Hop for iPhone turns your email into actual conversations

By Allyson Kazmucha
last updated

Hop is a new email service that aims to make email more manageable. Unlike other services that use smart mailboxes, Hop transforms your emails into conversations instead of messy threads and attachments. The difference makes you actually want to respond to emails more often.

Most of us spend lots of time in our inboxes and it isn't always a task we look forward to. After spending some time with Hop over the last week or so, I've actually found myself coming back to an empty inbox more often than not. I've found that the reason for that is because Hop doesn't make me feel like I'm responding to emails. I feel like I'm taking part in an actual conversation.

Hop currently supports Gmail, AOL, Yahoo!, and iCloud. Once you configure your account, you're taken to the main inbox view. From here you can toggle the view on the top menu between conversation and traditional inbox view. Traditional inbox view is what we're all used to. The messages view is where you'll want to be, trust me.

Responding to an email is as easy as tapping into any message and just responding. That's it. You can attach images, upload files, open files that are sent to you and more. The only difference is how you view what you're doing. To me, that's the made the difference in how often I'm answering emails. I've also found that I'm treating email more like how I treat text messages and IMs which isn't a bad thing. I'm more short and to the point. There's something about email composers that make us feel like we have to fill them. I've learned not to do this with the help of Hop and I'm sure the recipients of my emails appreciate it.

The good

  • Message style views make email less of a chore and more of a conversation flow
  • Push notifications are wicked fast, in almost all cases I got Hop notifications before the actual Mail client told me I had messages
  • Traditional inbox view is still available for when you really need it

The bad

  • Limited account support at this time, no Exchange

The bottom line

For people that don't look forward to opening their inboxes every morning, Hop will make you change your mind. Not only does it make email seem more personal, it has a funny way of helping you empty your inbox without you even realizing you're being productive. And for anyone that has a nasty habit of being too wordy in emails, Hop can help you solve that problem too without even knowing it.

Allyson Kazmucha
Allyson Kazmucha

iMore senior editor from 2011 to 2015.

