Gmail is more than just an email service. It's an ecosystem, a productivity tool, and a unique inbox experience that millions of people rely on every day. If you find that using Gmail in your Mac browser is a bit of a drag, try a Gmail-compatible mail app instead.

Boxy Suite 2

Boxy Suite 2 is a complete Google Suite wrapper for macOS. It allows you to use Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Keep, and Google Contacts on your Mac as if they were native applications. Each appears in a separate window, allowing you to keep them in your dock, place them on second or third monitors, and receive email alerts that appear alongside your other Mac notifications.

Using Gmail with Boxy Suite 2 is a lot like using the web app, but with an interface that more closely resembles a native application. You can add multiple accounts and quickly switch between them, pick your theme, use the macOS share functionality to offload tasks to other apps, and use Gmail's existing keyboard shortcuts (or add more of your own) to get around.

On top of this, there's a powerful Quick Launcher that works a lot like Spotlight does on the Mac. You can use this feature to navigate to different inboxes and switch accounts quickly simply by typing. There are a few additional nice-to-have features like tracking detection which shows you if an email is attempting to track you (though trackers won't be blocked). Boxy also features a "reader mode" for email that mirrors Reader on Safari, perfect for absorbing long-form newsletters.

You can try Boxy Suite 2 for 14 days at no charge, but you'll have to put in your payment details to access this trial. Once the trial period is up you'll be charged $39 for a year.

Mimestream

Mimestream might just be the best "native" Gmail application experience you can have on your Mac. It uses the Gmail API to provide a highly responsive Gmail experience, and it's uniquely designed to work best with Gmail. At present, only Google email addresses are supported, but in time the app plans to add support for Microsoft 365 and Outlook, IMAP, and JMAP email accounts.

The app supports all the mainstay Gmail features like inbox categories, email labeling, filters, Google profile photos, Calendar integration (with in-line responses to invitations), undo Send, and the ability to send mail from any Gmail aliases you have configured.

You can add multiple accounts to Mimestream and switch between them at will, or make use of a unified inbox view to see all of your mail on a single screen. This includes labels to help you understand where email is coming from. The app includes support for configuring out-of-office or vacation auto-responses, the ability to snooze messages and surface them later, and support for markdown formatting and code blocks.

Being a native app Mimestream offers native Mac integrations like notifications (including a custom working hours notification schedule), support for Focus Filters, keyboard shortcuts, swipes for quickly getting through your inbox, macOS dark mode, Preview's markup features, and a native Apple Silicon app.

Not only does Mimestream looks the part on your Mac desktop, but it also offers some tracking prevention by blocking trackers from some services. Sign up for a free 14-day trial (no payment details required) and then pay $49.99 per year for the individual plan which lets you use Mimestream on use to 5 devices, on as many Gmail accounts as you like.

Kiwi for Gmail

Kiwi for Gmail was one of the first apps that was designed to bring Gmail to the desktop, as a standalone app. The app offers support for the whole Google Suite range of apps complete with multiple account management that makes working with personal, work, school, and other accounts simple.

Kiwi breaks Gmail out of its web-based shell with multiple windows for Gmail and Google's other apps. This includes the ability to compose emails in new windows, with a handy label to remind you which account you're replying with in the title bar. Kiwi for Gmail is split across three pricing tiers, with some of the more useful features limited to the more expensive plans.

For example, a feature called Focus Filtered Inbox gives you a Today View that shows you everything that's come in today. You can customize it to show you the last two days or more of email if you'd rather, and further filter your incoming messages based on whether Gmail thinks they're important, whether they have attachments, and so on. This is limited to the "Premium" tier and above.

All tiers of Kiwi for Gmail include support for native macOS notifications, but if you subscribe to Premium or better you can limit these to just "Important" email as defined by Gmail. There's also a widget for Premium users that gives you a quick view of your unread count using a menu bar widget, and a "do not disturb" toggle for silencing your inbox for the rest of the day.

Fortunately, all users get deep integration with Google's other apps, including a one-click launch for Docs or Sheets, the ability to quickly recall recently closed documents from the "File" menu at the top of the screen, and separate windows for any documents you're working on.

Kiwi for Gmail has no free option and no free trial, but the "Standard" plan is cheap to try at $2.75 for a month or $30 per year.

Outlook

Microsoft Outlook isn't strictly a Gmail client, but it's a powerful email application that syncs well with Google's email service. It's compatible with basic Gmail features like labels, and it syncs with Google Contacts and your Google Calendar too. It's a good option if you use Gmail alongside accounts from other email providers like Microsoft, Yahoo, or older IMAP and POP inboxes.

On top of the basic Gmail feature set (like labels that appear as folders, and auto-completing email addresses that pull from your Google Contacts) are a host of powerful Outlook features including access to Microsoft's "Add-ins" database that allows you to expand the functionality of Outlook and Microsoft's Focused Inbox sorting that automatically sorts your inbox by priority to help your most important messages stand out.

