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CloudMagic for Mac — Simple, beautiful & blazing fast email app now on Mac.
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Brendan
Gah... I know email is important, but it's crazy how often email apps are at the top of PH... PHers must really love their productivity!
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@gratefuldays I'm not that surprised, actually. For me, email on the Mac hasn't been solved yet. Most of the available desktop apps that are widely available (i.e. not Polymail or Nylas N1, which are still testing early versions) are buggy, clunky, or ugly. Since Sparrow was bought out by Google I think the space has been open for something as good and nothing's really filled that spot.
These guys admitted spamming everyone and harvesting their emails ILLEGALY and the product is still on top 10 of @ProductHunt? Ok. GG mods
@romainbarissat @orliesaurus they harvested emails from Slack communities, without the permission of the community mods, and most importantly the users. In my opinion, starting off your product launch with something as dishonest as this is not cool, not cool at all.
@adamturnbulluk @orliesaurus yes we went a bit overboard with it. Apologies once again. Harvesting email from Slack communities was not cool.
@rohitnadhani @orliesaurus not cool? ITS ILLEGAL. You should be punished/penalized.
@rohitnadhani @zacdavies Of course, so you offer a trial download direct on the website which expires after x days.
@zacdavies Yes. Right now we kept it simple to push the the first version out asap. We'll get to offering trials on our website in the future.
Love the design of this, but I prefer email clients that have a list of emails along the left, then when you click on one, the preview of that email appears on the right. This allows me to jump between emails really fast because the list never goes away. It looks like in this UI the inbox list is full-width, then when you click on one the preview takes up the whole screen. Seems like this would add a lot of clicks going back and forth between viewing your inbox and viewing a specific email (Gmail also works like this).
Other than that, solid work!
@jmsuth Thanks! But, don't you think this will help you focus more on the email that you are reading/composing? You can use arrow keys to navigate between email easily.
@karthiksuroju Not really, there's enough screen real estate to focus. I can understand why on smaller devices the paradigm works, but it doesn't make sense to me on larger screens
@jmsuth our philosophy is to keep the experience clean, remove the distractions while reading emails. Once you start using the app, I'm sure our opinions will align :)
@karthiksuroju @jmsuth I think this is fair for reading/writing long emails, but when you want to quickly process a whole bunch of short/irrelevant emails, all the clicking and switching views would be frustrating.
@bellebcooper @jmsuth Our Mac app allows you to act on emails from the inbox view itself. Just hover over an email to take quick actions. You can discard the unwanted emails from the inbox view itself and then 'act' on the important ones. Yes, the important ones are the emails that we 'read'/'write'. By allowing you to focus on what matters the most, our Mac app will make your emailing pleasant. I say, give it a try and decide :)
You guys are loosing acquisitions & activations due the lack of a trial. Maybe re-evaluate the cost of providing a trial?
One can easily imagine an increase in productivity with a mail app like Polymail which replaces gmail/mailbox & browser plugins (email tracking, rapportive) with a fast and beautiful native app.
The CloudMagic selling pitch is that it's used by 3 million *mobile* users & the app has a very minimalistic UI. Personally the pitch doesn't motivate me to risk $20.
If you guys ever release a trial I would love to try it out!
@roadtoaether Mac App Store doesn't allow trials. Our model is simple, mobile apps are free and will act as 'trial'. If you like the experience, you can go for the Mac app. The experience will be similar on all the devices.
@roadtoaether The first version has basic email features and it'll be loaded with power features and tools with the upcoming versions.
@karthiksuroju @roadtoaether
Guess nobody asked why you bothered to go through the App Store. So why did you? 1Password is really popular and they offer their app through both the App Store and online via direct download.
This seems like poor strategy and I use your mobile client. The App Store is a fine enough marketplace, but when you're a smaller startup, you've gotta be everywhere first.
@cicadadesign @roadtoaether Yes. Right now we kept it simple to focus on basic emailing features and push the the first version out asap. We'll get to offering trials on our website in the future.
Seems like email apps get rejuvenated in 2015/2016. Though, with gmail it will be a hard battle for any vendor...
Still going to give it a try, but without a trial my guess is that you won't even get enough users for a sustainable business model.
That said, if you are on gmail only, the best app is still Mailplane (http://mailplaneapp.com). Just a happy user.
@thenitai It's wonderful to know you've decided to try CloudMagic for Mac! Do let us know how it goes :)
So I've been using Cloudmagic for a really long time and love it.
And I actually paid the $20 for it because I do love the iOS versions on my iphone and ipad (and everything is already setup in Cloudmagic anyway).
But unless I am missing it, the Mac version does not have the integrations with Evernote, Asana, and Trello. And if true, then it's really disappointing. And not worth the $20. Please say it isn't so?!
@patrickcondon Mac version doesn't have the integrations, yet. They'll be added in one of our upcoming versions.
