! I've only had an iPhone for a few years but as soon as I used Mail I immediately understood why my parents got phished. Mail hid all signals people would normally use. Their spam detection is bad too. In my first week I got a PayPal used to buy bitcoin scam and neither Gmail nor Thunderbird showed it (both flagged as spam). Both also just showed it was an empty email with only a PDF attachment whereas ", "context": "iPhone user for a few years", "use_case": "iPhone email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Thunderbird for iOS"}, {"id": 799559505, "item_id": 49972469, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49972469", "by": "MichaelVangard", "date": "2026-10-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I still use Apple Mail most of the time", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using Fastmail for years and all my accounts use unique email addresses like safeway@example.com through the catch-all option. It takes a bit of time to set everything up the way you want at first, but Fastmail supports custom sieve scripts. With wildcards in sieve, you can automatically create and apply labels to these kinds of per-account addresses without naming them all in advance. You can add specific ", "context": "", "use_case": "email client", "switched_from": "", "story": "All I wanted was a custom domain email"}, {"id": 796108608, "item_id": 49756788, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49756788", "by": "hedgehog", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it's been a buggy mess since Catalina", "excerpt": "I'm not even elderly but I would really like an e-mail client with a stable UI. I used to like Apple Mail but it's been a buggy mess since Catalina. It doesn't even sort or search mail reliably any more. It's basically a trope at this point but a robot-rewrite-in-Rust seems inevitable at this point.", "context": "", "use_case": "email client", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't like passkeys"}, {"id": 795367121, "item_id": 49710445, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49710445", "by": "geden", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I quit Apple Mail (due to its poor handling of Gmail accounts)", "excerpt": "I quit Apple Mail (due to its poor handling of Gmail accounts) and started using Mimestream years ago. Truly excellent mail client. Actively and thoughtfully developed. Paid but worth every penny.", "context": "", "use_case": "Gmail email client", "switched_from": "", "story": "iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27"}, {"id": 793398848, "item_id": 49587428, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49587428", "by": "mococa", "date": "2026-09-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use apple mail, but since I own the domain, I can move to anywhere/anytime", "excerpt": "I don\u2019t use gmail anymore, it just redirect to my custom domain (I use apple mail, but since I own the domain, I can move to anywhere/anytime)", "context": "", "use_case": "email client", "switched_from": "Gmail", "story": "Don't Use a gmail.com Address"}, {"id": 789741200, "item_id": 49358825, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49358825", "by": "sandreas", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There is nothing like Apple Mail in my opinion", "excerpt": "There is nothing like Apple Mail in my opinion, but here are some alternatives... I use Evolution in Linux, but since you explicetely need Windows, I only listed cross Plattform... Vivaldi MailSpring Pelton BetterBird Aerion Self-hosted: Kurrier NextCloud", "context": "", "use_case": "IMAP email client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Good IMAP Email Clients?"}, {"id": 786960433, "item_id": 49185027, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49185027", "by": "sandreas", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple Mail Search - you can filter by nearly every aspect, even between dates", "excerpt": "Here are some things that existed for a long time but still blow my mind (note: this is not \"modern macOS\", I migrated to Linux long time ago, so forgive me ignoring modern flaws). - The preview app - document editing at its best - Apple Mail Search - you can filter by nearly every aspect, even between dates - the mighty Alt key (alt+click unlocks an extra feature all the time, alt + shift + volume makes smaller step", "context": "Linux user who migrated from macOS", "use_case": "email search", "switched_from": "", "story": "\"Gravity is worth asking about.\""}, {"id": 780060464, "item_id": 48753779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48753779", "by": "godelski", "date": "2026-07-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "No wonder people are falling for those scams, Mail makes it easy for them.", "excerpt": "This freaked me out the first time I used Mail. It rendered a PDF about buying bitcoin on PayPal (I don't have PayPal). Looked at the same email in Gmail and Thunderbird, it's just a PDF attachment, no message, and the sender was different. No wonder people are falling for those scams, Mail makes it easy for them. Now if only I had a better client on my phone (never buying an iPhone again)", "context": "", "use_case": "email client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple 'Hide My Email' Vulnerability Reveals Peoples' Real Email Addresses"}, {"id": 778407507, "item_id": 48650469, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48650469", "by": "kdtsh", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "provided you don\u2019t have an exotic setup and can deal with only average search capabilities, it works well", "excerpt": "Homebrew and mise-en-place are the only must have apps for me (both of which are not .app applications). Everything else is pretty well context-dependant and/or built in. For me, the better-than-you-think built in apps are: - Reminders - I haven\u2019t gone all in on any other task management software, but I don\u2019t bother because Reminders does everything I need - Mail - it is fiddly and idiot proof to a fault, but provide", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 774050688, "item_id": 48378168, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48378168", "by": "tambourine_man", "date": "2026-06-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Not that Mail.app is amazing. It sometimes corrupts its sqlite db", "excerpt": "I only ever use Gmail's backend. I've been using it for years with Mail.app on both Mac and iOS. Every time I load the web interface I'm appalled. Not that Mail.app is amazing. It sometimes corrupts its sqlite db (I have 300k+ emails dating back to the late 90s). But it's still way better than the dreadful web interface that only seems to get worse and slower.", "context": "has 300k+ emails dating back to the late 90s", "use_case": "email client for Gmail account", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left"}, {"id": 744398160, "item_id": 46524885, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46524885", "by": "drw85", "date": "2026-01-07", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Apple Mail automatically adds calendar entries from attachments in my junk mail to my calendar.", "excerpt": "I think this applies to almost all modern software. Apple Mail automatically adds calendar entries from attachments in my junk mail to my calendar. I get tons of spam/phishing mails with appointments attached that i now manually have to delete from my calendar all the time. There is no dedicated setting to disable this, according to Apple support, deactivating Siri integration inside calendar and mail app settings wi", "context": "", "use_case": "email", "switched_from": "", "story": "All of Apple's services are abysmal"}, {"id": 739445985, "item_id": 46215374, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46215374", "by": "jwr", "date": "2025-12-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "with the gradual decline of MacOS (and Mail.app) I'm looking to switch back", "excerpt": "Thanks, keeping this as a reference \u2014 I'm trying to find some time to try mu4e. I used Gnus for many years, then switched to Apple Mail.app, but with the gradual decline of MacOS (and Mail.app) I'm looking to switch back. I remember the two main reasons I switched from Gnus: 1) there was no good reliable search, 2) I couldn't drag&drop attachments into E-mails and back so I was spending a lot of time pointing to file", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "email client", "switched_from": "Gnus", "story": "Putting email in its place with Emacs and Mu4e"}]}