Email apps, which are best for Android

We present a rundown of the best email apps for Android devices: the main features and strengths of each of them.

When starting an Android smartphone for the first time, it is very likely to find an email client pre-installed, an e-mail management application. Very often, however, this application proves unsuitable to handle the needs not only of the professional but also those of the normal user.

What are the best Android email apps to read and send emails?

Gmail for Android

Our “roundup” cannot leave from the Gmail app for Android: unlike what many think, the Google application does not allow you to manage only Gmail accounts but allows you to add multiple mail accounts, belonging to any manager.

By accessing the main Gmail for Android menu, email apps like Google allows you to add additional accounts, including Microsoft (Outlook, Hotmail and Live), Exchange and Office 365 and Yahoo.

By choosing other you can configure email accounts of any provider. In particular, by selecting Manual configuration, you can enter the parameters for access to incoming and outgoing mail servers.

For incoming mail it is possible to configure both IMAP and POP3 servers, with or without using TLS encryption.

We have deepened the use of Gmail with other email accounts because as soon as you install or launch the Gmail app on a device on which you have already set up a Google account, the application will auto configure for access to its mailbox.

Points in favor of Gmail for Android:

• The application manages all the protocols of mail and brilliantly supports the management and research within any email account, even managed by third parties.
• The Cancel function allows you to restore a message deleted or moved by mistake. For a few seconds, with Gmail accounts, you can also cancel sending an email.
• For Google Accounts, the Gmail spam filter is excellent.
• Offers the ability to set easily customizable rules for managing messages.

Blue Mail

Blue Mail for Android is an app that allows you to manage e-mail accounts of various providers, from the most famous to the local.

Setting up a mail account is really fast and requires just three touches.

Blue Mail supports multiple e-mail accounts, allows you to configure signatures and allows the use of stylized images and texts.

A dark background theme allows you to automatically switch from “day” to “night” mode so as to facilitate the reading of messages without particular visual efforts.

This e-mail client also allows you to mark emails that can be handled later and set “reminders” so that they are not destined to get lost in the inbox.

Points in favor of Blue Mail:

• An app that allows you to focus your attention on really important conversations.
• The web interface is well designed and very easy to use.
• An intelligent counter allows you to establish at a glance how many unread e-mails or just the number of new unread e-mails.
• A robust preview mechanism allows you to mark as read or delete emails without even opening the application.

Aqua Mail

It is an application for Android devices created specifically to manage multiple email accounts.

Like the other email clients we presented, Aqua Mail also supports services like Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo, Office 365, Exchange but also local email addresses offered by foreign providers.

Very easy to install and configure, Aqua Mail is highly customizable so that users can adapt the operation to their needs. In this regard, the email client also integrates numerous third-party add-ons that can further extend the possibilities.

It must be said that some advanced features are usable only upon activation of the Pro license, which costs $9.99; there is also no integration with the calendar.

Points in favor of Aqua Mail:

• You can select multiple emails with a downward swiping operation on the left side of the screen.
• Navigation is intuitive and very simple.
• You can assign colored labels to organize important emails in the blink of an eye.

Outlook for Android

The Microsoft Outlook email apps for Android is really well done and when one defaillance serious: it does not allow to manage accounts via POP3 protocol, even using TLS encryption.

For the rest, supports the configuration of multiple accounts and is widely customizable: the various operations of swiping to the left or right can be for example set for the purpose of deleting, archiving, moving mail messages.

Outlook’s strong point for Android is undoubtedly the integrated search function that behaves very well not only with Microsoft accounts but also with those of other providers (hence, probably the choice not to support the older POP3 protocol).

Points in favor of Outlook for Android:

• Integrated search functionality.
• Scroll options to customize the behavior of the swiping operation.
• Ability to block remote images and pixels that signal to remote users that an email has been read.

Tutanota

To exchange encrypted emails from your Android device you can use Tutanota email apps, an open source application allows you to send encrypted emails directly to the recipient with a single click. Messages that are not sent in encrypted form are stored on Tutanota’s cloud servers.

In this regard, however, it must be said that the content of the emails can never be read by the developers of the application or by other users. The private key used for the encryption of the messages is in fact stored locally, on the mobile device of the users.

Unfortunately Tutanota cannot be used together with existing email accounts (you can create an account @ tutanota.com, @ tutanota.de, @ tutamail.com, @ tuta.io, @ keemail.me which provides 1 GB of space for free storage of your conversations).

To start the application on the Android device where it is installed, Tutanota requires the insertion of a password necessary to unlock and access the app.

Tutanota currently does not allow you to attach multiple files at the same time: each of them must be selected and loaded individually. Some features are paid as the ability to set aliases, rules and filters in addition to the use of unlimited search.

Points in favor of Tutanota:

• Allows you to exchange encrypted emails (content, subject, attachments) with your interlocutors.
• The private key is generated and stored locally.
• When it is not possible to directly deliver the emails to the recipient these are stored in encrypted form on the Tutanota servers.