@itsnblackburn why not? Unlike numerous email apps that are thick IMAP/ActiveSync clients, the CloudMagic mobile and desktop apps are thin REST API clients. This architecture makes it straightforward for CloudMagic to deliver a native app on any other new platform in the future - http://blog.cloudmagic.com/2016/...
$20 out the gate is way too much. I've tried many already and never seem to do the job. Surprisingly Outlook is not that bad but I have Outlook and Gmail accounts. Willing to give it a try before purchasing.. Or any way of getting promo codes.
@wilforeal our mobile apps are free. If you like us, you can pay $19.99 to complete the experience on Mac. You are actually paying for the package. We are available on all the devices, you just need to set-up your account once and never bother to configure email again. And we support all types of accounts as well.
I am a big fan of your mobile app but $19.99 without even trying it doesn't make any sense. Would pay if I can try it first.
@bvatere No simple way to do trials on Mac App Store. If you love us on mobile, you'll feel right at home on OSX too.
@karthiksuroju Will you refund if I don't? The screenshots in the store are confusing
@karthiksuroju @bvatere Don't understand what the inbox look like. Is there a left side nav? Do you have cards like in the mobile app? Based on the screenshot, it looks like a web app, not a native app
@bvatere The inbox is in the centre with Grey area around. This will allow you to focus on your emails. No, cards are not part of the 1st version of our Mac app. We'll get them on Mac soon.
YES I have been waiting and waiting for this and now I have THREE Mac mail apps competing for my dock slot: Polymail, Nyla's N1, CloudMagic.
@karthiksuroju right now polymail seems to be winning, but CloudMagic iOS is SO good, I almost need a polymail iOS before I make my decision.
@cohix right there with you. Been quite happy with Polymail so far, but would love the "organise by person" feature of UniboxApp then I could die happy :)
@khurammalik @cohix Why not just use Unibox? Just asking as we always try to make Unibox better.
@lassejansen @cohix I took a look at the website but didn't see any support for email tracking, send later, dropbox/grive integration etc? I would definitely use Unibox if I knew those things were available.
"Our 3M mobile users have been asking for a native Mac app. This is by far the #1 feature request." So why not gouge $20 out of those requesters?
I know that desktop email clients are very difficult to monetise, but seriously, $20 and no trial?
Lots of people provide trial versions of apps, and sell through the Mac App store, it's not rocket science. Saying it's difficult is not a valid response. Some might say the lack of a trial is a cynical ploy to grab as much revenue as possible.
@frassmith Yes, its difficult, not impossible. We wanted to keep licensing as simple as possible on launch. For a lot of our users, the "trial" is our mobile apps. In the future, we might figure out to offer trials on desktop apps as well.
@rohitnadhani Hi there. Good to see all the PR on the launch. Two questions, both related 1. Why should I buy this when Spark is due out anytime for free. 2. What is the reason for the price? Is it because you don't farm people 'be aware of geeks with free gifts etc'?
@leewynne I was lucky enough to get a promo code through their site, and I've got to say it's a slick app... but not one I would have been happy with at $20. It has a bare-bones preferences menu (much less than available on the iOS apps) and seems to be missing a few features that I use on the iOS apps.
Right now, it really seems like the only benefit from this app is Handoff, and as a native OS X & iOS API it doesn't really seem logical to pay $20 for such a feature.
@raptblue "bare-bones preferences menu (much less than available on the iOS apps)" - should not be the case. Which one did you miss? Yes there are some preferences on the Iphone that are not applicable on Mac.
I was on the CloudMagic beta for about three weeks before they launched the public version. I consider myself a power user: inbox zero, can navigate Gmail completely on keyboard, use a bunch of extensions, have also been alpha testing Polymail, prefer Slack over email, etc. I've been using CloudMagic as my primary desktop client for several weeks. My thoughts below.
Pros:
— UI: The UI truly is a zenlike experience. After just a few minutes of using it, both the Gmail and Polymail interfaces felt visually stressful in comparison. The "message list" view is nice and clean, and the "compose message" experience in particular really lends itself to focus. Really nice.
— UX: *Some* of the UX features are super slick: for multiple inboxes, being able to ⌘+1, ⌘+2, etc. to go to each of my different inboxes, and ⌘+0 to show messages from all inboxes, is awesome; sending attachments is also remarkably fast.
— Speed: Super fast app.
Cons:
— Navigation: The number one thing for me, the one that will end up being a dealbreaker if it's not resolved, is that the keyboard shortcuts are (1) completely different from Gmail's for the most part, and (2) not as comprehensive as I'd like (e.g. can't easily switch between composing a message and the inbox view; can't use "n" and "p" to move in between messages within a thread, so on several occasions now I have replied to the wrong person). Given the app's wonderfully minimalist UI, this is a real shame, because if one *could* navigate the app entirely by keyboard, it would really complete the uniqueness of this user experience. A further note: This didn't bother me as much when I first started using the app over the holidays, but since I've returned to fast-paced work mode, it's been a real pain point (e.g. hitting "A" to reply all but instead archiving the message) and I've already sent several messages to the wrong people, or prematurely. I imagine this will be a similar point of friction for other Gmail power users.
