# Apple Mail 57 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple Mail and 88 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (9 owners). **Verdict:** People recommend Apple Mail for its native macOS and iOS integration and simple everyday reliability, though critics often report search and Gmail sync problems. ## Why people recommend it - Native, clean macOS and iOS integration (6 comments): "And a great email client at that. Both iOS and macOS's. I can't imagine trading it for some web UI." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48381498)) "because of the OS integration, clean UI, well-designed interactions, and decent support" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50081533)) "works well and is probably better integrated and has a better UI than Thunderbird" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50078140)) - Fast, reliable and works offline (5 comments): "Apple mail has excellent search, there are filters, it indexes file content and is done locally so it's very fast." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50111118)) "it works well offline or with low bandwidth networks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47617587)) "The macOS Mail.app is fast reliable in my opinion" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48382390)) - Strong search with filters (4 comments): "Apple mail has excellent search, there are filters, it indexes file content and is done locally so it's very fast." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50111118)) "If I type ‘repor’ in Apple mail, It will show me all report before I even type enter." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50079208)) "Apple Mail Search - you can filter by nearly every aspect, even between dates" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49185027)) - Works well with Gmail and Exchange (3 comments): "Mail is more turnkey (1-click pairs with MS Exchange)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47699375)) "for me and people i know it works better than gmail" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46737620)) "The Apple Mail client works very well with Gmail." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48384260)) ## What people warn about - Search often fails or returns poor results (5 comments): "I did however have plenty of issues with search when syncing my work Outlook email via Mail.app" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50085548)) "The search has been a disaster in Mac Mail well over a decade." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46740135)) "The app. With MS365 I get terrible search results." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46430067)) - Buggy, slow and broken in places (4 comments): "Mail.app is one of the buggiest pieces of software I have ever used." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48382360)) "Calendar, Mail and Finder are all slow, dumbed down and only very superficially customizable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47910814)) "Selecting and moving a single message can take over a second, even with animations disabled." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49401957)) - Sync and fetch problems, including Gmail (3 comments): "iOS has a persistent issue of not fetching new mails, even from iCloud" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46731861)) "Unfortunately it doesn’t sync properly with Gmail." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50082334)) "There's other bits in Mail that are flaky with Gmail compared to standard IMAP mail providers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46727985)) - Discloses Apple Account address, Hide My Email (3 comments): "still has an Apple Account email address disclosure vulnerability, though this requires the user to reply to a maliciously crafted email" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48994549)) "doesn't change your Sent From address from the just-generated Hide My Email address to your default with no warning or rationale" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48916217)) "It will disclose your Apple account address even when you received the email on a different account" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48996356)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Mozilla Thunderbird](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thunderbird.md): 210 recommend - [Microsoft Outlook](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-outlook.md): 117 recommend - [Penguin Mail](https://hackerapproved.com/p/penguin-mail.md): 14 recommend - [GNOME Evolution](https://hackerapproved.com/p/evolution.md): 13 recommend - [K-9 Mail](https://hackerapproved.com/p/k-9-mail.md): 13 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple Mail", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-mail/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).