We've seen some nice Email apps like Unibox, Sparrow, Airmail, Postbox and more. Today, we are going to review a newly released Email client, Mail Pilot.
Mail Pilot is, as the title says, task-oriented app which can help you to stay at zero unread count. Unlike other apps in the category, Mail Pilot has some nice features that allow users to archive the new mails in different ways. The app has very minimal user interface.
The Interface and Setup
Just like other Email apps, Mail Pilot allows you to login into your mail account. You can use any of your Email including iCloud, Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, Outlook and more. You just have to enter the account name with username and password.
After you login, the app starts syncing all your mails and it does it pretty quickly. It loads the list of mails with excerpt in the left column while the mail preview in the right column. Selecting any mail from the list opens up the full mail in the right column. For conversations, the app displays the mails in three different views, Nested, Flat and Reversed. In conversations, the app allows users to group all, none, recent and unanswered mails. It also displays information like number of participants and messages in the conversational mails.
The feature that makes the app task-focused is the ability to archive mails in different categories which are, Completed, Set Aside, Remind and List. In every mail, you get option to trigger any of these actions.
The Completed action Archives the mail, so if you’re done reading a mail, you can click on the Completed button at the bottom of the mail. If you got a mail and don’t have time to read, you can trigger the Set Aside action and the mail will be archived a “Set Aside” group. When you get time, you can just head over to the group and read all the mails.
There’s a “Remind” action which allows users to set a date and the app will automatically notify you about the mail. It is good for mails with deadlines, like mails containing meeting information, bills , etc. The other action is “List” which can collect related messages.
It will be easy for users who are used to with these archiving feature, but it will take time for one who is getting started with the app. Out of all the categories, the most important one is the “Remind” action which I think should be added in other mail apps too. Users can also create folders to organize the mails.
The Options
The app currently has few options as compared to other mail clients. You can add multiple accounts and add custom signature.
There are some General options for Sending and Receiving Messages, changing Message list and Message view. Users also get Notification options and option for changing Sound.
Final Thoughts
Mail Pilot is a simple to use email client with minimal options. Users can use Mail Pilot as an alternative to the default OS X mail app, but unfortunately it is not a core app in the category, and it will disappoint you if you’re thinking that it can replace apps like Sparrow and Airmail.
You can download Mail Pilot from App Store for $9.99, which is currently 50% off.