On Android, you can choose whatever browser or launcher or any apps you want as default. I managed to find good alternatives (e.g. Brave instead of Chrome…etc.) , but email is the one thing I am still struggling with. I use Gmail and have tried the followings:

• Main Gmail app : it comes preinstalled. I can easily do a search, e.g. search for a starred email from 3 months ago, Gmail app shows immediately. Email format is shitty, some emails’ font sizes appear too small. You cant “Mark as Read” from Notification shade…

• Fairmail: I appreciate the dev’s response. Very customizable. Emails are formatted very well. BUT… I’m not sure if there are hidden changes recently, but Fairmail tends to go to a “deep sleep” state where I get zero notifications unless I open the app. Other time, it is even worse: I get notifications for emails from 2pm onward, but everything before is not notified unless I open the app. Performing the search function like Gmail above results in very slow and laggy app.

• Outlook: Their email app is good, but very often, I have ads within my inbox. Emails are formatted very well. In addition, the calendar app can cause conflict:

My phone has its own Calendar app (Google, 3rd party…etc). If I respond “Yes” to a meeting in an email, that creates a meeting within the Outlook app for my Gmail account. Sometimes, this does not sync with the web calendar from Gmail. This means I can literally have 2 Gmail calendar opened (Outlook and phone) and they are mismatched.

• K9/Thunderbird: Most recent comments from Google Play Store say they are shit. I tried and they load the emails well, format is much better than Gmail app. But we have similar problem as Fairmail above: sometimes the app just doesnt sync unless you open it.

• Edison/Sparks: I used Spark in its early days. It was great back then. Now? Too much AI bs. Too much. The app sometimes pops a message asking you to subscribe to use AI…

Any recommendation? I just want a normal email app, with none of the paywall and AI bs. Or just use Gmail from the web and forward emails to Proton/Tuta to read on Android?