Every time I open my Inbox, there is a small reminder saying “Inbox by Gmail is going away after March 2019. Get more done using Gmail with your favorite Inbox features built right in”. Every time, I see this message, I click ‘Not now’ and with each click, my heart dies a little. Okay, I admit. It’s not as bad as a breakup. But, seriously, Google just killed the best email app.
Ever since I started working full time on TechWiser (April 2014), Inbox has become an integral part of my workflow. Treating email as a to-do list; replying the urgent mail first while snoozing the one that can wait, has boosted my productivity.
The Worst Part is
There is no real alternative to Inbox.
I know, every time a big company kills a service, there are ‘best alternative apps‘ articles popping all over the Internet. Heck, we write some of them too, at TechWiser. But this time, we didn’t. Reason? There is no true alternative to Inbox, yet.
Ever since the news broke out, I’ve trying several alternatives to the Inbox – such as Gmail, Proton Mail, Aqua Mail and many more. But none of them come closer to Inbox. Google claims Gmail now has most of the Inbox feature such as snoozing emails, smart replies, and reminder; which is true. But in my opinion, Google never really understand why people like Inbox.
Inbox is so Much Better
Here are a few Inbox’s features I used every day:
1. Automatic Trip Bundles – Even though, I didn’t travel that much, having all your tickets and hotel reservation bundles in one Email is just awesome.
2. Inbox Zero – While Inbox wasn’t the first one to address unread email stress, the way they implement ‘Mark As Read’ worked for me as no other Email app did.
3. One stop destination for all reminder – Got a credit card bill to pay? Hiring email I need to follow up? Everything I need to be reminded of is well sitting in the reminder tab.
4. Finally an Ad-free email – It’s sad that I even have to mention this, but ads in the email app are just an invasion of privacy.
Unfortunate, I can not find any of these features on the Gmail, yet.
Google has a History of Abandoning Apps
And I understand when Google kill the half baked project, such as – Google Glasses, Google +, Reply, maybe even Stadia in future; but killing a well-polished Email app without any decent alternative, well, it’s just sad.
At this point, I know it’s wishful thinking, but I really hope, Killing Inbox is Google’s April fools prank. But even if it’s isn’t, I’m staying with the Inbox to the very end, and then have no other option but to use Gmail. If you find a good alternative to the Inbox, which I doubt exist, let me know in the comments below or even better ‘Inbox me’.
Read: 15+ Best Gmail Chrome Extensions (2018)
