Former Apple Engineer Introduces Native Gmail Client for Mac With Multi-Account Support, System Notifications, and More

Neil Jhaveri, a former Apple engineer who worked on the company's default Mail app, has introduced a new Gmail client for macOS.

Available in beta, Mimestream is a native app written in Swift and designed with AppKit and SwiftUI for a clean, stock appearance. Jhaveri says the app is designed to be fast, lightweight, and use a minimal amount of disk space.

mimestream
Mimestream uses the Gmail API rather than IMAP to support more Gmail-specific features, such as categorized inboxes, automatically synced aliases and signatures, full labels integration, and search operators. Jhaveri plans to add more features over time, including Google Drive support, server-side filter configuration, and G Suite directory autocomplete.

Mimestream's advantages over using the Gmail web interface include support for multiple Gmail accounts with a unified inbox, system-level notifications, system-level Dark Mode support, swipe gestures, tracking prevention, and more.

Jhaveri says Mimestream only makes direct connections to Gmail and does not use intermediary servers, adding that the app does not collect or sell users' emails.

Mimestream is free for a limited time while in beta and will eventually be a paid app distributed through the Mac App Store. macOS Catalina or later is required. Jhaveri says an iOS and iPadOS version of the app is planned for the future.

Tag: Gmail

Top Rated Comments

casperes1996 Avatar
40 months ago
Looks a lot like the native mail client. Which brings up the point, why not just use the Mail app? It supports more than just Gmail, so you can gather all your email providers in one place; iCloud, Exchange, Gmail, Yahoo, custom email servers - The article said something about using the Gmail API and getting extra Gmail features from that, but I can’t imagine anything on offer there that is really useful; Categoriesed inboxes - well, I already have Smart inboxes and the ability to create my own archiving systems with the native mail client. - Maybe it’s just because I’m not really much into Gmail but use many different email systems, including my own server and like the simplicity of regular SMTP and IMAP.

But I mean good for this guy - I’m sure it’s high quality, well produced software
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
smithrh Avatar
40 months ago

Are ex-Apple engineers allowed to produce an application similar in nature to the one they originally worked on? Just curious.
Depends on the legal agreements - if any - they signed on the way in or on the way out. And whether any agreements are still in force, or have expired.

If he's in California, there are additional worker protections in play as well - non-competes are out.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RichardGroves Avatar
40 months ago
Five minutes in and I can already see it is much better with labels, and emails with multiple labels, than native Mail app ever has been. This for me is the key Gmail differentiator - being able to have the same email in multiple places - so a receipts can be in Orders & Work Expenses & Inbox & Starred until I'm done with it, unstar it and archive it: then it is just left with the first two labels.

Mimestream is showing me the labels attached to a message very nicely so far.

We'll see how it goes, but the app is super lightweight (5.1 MB DMG!), was easy to setup with 5 accounts and so far so good.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NoSoup4U Avatar
40 months ago

Excellent. I hope this is a huge success. google apps on Apple devices are one big dumpster fire.
Google apps are noted for the bad UX on every platform. It's part of their branding.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiVolt Avatar
40 months ago
Looks like Apple Mail, lol...
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BWhaler Avatar
40 months ago
Excellent. I hope this is a huge success. google apps on Apple devices are one big dumpster fire.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 16 Mock Header With Dynamic Island

Skipping the iPhone 15 Pro? Here's What's Rumored for iPhone 16 Pro

Friday September 22, 2023 9:29 am PDT by
Are you skipping the iPhone 15 Pro and waiting another year to upgrade? If so, we already have some iPhone 16 Pro rumors for you. Below, we recap new features rumored for the iPhone 16 Pro models so far:Larger displays: The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped with larger 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays, respectively, according to Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain...
Apple WWDC23 macOS Sonoma hero

macOS Sonoma Launching This Week With These New Features

Sunday September 24, 2023 12:45 pm PDT by
Apple previously announced that macOS Sonoma will be released this Tuesday, September 26. The free software update includes many new features and changes for the Mac, including the five that we have highlighted below. In addition to these five features, we have shared the full release notes for macOS Sonoma below for a complete overview of everything new. Desktop Widgets macOS Sonoma...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 double tap gesture 230912

watchOS 10.1 to Enable Apple Watch's New 'Double Tap' Gesture

Thursday September 21, 2023 12:52 pm PDT by
The new Double Tap gesture for the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 will be enabled starting with watchOS 10.1, according to Marques Brownlee, host of the popular tech-focused YouTube channel MKBHD. The first beta of watchOS 10.1 will likely be available by next week, and Apple announced that the software update will be released next month. Brownlee shared his impressions...