26 Comments
  • The wait for this is ridiculous. i signed up about a month ago and there are still 14k people in front of me.
  • I agree, it's been well over a month and still waiting, mailbox didn't take near as long. They should of waited until they were ready before opening up the service
  • So, maybe the review should disclose that the current wait list is over 45,000. I guess I don't understand the point in doing a review of an app that isn't readily available to the public, without putting that disclaimer in there. Sent from the iMore App
  • By all means suggest that we reserve a place in the activation queue, but it is a bit odd to not mention that there is a queue, when it looks like this will be several months' wait (the current waiting list is around 46,000.) Please update the article to reflect this.
  • If Ally has access to the app, how does she know how big the queue is? ;-)
  • She doesn't need to specify the size of the queue, just the fact that there is one.
  • When you start talking about the size of the queue, no-one reads anything else. This is a review of the app, not of the queue.
  • Signing up to use the app is part of the app experience. Pretty important to mention.
  • We'll, she does now :)
  • I have 47,985 people in front of me and 3 people behind me.... LOL please update the post to reflect that there is a queue.
  • Thanks for the review, Ally! I have one iCloud account that I only use for friends/family, and this client will be PERFECT for that. Can't wait to try it. Sounds like it will be worth the wait. For those counting, signed up about 10 days ago, was just a shy bit under 50K at the time. Currently at 41,606, with an even 4,600 behind. At this rate, looks like i should get in in time for Christmas, barring any changes in the pace. I'd love to share this with my non-blog reading friends, but will wait until the wait is over or more manageable before I do so. The wait isn't what concerns me, it is the fact that perhaps they are not ready for the scale.
  • according to a reply tweet that @joinhop made to an inquiry, the dequeue rate is about 400 a day :/ https://twitter.com/joinhop/statuses/396628678077325312
  • Yikes! So by Valentine's day, then. Still, looks promising, and, as Ally points out below, it's Free, so nothing lost.
  • What is the business model here? The app is free, and doesn't seem to offer in-app purchases. Since the line is so long, and there does not seem to be a revenue stream, how are they going to add capacity? Perhaps it would have been better to charge for the app to control the demand a little? More importantly, after waiting in line all this time, how do I know they will still be around? I don't want ads on my mail client. The screen shots don't seem to show ads, so how are they going to keep this app supported!
  • Guys, it's a FREE app. It's not like you paid $20 for an app you can't even use right away. If that were the case, I would have certainly mentioned it. I didn't include the queue information because this article stays forever in the Googles, even after the line is long gone. This seems common practice for companies to balance server loads nowadays and if I had to go back and remove that info from every single article to be accurate, well... that's not logical. Server loads aren't a straight line so stop gauging when you'll get in. Lines always speed up exponentially once they have things straight. That'll be the case here too I'm sure. Like with all queue systems. Calm down, breathe, and don't take things so seriously. I reviewed it because there is interest for it. And there are people that already have access. I agree it's slower than other queues but every app has its own unique challenges. I'd rather see the people that are in have a decent experience and Hop add what they can handle slowly than to ruin the experience for everyone.
  • Agreed! Thanks again for the article and reply, Ally! Mischief Managed!
  • That's all fair enough. But the queue is currently moving at a rate that means over half of us in it (like me) won't see it until next year. Queuing is fine, long queues, I get that, long slow queues frustrating and it is nice to know they are doing their best to provide the best service while trying to accelerate the queue. Most of the criticisms aren't of the queue per say. It is that your review fails to mention it and it is a pertinent fact; the queue is long and slow!
  • It's 2013, simply adding a one liner at the end of the article under an UPDATE banner saying the queue is over would be fine. Commenters aren't calling you a bad person, they're simply commenting on how they'd prefer reviews to be. We're telling you what we want since we're the ones who are keeping this blog around, without, us it wouldn't be necessary. Take the criticism and choose to be a better writer or don't, it's up to you. But obviously the comments are now hijacked and have nothing to do with the functionality of the app. Assigning blame to us isn't going to change that.
  • the reason for the queue is we do what no other email service is doing which is actually reorganizing every! email, we also create thumbnails, turn things to realtime and much more...
    we also maintain a high quality of service for our users.
    that said we're working day and night to move the queue faster
  • I don't think people care about the queue, at least I don't. It's more reading an article and getting excited about something useful, only to find out later that we can't get it for months possibly. If it were mentioned up front, it wouldn't have phased me. Up front and honest is always the correct option.
  • Excellent app, Erez and Guy! I finally got through the waiting list and I can say that it was worth the wait. I find this email/chat app innovative, quick and fun. I'd like to see Exchange and "personal" emails added to its arsenal. I'd also recommend that you add the ability to have photos for contacts other than just the first letter of their first name.
  • I signed up for the app a few months back and was excited about it. After the delays it launched on Oct 18th in the app store, got my place in line and waited for over 10k very patiently. I think the app is definitely a cool spin on email, however I do not like how its more like instant messaging. I like my email to be emailesque and my IMs to be IMs. I still have it on my phone but I disabled notifications and still use mailbox primarily. The biggest hinder it has right now is you can only have 1 account signed in. I use 2 accounts. One for personal and one for my photography business. This is a deal breaker for me right now. I will definitely re-visit the app once multiple account support is here. I messaged hop about it and they said it is definitely going to happen which is good news.
  • Y'all need some cheese to go with your whine holy crow. I'm addicted to Mailbox and the swipe right and left but will try this when I get in. And the business model is make a killer app and get bought out by big companies with money to burn like Dropbox did with Mailbox.
  • Like someone wrote above, the wait is a part of the experience. When I was in line for mailbox and it finally become my turn, that was frekkin' awesome, kind of felt like I just won the lottery! Someone else wrote, how they could have the app for free, and without an business plan. I can azure you that they do. Mailbox'a also free and now it's probably valued a whole lot of cash. And the mother of all free apps that the developers got filthy rich on, INSTAGRAM I'm guessing that it's gonna be well worth the wait, it sure looks awesome! And thanks for an good article :) Sent from the iMore App
  • Back to the app itself...
    I don't get it. If I want to communicate with people in an IM like manner, I'll use IM. If I want the context the email format provides, I'll use that. I'll try it out when my turn comes up I guess, but I don't see how this makes my email experience better. Plus, I'm also wondering about how my emails are stored server side...
  • I'm excited to give this a try. Just gotta be patient though. I'm sure it'll come sooner than most think. Sent from the iMore App