You can set up rules to organize incoming mail automatically, turn email into appointments or meetings, and access features like the "My Day" view which can help you make sense of your schedule. Outlook can bring together multiple email addresses and has enough in the way of additional tools to make everything work together.

Perhaps the best thing about Outlook is that you can use it for free simply by downloading the app from the Mac App Store. The free version of Outlook is supported by adverts, which appear like standard email messages but are fairly easy to spot with the "Ad" label.

You can subscribe to Microsoft 365 Basic for only $1.99 per month to get rid of the adverts and add 100GB of OneDrive storage.

Airmail

Airmail is another solid choice for Gmail users who also need to keep track of other email accounts like iCloud or POP/IMAP. That means it's not designed purely for use with Gmail, but it supports basic Gmail features out of the box. That includes the ability to map your Gmail labels to folders within Airmail and toggle Gmail categories like Promotions and Socials in the app's settings.

Though it's not designed around Google's email service and may take some time to set up, there are some good reasons to choose Airmail. The app delivers one of the most customizable email experiences you will find on any platform, with powerful workflows allowing you to automate all manner of actions.

For example, you can set rules to do things like take attachments from specific email addresses and put them in a specific folder in a cloud storage provider of your choice. Go further and archive the email so that it skips your inbox. Your bank statements or monthly invoices are now effectively organizing themselves, and all you need to do is periodically check on them.

Airmail also has a powerful notification system, which allows you to customize which controls you see on incoming mail alerts. You can choose different sounds for different inboxes, or you can choose to group or ungroup notifications so that you see everything separately or cut down on clutter. Airmail even provides support for AppleScript which lets power users take automation and sorting to the next level.

Airmail lets you customize the colors and themes that you see, change what swipes do while browsing your inbox, add plugins for things like mail encryption, and even take your entire Gmail account offline. Airmail is available as a free download for Mac, iPhone, and iPad with many features available for free.

Airmail Pro costs $9.99 and includes a free trial, or you can pay $29.99 per year. Subscribing to Airmail Pro gives you access to the full suite of features on both desktop and mobile platforms.

Twobird

Twobird is another app that isn't Google-specific, but it's one that syncs well with Gmail. It currently supports both Google and Microsoft accounts, with support for more account types planned for future releases. As you'd expect, Twobird works with core features like Gmail labels, autocompletes email addresses from your Google Contacts, and integrates with Google Calendar.

The app's unique selling point is its desire to turn your inbox into a to-do list. It's not an entirely new concept, but Twobird does hard on it and that means it will appear to a certain type of user who strives for an "inbox zero" approach. With Twobird, email is divided into your Inbox (effectively a list of outstanding tasks) and your Low Priority folder.

Email is your to-do list. You can either decide between the action of reading (and dismissing) or archiving a message to mark it as complete. You can choose to let Twobird remind you about the message later, which will surface it at a more convenient time. You can also move messages from your Low Priority inbox into your main Inbox, and vice versa in a bid to train Twobird to better organize your mail.

Twobird is also a note-taking app and a calendar app. Notes and appointments appear in your inbox, right next to your email. This gives you a single interface for everything. It's not a bad idea, but it's not going to appeal to everyone. There's a decent search filter for finding things and you can do things like mute threads, mark them as spam, and apply labels for easier sorting.

There's not a lot else to speak of aside from an "Unsubscribe" section that allows you to quickly unsubscribe from mailing lists in a few clicks. There are no rules to speak of, and the app is arguably better at consuming mail (and turning it into an actionable to-do list) than it is at writing them.

Twobird is completely free to use at the moment and though developers plan on introducing premium plans at a later date, they state that they plan to always offer a free version of the app.

Miss Google Inbox? Try Shortwave

Remember Google Inbox, the alternative way of managing Gmail? When Google canned the project the company promised to integrate much of what people liked about the project into Gmail. Unfortunately, that never really happened. The user interface that many loved effectively went away for good.

That's where Shortwave comes in. It's designed by a team of ex-Google engineers, and it replicates many of the features that made Google Inbox so good. That includes the interface, the intelligent "Sweep" functionality for archiving messages, and AI summaries. The app has a free tier and uses the same approach to payment as apps like Slack, where you get 90 days of searchable email history (unlock everything for $9/month).

Create Web Apps in macOS Sonoma

At the time of writing, macOS Sonoma is a few months out from release Apple has promised a new "Add to Dock" web app feature that treats websites like native apps. This feature comes with benefits like separate notifications and a simplified navigation bar. You'll be able to add Gmail to your macOS dock and use it like a separate app.

Find out what other features are arriving in macOS 14 Sonoma and whether your Mac can run it.