The iPad lets you hold the internet in your hands, which makes it an amazing tool for handling email. Whether you want to read and reply to messages from the couch, triage your email while on the go, or keep things organized at school or at the office, the iPad can help you do all that and more. The built-in Mail app has plenty of features to help you get your work done, but there are also a bunch of great alternatives in the App Store. These are currently our picks for the best iPad apps to help you clear out your inbox in no time!
Mailbox
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Mailbox lets you deal with your inboxes quickly by giving you lists and snooze options. Your inbox is meant to be only for the messages that need your immediate attention. Everything else gets filed in a list or snoozed for later. Along the top of your inbox, you can view what you've saved for later and what you've archived; the pullout navigation gives you access to all other features. Mailbox currently supports Gmail and iCloud account types. You can also link your Dropbox account to save email attachments and link settings on all your iOS devices.
If you want reliable push notifications and prefer a "get things done" approach — complete with snooze options – Mailbox has your back.
- Free - Download Now
Boxer
Boxer offers push notifications along with support for Gmail, Outlook, Exchange, Yahoo, Hotmail, iCloud, AOL, & IMAP accounts. Unlike most of the other options on the store, Boxer supports both labels and folders for organization. This makes it a nice option for folks who already have their own system set up and don't want to completely rewrite it.
I'm also a fan of Boxer's dashboard view: It provides a great overview of each account, which is nice for folks who have multiple email addresses to manage. As far as additional features go, Boxer provides support for cloud attachments via Dropbox, commonly used response templates, Evernote integration, calendar integration, and much more.
For powerful features combined with great Exchange support, you want Boxer.
- $4.99 - Download Now
myMail
myMail is more traditional than most other apps on the store, opting not to specialize in adding snooze alarms or lists to your inbox. Instead, it lets you view, sort, and organize your mail into folders you've already set up, and you can tap on email avatars to bulk sort messages. myMail also lets you share multiple photos from the Photos app in just a few taps. As for push notifications, MyMail has those too. Currently myMail supports Gmail, Hotmail, Live, Outlook, MSN, iCloud, AOL and Yahoo.
If you want a more traditional replacement mail app that simply adds efficiency, myMail is it.
- Free - Download Now
CloudMagic
CloudMagic supports Gmail, Exchange, Yahoo, Outlook, iCloud, Google Apps, Office 365 and any IMAP account. Along with support for all kinds of accounts, CloudMagic includes push notifications, custom folder sync, a unified inbox view, and much more. CloudMagic has also been updated to support interactive notifications for anyone running iOS 8 or later. That means you can quickly act on emails without even having to open the app. Even better, CloudMagic supports many productivity tools including Trello, OneNote, Todoist, and many more.
If productivity tool tie-in is something you'd greatly benefit from, CloudMagic is a great choice.
- Free - Download Now
Hop
Hop takes a whole new approach to email, presenting your messages as conversations rather than a regular email thread. You can respond to emails just as you would regular iMessage or text message threads. Push notifications work great; you can also set different kinds of notifications for emails from certain people so only the important ones catch your attention. Hop supports iCloud, Gmail, AOL, and iCloud accounts.
If you think instant-messaging-style conversation will help you better manage your inbox, give Hop a try.
- Free - Download Now
Note: Originally published January 28 2014. Updated December 3 2014.
