Gmail for Android should be one of the best email apps on the platform. However, I tried using it in 2024, and it is actually terrible.
It’s actually better on iOS, like every other Google app, which should embarrass them. But forget the app, GMail in general is fundamentally broken and hasn’t improved in any way that I can ever recall.
But yeah, just off the top of my head:
- The search function is completely broken. Like, I type in the exact name of the subject and it’s nowhere to be found. And it doesn’t search the trash or spam folders either.
- There’s no way to block senders! It just sends them to the spam folder instead! Why would anyone think that’s a good idea with the modern state of spam/scam emails!? I have to create a new filter for every spam sender…
- “All mail” does not show you all mail. What in the actual fuck?
- It hides the fucking sender’s email address! Like WTFBBQ!? How is this not a GIANT security vulnerability!?
- If I click on an email, it won’t show up as read unless I sit there and stare at it for 5 seconds.
How is any of this acceptable from the most prolific email platform on the planet!?
My company insists on sending all communications through email, and also insists on using Gmail, which means shit just gets buried and impossible to find all the damn time.
I cannot reproduce any of these, though I haven’t tried to block any senders.
I’ve never seen messages not show up in a search or in all mail. It doesn’t search spam or trash by default, but you can override that by adding e.g. “in:trash” if for some reason you needed to include those. It shows me the sender email address just fine when I tap on the header. It also marks a message as read immediately on opening it. I don’t see an option to change this on Android, maybe it’s a per-account setting you can change from desktop.
I’ve never seen messages not show up in a search or in all mail.
Oh well if you’ve never noticed it must be a figment of my imagination…?
It doesn’t search spam or trash by default
Yes that’s the problem.
It shows me the sender email address just fine when I tap on the header.
Once again, yes, that’s the problem. Most people are not going to do that.
when was the last time you used it on Android, and was it on a modern device? about half of those don’t really apply/happen to me
1: yeah search sucks sometimes, wish they’d fix it.
2: you can block people, you just have to select the lower … icon
3: it says ‘primary mail’ for me, but it is kinda annoying sometimes
4: are you talking about how it shortens ‘[email protected]’ to just ‘Steam’? because on a phone there isn’t much horizontal room and they have a verified system for businesses but I can kinda see what you mean
5: It marked read nearly instantly for me. If it can load the text then it’ll mark as read which only takes like half a second for me.
when was the last time you used it on Android
Literally several times/day, every day?
and was it on a modern device?
Pixel 7
you can block people, you just have to select the lower icon
No you can’t. Much like “all mail” it simply doesn’t do what it says. As I said, it just moves them into the spam folder.
are you talking about how it shortens '[email protected]
In your own screenshot it just says “Discord”. There is no email address to be found. This makes it stupidly easy to dupe vulnerable people. You can enter any name in that field and any photo in your profile, making it stupidly easy to impersonate, for instance, PayPal or USPS, which I get all the time.
Terrifying that any company would use Gmail.
Hell, MS is a better email host.
It’s shocking that anyone would use MS, they have a pretty terrible security record. https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/CSRB_Review_of_the_Summer_2023_MEO_Intrusion_Final_508c.pdf
Basically they used the same encryption key for every tenant and thought that rotating the key was too hard, so they stopped.
I find Gmail hot garbage in general. Switched to proton mail and it’s similar to how Gmail used to be when it was good. Also has google integration so it makes the transition easy
If Proton would offer feature to send from your mailbox with external SMTP accounts, like GMails, I would sign up for unlimited.
This is the main thing that put me off them too. Not going to use some desktop app to allow my server to send email on my behalf. I use Zoho mail now and while it isn’t perfect it does what I need.
I like K-9 Mail
Soon to be rebranded as Thunderbird
I remember trying K9 years ago and the UI/UX felt hostile to me trying to add accounts and I uninstalled it. Tried it again last year or so and it was painless. It just worked.
It’s now my default email app and I look forward to improvements as it becomes Thunderbird.
Gmail app in particular has been basically abandoned for the last 4+ major android versions. I only really use it for my work email on a Shelter profile since it’s just to handle urgent stuff if I’m afk. But even that minimal use has me about ready to install k-9 on the work profile too.
Maybe my memory is bring foiled by nostalgia, but i honestly remember the Gmail Inbox app being better than the current Gmail app. Clearly google can output a good UI, they just 100% choose not to.
The built-in email app for an OS doesnt have to be amazing, but it at least needs to be reasonable. iOS Mail isn’t amazing either, but compared to the Gmail app it’s a feature-packed power user tool.
Inbox was by far the best thing Google have done with email. Still waiting on features they had unique to that app.
They are blind and lost. Nest hasn’t had a feature update since they acquired them 10 years ago. Their thermostats don’t even have a “its freezing outside and the air conditioner shouldn’t run” feature. Fi rots on the vine. Their camera service is terrible and they just raised the rates. Garbage company anymore.
i honestly remember the Gmail Inbox app being better than the current Gmail app
It absolutely was
I believe the iOS Mail app is getting a UI redesign before the end of the year.
