Alternative Apps for Gmail that Will Rock Your World

We’re all used to relying on Gmail for personal and business matters. It’s not hard to see why, since it’s one of the most powerful email platforms out there. It’s integrated with applications that are important for your work (Drive, Calendar, Google Plus, etc.) and has practically everything you need, which is why it’s difficult to part ways with it.

But what if you suddenly decided you don’t like to use it anymore? Or the Gmail app on your phone is acting up and it disrupts your productivity? Or you don’t feel like concentrating all of your business IT services in the hands of one company? Or you simply want a change so you go looking for alternative apps that pack the same power?

We’ve compiled three very good alternatives to for Gmail that can hold their ground against the corporate giant.

MailDroid

Users who don’t like clutter will love MailDroid’s minimalist interface. It has a lot of whitespace that should make it easy for you to concentrate on the message you’re composing or reading. It can manage multiple email accounts and allows easy access to each one.

It packs plenty of power and features comparable to Gmail. For example, you won’t miss Gmail’s conversation feature here; all the messages can be combined in conversations, making it easier for you to search for specific information, like instructions on a new project you’re working on that were sent several weeks ago.

MailDroid also makes it very easy to save attachments, like PDF and Word documents, directly to your phone’s SD card. This will come in very handy when working on projects that require managing a lot of documents. It’s easily integrated with both Dropbox and Google Drive, which makes it even more helpful when collaborating. Another great feature is Quick Responses, which allows you to create template responses so you can easily respond to emails. It also has split screen functionality for tablet devices. Of course, it also has the basics covered, including the ability to put your signature in each email.

Cloud Magic

What’s impressive about Cloud Magic is its neat and beautiful interface. The part where you are asked to add your email accounts slightly resembles Windows 8 (you can manage up to five different accounts).

The app supports major email platforms like Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Microsoft Exchange, and Yahoo. The difference between Cloud Magic and MailDroid is that you can combine all of your email accounts in just one inbox, making it very easy for you to search emails and attachments. All of your emails are found in the left navigator header. Other options (download, open, compose new message) are also neatly stacked at the top bar. Besides e-mail, Cloud Magic also connects you with staples of business IT services such as MailChimp, Zendesk, Evernote, OneNote, and others, via its new feature, Cards.

It’s user-friendly too. No need to click on the message to delete or archive; simply swipe to do it. This has push notifications so you don’t miss important messages. The only catch is that everything is processed in the cloud. But that really isn’t much of an issue because the advantages far outweigh it. It’s easy and quick to use, has notifications you can rely on, can sync with other devices, and doesn’t consume much battery juice on mobile devices.

Blue Mail

Users who are concerned about being productive will love this email app. If you’re getting tons of messages from different sources and barely have time to go through them right now, Blue Mail is one of the several apps that let you prioritize messages so you can deal with what’s important now without forgetting to follow up on the rest.

The best thing about it is you don’t have to be stuck with an inbox that has hundreds of unread messages. Because you can prioritize messages, it’s easy to go through each one until you reach Zero Inbox. That’s a feat that’s difficult to achieve if you’re using the usual email apps.

You can manage different email accounts and combine them in one place. It supports practically all email platforms from Yahoo to Gmail, from Outlook to iCloud. It’s got a very personal and visual design. Each message displays a profile picture (or initials) of the sender. This is helpful when you’re waiting for an important email. A simple glance will let you know if it’s a message you should read now.

If it’s not, you can continue with what you’re doing and don’t have to be disturbed because you can snooze messages.  Or mark each message to read them for later. It’s also very intuitive and helps make your work easier. When composing an email, it will go through contacts from your email and phone and then suggests the best recipients so you don’t have to look hard.

So, Are You Ready to Ditch Gmail?

Gmail is a very powerful email client. It’s convenient and offers a lot of features that contribute to your productivity. But there will be instances when you’ll need to look for alternatives, and when that happens, you want something that offers the same flexibility, productivity, and convenience Gmail does, just like these three apps.