Have you been looking for an alternative to the Gmail app on Android? Well, Spark scratches that itch for me. I’ve used it for years, and there are a handful of reasons why it just works better for me than the native Gmail app. Here’s why Spark is my go-to email client on all platforms.
Single Sign-On for All My Emails
When I set up a new Android smartphone, theGmail apponly has my primary email that I set the device up with—not any of my half dozen other accounts I use on a daily basis. Because of this, when using the Gmail app, I have to go through and manually log into each account one by one, and it’s simply annoying.
Spark, on the other hand, only requires a single sign-in for all my accounts. I have a Spark account (tied to one of my Gmail accounts), and as soon as I log into that Spark account, all of my email accounts come up at one time.
This is convenient as it doesn’t just store Gmail emails, but also my iCloud email, as well as any other IMAP accounts that I have set up.
Available on All My Devices
The Gmail app is only available on mobile devices. On desktop, you have to use theGmail web app—which only shows one email account at a time.
Yes, you can technically import other email accounts into your Gmail account, but that’s not the same as monitoring the email accounts separately, which is what I want to do. Because of this, I already use a different app than the Gmail web interface for my emails, so it only makes sense to use the same app I use on my desktop on my phone.
While Spark isn’t available on Linux,it does work on both Windows and macOS—the two desktop operating systems that I use on a daily basis. This is great because I can now use the same email app on all of my devices, from my iPhone and iPad to my MacBook, Windows desktop, and Android smartphones. Plus, I can install the Spark Android app on my Chromebook and have the same experience there, too.
More Streamlined Interface
Having used the Spark and Gmail apps for years side-by-side (occasionally, if I only need one email, I’ll just use the Gmail app on Android), I can confidently say that the Spark app offers a more streamlined interface.
The way it presents emails, the way its unified inbox functions, the spam folder, and everything about the app just works better in my opinion. It’s more user-friendly, simply, and universal across all devices.
It’s also nice to be able to have my snoozed emails sync between desktop and mobile, no matter which email I’m logged into at that moment. I truly do monitor 10 email accounts in Spark, and I can snooze an email on my phone and know, with confidence, that it’ll surface on both my MacBook and Windows desktop at the same time in the same interface where I monitor all of my email accounts. While Gmail does offer a snooze function, if I don’t have that email opened up on my desktop, it just simply wouldn’t show—but using the Spark app on my phone triggers my desktop to respond.
The experience of the Gmail app on Android and desktop is vastly different. The Android and iOS Gmail apps are also quite different from each other. Meanwhile, Spark’s experience is basically the same no matter what device you use it on.
Syncs My Settings (and Signatures) to My Desktop and Other Devices
Gmail definitely syncs settings and signatures between the web app and mobile devices, but the problem still comes back to dedicated desktop apps and multiple accounts.
With Spark, I can make a single change on mobile, and it shows up not just on my other mobile devices but also on my desktop. Same thing if I make a change on the desktop.
The best part of Spark is that it applies to all of my accounts, not just one. I can share a signature across multiple accounts if I want, which is really convenient. I can change notification settings, and it applies everywhere. I can even add a new account on one device, and it’ll show up on the other with the way Spark works.
Overall, Spark is just a better app for me than Gmail. The fact that I can log into one account and have all my email accounts load in immediately is great. I also love that I can add an account on the desktop, and it just starts working on mobile. Plus, the syncing is simply fantastic.
Maybe one day Gmail will have a system as robust as Spark does—specifically, dealing with the desktop app that handles more than one email account at a time. Until then, I’ll just stick to using Spark.
