4 Best Android Apps for Email. Android App Recommendations from the Experts at AndroidTapp.com

by Antonio Wells Jun 17, 2011 11:13 AM – 56 Comments

Your default Android device should come with a few email apps pre-installed but we’ve compiled the 4 best Android apps for email to make you a more productive mobile email-ninja! We’ve included easy one-click download links to grab these apps from Google Play.

Keep up with all our best apps list!

4. MailDroid is free with ads in your email or upgrade to ad-free MailDroid Pro for $17.99. MailDroid is capable of handling most of your email needs; including instant push notifications, IMAP, POP3, Webdav, Exchange 2003 & 2007 support, search, spell check, save attachments to SD card, password protection and more.

MailDroid Pro Free, $17.99 MailDroid is your IMAP Idle and POP3 replacement for the default client! MailDroid is an ad-supported Webdav/POP3/IMAP Push mail client written from the ground up and and not based on the stock Android mail client.

3. Exchange by TouchDown is $19.99 and has been our go-to recommend app for Microsoft Exchange or Outlook users. Additionally you can use it for IMAP, POP3, Webdav setups. It is supported on all versions of Android including tablets to optimize the real estate. It integrates with contacts on the phone or in Exchange. For Outlook users, you can get your contacts, calendar and tasks (something most Exchange apps for Android lack)! Tech support is fantastic, even if you subscribe to the popular help thread we have on our site, the developers are sure to swiftly answer your questions; simple or complex.

Exchange by TouchDown Free, $19.99 Connect to your Exchange Server to get Email, Contacts, Calendar and Tasks with TouchDown. TouchDown provides most complete Exchange sync.

2. K9-Mail is free and is a superior email app for Android and is capable of handling virtually all of your email needs. There is support for IMAP, POP3, Webdav setups. Instant push notification of emails can easily be attained with IMAP and Exchange ActiveSync set up. We have a very active and one of the best help support threads for simple or complex questions about K9-Mail. We always recommend this app over the default “Email” Android app!

K9-Mail Free K-9 is the best email client for Android. It’s incredibly powerful and 100% free K-9 Mail is an open-source e-mail client with search, IMAP push email, multi-folder sync, flagging, filing, signatures, bcc-self, PGP, mail on SD & more! K-9 supports IMAP, POP3 and Exchange 2003/2007 (with WebDAV).

Before we get into the best Android app for email we don’t want to forget the users of Yahoo! Mail. We’ve tossed it as our honorable mentions but serves the email needs of folks with Yahoo email accounts. You can get instant push email, support for multiple accounts, integration with Yahoo Messenger and more:

Yahoo! Mail Free Experience the faster, smarter, richer Yahoo! Mail- made for your Android phone The official Yahoo! Mail app for Android – Multiple Yahoo! Mail accounts – Preview photos in your inbox – Enhanced integration with Yahoo! Messenger – Push notifications of your mail – Send and receive mail attachments – Compose with rich text & emoticons – Smart folders and powerful search

1. Gmail is the top email app on our list. Of course you would need either a Gmail or Google Apps email address to use it, but the features and constant juicy updates Google rolls out are superior. There is a bonus when setting up a Google Apps account for email as you can use non @gmail.com email addresses, meaning those you own and can administer such as your personal or company’s domain, and still get the power of Gmail; convenient organization of emails as conversations, powerful spam and virus filtering, instant “push” notification of email, integration with phone contacts, support for multiple email accounts, and much more.

Gmail is personally my most used app for business productivity; all of Gmail features, instant notifications and multiple accounts allow me to check nine email accounts I have configured on my primary phone. I can easily jump in and out of various accounts, read and respond, and manage email, plus be done faster. For all Android devices, Gmail should be pre-installed, however, for devices with Android 2.2 (Froyo), updates are available from the Market now instead of waiting on carriers/OEM’s to send you an OS update. Finally, with all the previous recommends you have to setup either IMAP, POP3, Exchange, etc. with Gmail you simply login and the rest is taken care of. Convenient!

Gmail Free The Gmail app: push, sync, conversations, integration, search, and more. The dedicated Gmail application integrated with Contacts and Android applications. * Email pushed automatically to your phone * Search all your messages * Access synched messages when off line * View messages by conversation * Multiple Gmail accounts * Stars, labels, and many other features

Tags: 5 Best, Android App Recommendations, Android Apps, Android Apps Recommendation, App Recommendations, Best Android Apps, Best Email Android Apps, Exchange By TouchDown, Gmail, K9 Mail, MailDroid, Top 5

Categorised in: Apps Blog, Featured, News

56 Comments

By Paul Wilks on June 17, 2011 at 3:23 pm:

I am so pleased Yahoo came top of this list. I hardly use my Yahoo account but it leaves me wishing Google could take a leaf out of it’s tree. Brilliant app.

