Readdle has hired former Apple Mail engineering manager Terry Blanchard in a position that will focus on creating the "future of email" for Readdle's popular email client "Spark," working with an entirely new team of his choosing in Silicon Valley. Blanchard's new role, per his LinkedIn page, is vice president of engineering for Readdle.

readdle spark terry

Spark is modernizing email as we know it. We share a fundamental vision of what the future of email should be. I’ve always admired Readdle for their beautiful and innovative products, which makes them the ideal company to turn that vision into a reality.

At Apple Blanchard worked on the Mail team for six years, where he led a team of developers which created and continually fostered updates for the UX design and development of Apple's first party email client, simply called Mail on iOS and macOS. Besides his new title and location in Silicon Valley, Blanchard's role at Readdle hasn't been given many specifics but it's expected that the engineer will take his expertise in the email client design space and apply it to Readdle's popular stock of iOS and macOS applications.

Last November Readdle launched Spark on Mac, bringing the app's Smart Inbox feature to Apple's desktop and laptop computers for the first time. Smart Inbox intelligently organizes email into different categories (Personal, Notification, and Newsletters), making sure important messages are always highlighted first. Spark continuously learns which emails are most important for you to make inbox management as easy as possible, and on Mac also includes Quick Replies, Touch Bar support, snooze capabilities, and cross-device syncing.

Regarding its new hire, Readdle said that "Terry is a valuable addition to our team and brings years of experience from one of the best companies in the world."

Readdle's range of productivity apps for Apple devices includes PDF Expert, Spark, Scanner Pro, Calendar 5, PDF Office, Printer Pro, PDF Converter, and Documents.

Tags: Readdle, Spark

Top Rated Comments

hagar Avatar
108 months ago
O no! The only guy working on Mail is leaving? Who will now work on the next features for 2025? I know, the guy of the Remote app.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DrumApple Avatar
108 months ago
Don't let the door hit ya - the Mail app SUCKS, time for someone new.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coolfactor Avatar
108 months ago
The stock Mail app remains my primary email client, but I wanted a second one for lesser-used accounts, or for more separation between my different work roles.

I used Spark for several months with some accounts, but eventually switched to Airmail, which handles large emails much better. I also didn't like the idea of my account credentials being given to Spark, or how they first download your mail to Amazon servers for processing.

Being in Canada, I primarily use Runbox out of Norway for the added privacy, as things below the border ("below the belt") are getting stinky.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NervousFish2 Avatar
108 months ago
Maybe I'm a caveman, but I just can't seem to find a replacement for Mail. The very premise of Spark is a non-starter for me because of the privacy issues. Apple seem to be very, very committed to privacy. But adding Amazon servers as a middle man seems to run against that, especially given the App is free. No way I'm touching that. No matter how pretty it is, or what functions it adds. Its just not going to happen. I do not want my data being commercialized.

Mail is very stable, and fast. After reading an article recently, I realized that the secret to email management is very little to do with the bells and whistles of an app. Its much more to do with smart searching, and Apple's Mail does that incredibly well, with a very low battery hit. I deleted all my folders and switched over completely to smart search folders, and set a rule to archive automatically after a month. My efficiency and control has improved dramatically. Newsletter folder? Yeah, that's not really rocket science. Email is email is email.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
avanpelt Avatar
108 months ago
Plot twist -- Apple makes an offer to buy Readdle within a few years (if they haven't already).
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
orbital~debris Avatar
108 months ago
This x 1000. If you want to see how atrocious Apple is at basic apps that everyone uses: look no further than f'in MAIL! That damn app is terrible.

Edit: Can someone please recommend a good, simple, clean Mail app. I've used Outlook and will probably go back to it. Testing the stock Apple Mail app again with 10.3 but my guess is it won't last long before I'm wanting to throw my phone out the windows.
I'm really curious - what do you find terrible about Mail?
I've used it since the Mac OS X Public Beta, and it's worked really well for me.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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