Over the years, Google has killed many of the apps and services that the community loved so much. One of them is the Inbox by Gmail app, which was shut down in 2019 and many of its features have been transferred to the current Gmail client. However, a team of former Google employees has revived Google Inbox with a new email platform called Shortwave. Now let’s take a look at the details and methods of how Shortwave is the spiritual successor to Inbox by Gmail, unlike other Inbox alternatives.
Shortwave: An alternative to Gmail inbox developed by a former Google employee
Introduced in September 2021, Shortwave is an email platform that allows users to classify and manage email using an easy-to-use interface and great features like Inbox. In his official blog post, Shortwave founder and CEO Andrew Lee wrote that email will replace traditional messaging platforms such as iMessage, WhatsApp, Slack, and WeChat. However, by using Shortwave, the company aims to change the way email is managed and operated.
Starting with UI design, Shortwave follows a simple user interface. View all emails in a “bundle” format categorized, Much like your Gmail inbox. Founder designer Ali Berlin Johnson was Google’s senior UX designer. So it’s understandable why Shortwave has a UI similar to Inbox.
Shortwave aims to help you Focus on important emails From people and groups, rather than being distracted by the thousands of promotional and social emails that arrive in your inbox every day. To do this, Shortwave displays emails in a categorized bundle that contains multiple threads of conversation, based on context and contacts.
In addition, you can treat it as an item in your to-do list and do the following: Mark the entire bundle of emails or email threads as “done” After reading them, press the checkmark button (see screenshot below). When you mark them as “Done”, the email or bundle disappears from your inbox, is organized during processing, and goes to a dedicated “Done” tab accessible from the side menu.
Besides these, Pin important groups or mail threads to the top Listed for easy access when opening a short wave Create a “custom bundle” to snooze emails or bundles for a preset period of time.. In addition, Shortwave supports markdown options when composing emails with full access to GIFs and emojis.
However, there are currently some issues with Shortwave. For starters, the platform currently only supports Google accounts, not other email platforms. In addition, there are iOS apps that work surprisingly attractively, but the platform currently has no Android apps other than a minimal beta. Moreover, Shortwave’s web client is just a website.
There is also Shortwave $ 9 / month paid upgrade plan, Unlike Inbox by Gmail, users have access to their email history for the last 90 days. This is the cause. Shortwave is an independent company, and unlike Google, it’s just getting started.
So if you’re an inbox fan and missed a popular email platform, you can check out Shortwave on the official website and connect to your Gmail account to give it a try. You can also download Shortwave for iOS from the App Store and try it on your iPhone. Also, let us know what you think of the new Gmail-inspired email platform in the comments below.