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- By Dmozesm on September 30, 2012 at 4:17 pm:
  
  Try Emoze Push Mail
  
  Reply
- By John on March 7, 2013 at 3:04 pm:
  
  Yahoo is not on the top. Its just an honorable mention. Gmail was #1.
  
  Reply
By larrymcj on June 18, 2011 at 1:14 pm:

Yahoo Mail didn’t come out on top the list…Gmail did (as it rightfully should have). Yahoo Mail received “honorable mention”.

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By Kolbath on July 26, 2011 at 2:09 pm:

Oh come on! What kind of a review is this supposed to be? Two commercial clients, one freeware, and two proprietary clients that only uses their own email servers? Good god, which of these developer teams is paying you?

I thought the Android was supposed to be SOOOOOO superior to the iOS because of all the free apps. I’ve had my HTC Sensation for less than three days and I hate it like poison. And those free apps? Same as the ones in the iTunes store I’ve been getting for two years on my iPod: NOT FREE, but rather AD SUPPORTED!

Android has its fanboys, to be sure, but there’s a reason people line up at 2:30 in the morning outside Best Buy for every iPhone release. The fact that their bloody MAIL CLIENT WORKS OUT OF THE BOX is probably on the list somewhere.

This review was enough of a joke to make me want to actually create an account just to leave this comment. Good lord.

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- By Antonio Wells on July 26, 2011 at 2:55 pm:
  
  The worst part of your rant is how idiotic and ironic you are. It is clear that you are the fanboy… for iOS and there is nothing wrong with that, but something wrong with voluntary stupidity. This article wasn’t about nor anywhere in the realm of comparing mobile operating systems (iOS vs Android), but comparing similar apps on the same platform pointing the most superior of them.
  
  True, unlike iOS, the default “Email” app that comes with Android is subpar, thus there are better… hence this article. False, people don’t line up at 2:30 in the morning to yell, “Hooray, my email works out of the box”! They line up for an iPhone, at its inception, they line up for the psychological and emotional positive signals it triggers.
  
  Lastly, the one thing any developer will tell you about us (the global leader for Android app reviews) is that we are built on organic and unbiased reviews. Maybe if you stopped ranting and actually used one the recommended apps for a week or so you would concur.
  
  Reply
  - By D-man on February 14, 2012 at 4:43 pm:
    
    ummm…. He is right. Android mail apps suck. It is what it is. That is all.
    
    K-9 will not retrieve pop mail from my non-phone gmail account. I wonder why? Because of “this” and “that”, and why don’t you “blah” instead? I want to retrieve my mail with pop, that’s why. It JUST DOESN’T WORK i.e = JUNK.
    
    Have a nice day.
    
    Reply
    - By JaxDroidGuy on February 16, 2012 at 8:37 am:
      
      I use K9 all the time. Out of the 6 accounts I check not a single one of them is a GMail account. Perhaps it’s a problem with the operator and not the app?
      
      @suziechef I wish I could help with the delete but I prefer to let my desktop app delete from the server. I just delete from the phone. As for both clients checking the mail you should be able to go into the settings for the default app and set it to stop fetching mail.
      
      Reply
    - By jbram on March 13, 2013 at 7:10 am:
      
      I don’t know what you have configured , but for me K-9 works perfectly for POP email as well as imap. I have been using it for a couple of years now and had zero problems with it.
      
      Reply
  - By andromaster on January 12, 2013 at 9:32 am:
    
    Check out Emoze Secure Push Mail for Android
    
    Reply
- By Nick on April 19, 2012 at 11:19 am:
  
  Touchdown by Exchange works awesome on my Skyrocket
  
  Reply
- By Nick on April 19, 2012 at 11:23 am:
  
  Yes, there is a reason why people line up at 2:30 am for an iPhone. The media told them to…and has been through ads for the last few years. Those of us that want turn by turn gps, and expandable memory, and replacement batterys, and to NOT be inconvenienced by a unique SIM card, well, we made the right choice. And never even stood in line.
  