— UI: The UI is awesome, but as others have mentioned, customization is fairly rudimentary at this point. I'd like to be able to condense spacing, for example, the same way Gmail allows for a "compact" display vs. "comfortable."
— Search speed: For the most part, navigating the app is super fast. The exception is the search feature, which comes nowhere close to Gmail's. Not sure how much can be done about that given that it's working off of IMAP. (And CloudMagic search thankfully uses the same search operators as Gmail.)
A few other minor limitations, that I believe the team is already planning to resolve in future app updates:
— Limited formatting within messages: Currently, there's no way to include an image within the email body as opposed to attaching the file separately. And copying and pasting things like spreadsheet excerpts doesn't convert well.
— No extensions or special Gmail features, like Full Contact, Sidekick, Undo Send. I'm told these are on the way as well.
Bottom line: This app has *enormous* potential to streamline my workflow, and I would fully switch over to it and fork over the $20, IF the limited pro user functionality (i.e. having to click around way too much) wasn't such an impediment.
@miamabanta Thanks for your honest and comprehensive feedback. We are already working on some of the pain points that you've mentioned. This is the first version and the app will only get better.
We won't disappoint you :)
@tnsrig No simple way to do trials on the Mac App Store. CloudMagic is free to use as long as you want on iOS and Android and if you like it, you will be right at home on the Mac too. You are paying for the cohesive experience of emailing with all your preferences intact on all your devices.
Almost happy user of Newton. The strange thing is that Newton announced Office 365 support.
But both clients (Mac, iOS) are eventually reporting error 500 working with my Office 365 subscription. Newton's support is blaming Microsoft (Office 365), and can't escalate that there that nor send me back traces to prove errors from Microsoft :(
We recently saw Polymail launch with a huuuuuge response after Mailbox announced it was shutting down.
How do you justify charging $20 for a mac email client vs a free app like Polymail? Especially with no free trial.
Honestly I'm still figuring out why I need any extra email 'fluff' that warrants me using an app other than just using Gmail.
I downloaded Polymail but never use it, and since updating I've had issues getting back into it. So that barrier is enough for me to probably not bother with it. Emails on my browser are just so convenient for me I feel that there must be something extra special that really makes me want to take the effort.
Would love to hear what you have to tell us about CloudMagic @rohitnadhani & team
@bentossell
- Our 3M mobile users have been asking for a native Mac app. This is by far the #1 feature request.
- If you are only a Gmail user, one of the advantages of a native app is increased snappiness, alt tab switching, etc (basically every advantage of a desktop app)
- CloudMagic really shines when you have multiple email accounts across vendors (Work, Personal, University). Our users register 2.6 accounts on an average
- By charging for the desktop app, we are trying to create a legit & clean business model
@bentossell "I downloaded Polymail but never use it, and since updating I've had issues getting back into it":
1) how come you never use it
2) what do you mean by "since updating"? updating what and why's that affect things?
@_jacksmith when I first got it, I couldn't see an unread vs all in my inbox... that put me off.
Not sure I need all the bells and whistles. I star emails for later, read, reply and delete. I'm always on top of them each day.
I was promted today with an update to install, so I did. Now it keeps asking me to sign in, when I type in my details it says can't upgrade existing account. Assume a bug, but don't have time for it when Gmail does everything I need atm.
@bentossell If you have multiple email accounts a client is really necessary. I have to imagine Google is thinking about that though, and will have a solution eventually. That being said Polymail is the best new Mac email app on the market, would have tried CloudMagic if there was a trial but would never pay $20 out of the gate
@bentossell Got an e-mail from @karthiksuroju asking me to join the conversation on Product Hunt and share my thoughts. So here are my thoughts:
1) I never joined the mailing list for this product
2) The e-mail address it was sent to was the e-mail address I use for some of the Product Hunt slack channels, which tells me it's been farmed (not cool).
3) I've never used CloudMagic before in my life, and since I'm a Windows user, I really don't see how this product is relevant to me.
4) I am now wondering - if I was using CloudMagic, would it have the ability to filter out unsolicited spam?
General consensus from other commenters seems to be that there should be a LITE version of this app (if a trial isn't possible), which would allow users to explore base features of the product before committing to a full purchase.
Any plans on adding snoozing emails?
Visually CloudMagic seems like something made for my minimalistic needs, but without snoozing any email app is pretty much useless.
I wish there was at lest a 2 days trial. Even though I'd pay a lot of the perfect email client, I'm not going to pay $20 to test an app.
@oskar Option to snooze emails will be added very soon. And, Mac App Store doesn't offer trials. Our mobile apps are free and you can try them out anytime. If you like us on mobile, you'll feel right at home on Mac too :)
@karthiksuroju @oskar this message was posted about 6 months ago, and yet the snooze feature is nowhere to be seen. Exactly how do you define the word "soon"?