When you like tech and understand email then FairEmail is nice. If you don’t understand the email technology, don’t need features and just want it as simple as possible, choose K9.
Someone else that uses FairMail! I like it because email PGP signatures.
Yes. PGP is nicely integrated. I also use the SMTP server “delivered” notifications quite often, when the mail is really important.
FairEmail also handles accounts and identities properly.
Then you can see the email safely, without crap and tracing pixels.
I can also take a look at the email source. This is extremely important for me.
Not only do I not use Gmail, but I also run my own mail, calendar, and contacts servers. It’s not for everyone, but I have control of all my stuff going back to 1997.
How’re you handling DMARC and SPF?
Opendkim on sendmail and, uh, DNS records. I used dmarcian for a bit to analyze dmarc but after awhile there’s no point.
Thank you. I’m using dockermail and cloudflare DNS records.
Google Apps are ALWAYS much worse than FOSS alternatives.
The only exception to this is google maps. There isn’t really an alternative, because they have the network effect going with all the points of interest added already, and crowd sourced by people, plus the reviews of business and restaurants. Even if you can get all that going with a Foss app, its not going to be tracking you, and unfortunately maps is the 1 reason for tracking people that actually gives the user some benefit, traffic data. I don’t think there any other Foss maps that gives traffic data, which if you live near a city or travel a lot, its invaluable.
The only thing where google maps is superior is the reviews. In all other points OSM is more detailed and often more up to date. Especially due to nerds like us, that while waiting for the radicalistic-left club to open, explore a mislabeled playground, fix that, and continue to complete streets for OSM with one dude’s phone that can measure distances.
However, google maps does have a lot of data too. Except the app, as all google apps, has literally no useful settings and is awful to use in many aspects.
And for FOSS apps that give traffic data: There are none that I’m aware of. There are, however, alternative, crowd sourced apps/websites for germany, like Blitzer.de, that not only show speed cams but also traffic data. Not ideal, but better.
I would have to disagree for the city and state that I live in. Google Maps is much more accurate and up to date than OSM and the directions are better too. Not to mention sometimes knowing to route around construction and whatnot. OSM and whether it’s better than Google Maps seems to be very region dependent.
I contribute when and where I can but there isn’t a huge user base here.
That’s bad luck then, friends and I had the opposite experience, with OrganicMaps routing around a road closure where google maps didn’t acknowledge it.
What foss do you recommend for email? I don’t love Gmail app, but I’ve not come across a better alternative yet (not tried very hard tbh) .
FairEmail app does the job for me.
Maybe not the best, but good and compliant to the desktop variant: K-9 Mail, now rebranded to Thunderbird Android
aside from Google maps and camera
maps is the most up to date, easiest to use
pixel camera really does a great job on the processing of photos. oftentimes better that other manufacturers stock apps
I stopped clicking on android authority links after they faked a drop test to make an iPhone look good
That said, what are people using nowadays or what. I tried skiff earlier this year and then it almost immediately announced they were stopping their email service
I can’t imagine the stress if I’d had anything important I needed to transfer to another email. I mean, besides losing everything of course
Edit: relevant absolutely ridiculous, watching it again. No shame! I wonder if they ever even addressed it
On that note, what are some decent email providers? I’m using Gmail for all the corporate bs (e.g., Steam, Discord, etc.)
I switched to proton mail about 3 months ago since I was already using proton VPN and pass and I’m very happy with it so far. If you use pass + mail you can easily create website-specific aliases (automatically or with a few button presses) so you don’t expose your own email, and if you start getting spam you’ll know exactly who sold your email.
Primary downside is that since all of your mail is encrypted, on mobile you can only use the official proton mail app, not any third party apps. On desktop there is a bridge app that lets you use others though (I personally use thunderbird)
I had a free ProtonMail account I haven’t been using, so I’ll have to pick it back up. I did manage after a few attempts to properly configure Thunderbird, at least for my mail. Couldn’t get it up and running on the Calendar side.
Protonmail
Gonna get shot for this but i really like outlook.
I wouldn’t shoot you, but I’d turn the other way if someone uh…led you on a poorly chosen hike. 😆
Lol as long as it’s peaceful until the end that sounds fine.
I use Mailbox.org. Based in Germany so EU privacy laws apply.
Ooh I hadn’t heard of this one. Thank you!
I like tuta.com (formerly Tutanota). The mobile app is really simple—so much so that they’ve only recently added a red and blue themed dark mode. Aside from that, I have never encountered any problems in my few years of using it.
They offer both free and paid plans. I recently decided to subscribe to Tuta to support their project, although in previous years the free plan worked fine for me.
I’m interested to hear what everyone uses as an alternative.
Don’t use it, but Marcel is a nice dev and has great customer support. Used his firewall app, NetGuard.
K9 / Thunderbird seems alright. But I don’t need a whole lot for my mail and the only real benefit of them is that it isn’t Google and it is open source. I don’t think it currently works well with spam flagging though.
I use K-9 mail (its on F-droid too).
Its soon to be the Thunderbird mobile client.
I am trying out BlueMail and it seems ok