  Reply
  - By Maddock on August 31, 2012 at 3:52 am:
    
    you read my opensource mind dude!
    
    Reply
  - By dominic on May 9, 2013 at 11:06 am:
    
    you got me laughing here…so true
    
    Reply
By suziechef on December 2, 2011 at 1:56 pm:

ok, I apologize in advance, I’m new to android, and somewhat techy challenged. I have the k-9 email app, and can’t seem to get my emails to delete off the server. can you tell me how to do that? tia
also, should I remove the other email app that came with the phone, as my emails are going into both accounts now.

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- By jbram on March 13, 2013 at 7:12 am:
  
  In the settings for K-9 , there is a check box that lets you decide if you want the email to be deleted from the server or not . I believe it’s in account settings.
  
  Reply
By Bob_BE on January 23, 2012 at 10:24 pm:

I use my HTC Evo for business. Recently had to attach a resume to an email from a client, and couldn’t do it! I was using the gmail client. I’ve been doing research on attachments and this seems to be the major downfall of gmail. It can’t do attachments (either coming or going) to save its life. I came from the Palm OS world and it was a given that you could do in the phone what you could do on your desktop. The gmail email client lacks a fundamental component for business and I’m amazed that it would win top spot. Antonio, I wonder how you manage to use email without attachments. Do you never have to send an attachment or copy it to your phone? If you do, how do you do it? I am frustrated that something so simple is impossible with the number one email client out there. Unfortunately, if the majority of users continue to call it the number one email client for Android, it will never be fixed.

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- By Antonio Wells on January 24, 2012 at 9:26 am:
  
  @Bob_BE Gmail can definitely view as well as create attachments. Compose an email and press your phone’s “Menu” button press “Attach“, next it will ask for options of where to grab the attachment from. Usually via an app. If you’re attaching a file be sure to have an Android file manager app pre-installed such as Astro File Manager or similar, this will help you browse for the resume to attach it to the email.
  
  Hope this helps!
  
  Reply
By Kunal on February 4, 2012 at 7:33 am:

Hi

I recently bought the Asus Transformer Prime and have been going nuts looking for a Google Apps compatible Email client that has Rich-Text / HTML editing enabled while composing emails.

I bought this tablet for work and it is of no use to me if I can’t do basic formatting or can’t insert tables in my emails.

Any recommendation / help will be deeply appreciated.

- Kunal

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By Frank on March 8, 2012 at 10:45 am:

I work professionally with IMAP server development. I have yet to find any client that works well.
K-9 has problems with storing on server and does not show subfolders.
The latter problem has MailDroid.
The native Mail does not seems to work well, neither downloading at regular intervals, nor understanding folders, nor being able to, in any way, save sent (or any other) mail on the server.

Blackberry’s IMAP client works great, even if it has to go over their BES.

iPhone words great too, out of the box.

If you need IMAP to work well, consider another OS than Android.

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By Frank on March 8, 2012 at 10:46 am:

Oops, should have written “I have yet to find any ANDROID client that works well.”

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By madixxx on March 20, 2012 at 4:12 pm:

pro using several imap acc via google.
I just got a transformer prime and am Desperate for some help to find mail app that works well. gmail is better than the pre installed st. but i cant handle folders (create , sort, file, search…etc) …..can anyone confirm if this exchange by touchdown is the best i can get out there??? thx in adv. ps anyone tried KAITEN or MELWIN MAILS???

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- By Antonio Wells on March 20, 2012 at 4:23 pm:
  
  Fyi, folders in traditional email systems are called labels in Gmail. Therefore it can handle “folders”, as well as be filtered and searched. Also, Exchange by Touchdown is a very capable app too. Hope that helps.
  
  Reply
By madixxx on March 20, 2012 at 4:34 pm:

Hi a, thanx. Yes i know but in the gmail appl i can not create folders/labels. There are like 5 predefined but i need to handle large amount of corresp. From many people.ai see my folders created via webbrowser but the app doesnt handle this an and acessing via site is a real pain
Same for sorting (per sender eg) moving multiple mails etc… i will try this exchange but wait for some comments on the melwin and kaiten, perhaps someone has tried aor compared all of these.
I simply need to handle large amountof mails best possible. ( imap)
Thanx again, m

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By kerry on March 27, 2012 at 10:08 am:

hi

i used maildroid n not able t setup my exchange email.
i have setup my hotmail but cant view any other folder than inbox.

touchdown always with problem that email not coming in even there is email from outlook.

struggle finding the right apps for android!

rgds,
Kerry

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By Derek on March 27, 2012 at 10:48 am:

Try Peek Push Mail. They just launched so it’s free for a limited time. It’s lightweight and even uses less battery/data than other email clients.

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By tthreeoh on March 28, 2012 at 11:48 pm:

Fan Boys! Fan Boys Everywhere!

APPLE(the company) is about SERVICES and SUBSCRIBING for them. BY LIMITING YOUR CHOICES YOU ARE FORCED TO ADAPT.( EXAMPLE: remember when bluetooth became available to older iphones/touches?? YEA, THE HARDWARE WAS ALWAYS THERE)

Android(The PLATFORM) is about giving you a platform you can use efficiently, YET also BUILD ON… this has FREED the phone market for a COMPETENT USER

Both have their Pros and Cons. They are both Corporations, as a whole we are essential to this, as individuals… do I really need to say it?

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By Radi on March 31, 2012 at 3:21 pm:

Hi all,
All above apps are based on a Web mail and depend on availability of the wireless connection (WiFi or 3/4G).
Is there an app for Android that works like the Outlook on the PC, that allows user having a POP mail account, to keep his Inbox and other folders containing the relevant messages in the Smartphone’s memory, for consultation etc, without need to retrieve them from Google/Yahoo or other Web service provider each time he needs to use them?

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- By Dr. Charles Lakin on April 30, 2012 at 11:57 am:
  
  Hi Radi,
  WI have the same problem that you sited in the script below that I took from the site. Have you been able to come up with any app program solution to filing, writing drafts to send, and storing e-mails when I am not around any wifi signal. I will be using my Android phone in Kenya and will only get to an internet cafe once a week and which time I will send all the e-mail drafts I have written during the week and receive all the backloged e-mails set me from the states.
  
  Any thoughts.
  Chuck Lakin
  
  Radi says:
  March 31, 2012 at 3:21 pm
  Hi all,
  All above apps are based on a Web mail and depend on availability of the wireless connection (WiFi or 3/4G).
  Is there an app for Android that works like the Outlook on the PC, that allows user having a POP mail account, to keep his Inbox and other folders containing the relevant messages in the Smartphone’s memory, for consultation etc, without need to retrieve them from Google/Yahoo or other Web service provider each time he needs to use them?
  
  Reply
By tomcrumpton on April 6, 2012 at 1:05 pm:

Great comparison but will ANY of them allow you to delete all emails at once? At the end of the day, I want to delete all my emails, but not one by one…takes too much time. Any ideas?

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By troll1230 on April 11, 2012 at 9:46 am:

Please, everyone here, I need help. I have a Motorola Defy, which runs on Android 2.2 OS. I don’t know if it’s the device or the OS, but I can’t copy text from offline sources like e-mail to paste them elsewhere. Yesterday my wife sent me an e-mail containing something I was supposed to look over, since I couldn’t copy from the e-mail and couldn’t look for the web page, the first thing she did when she came from work was rub in that with her Iphone she could. Come on, I used to have a Blackberry which is a worthless device with a worthless OS, but still I could copy text from any content offline or online. If anyone has any help on the subject, please write to me to: troll_1230@hotmail.com.
Sincerely,
Troll1230

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- By Antonio Wells on April 11, 2012 at 10:25 am:
  
  @troll1230 Which email app are you using? If the default one that comes with Android that simply is labeled “Email”, maybe you can attempt to reply or forward the email, from there you should be able to longpress the text to get the copy options. Does that work?
  
  Reply
By rayman on April 29, 2012 at 8:53 am:

The only thing problem in android is about deep sleep. If my droid already in deep sleep state, screen off more than half an hour, then gmail apps couldnt receive email. I should wake up my droid for a second then gmail will work. If i enable mobile data always on (run in background), then my battery will drain rapidly. Well, i think that is my only problem for now.

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By Lyla Dupuy on May 15, 2012 at 4:51 am:

How do I get all my Google folders to show up in K-9; some do but not all. Or do you recommend the Gmail client for google accounts? I’m constantly revolving between these two but will admit I really like K-9 if it wouldn’t be for all the FC and the folder/label issue! TIA!

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- By Antonio Wells on May 15, 2012 at 9:55 am:
  
  I would personally recommend Gmail for Google Accounts.
  
  Reply
By cheryl on May 25, 2012 at 4:42 am:

Can someone please help me with K9. I recently purchased a tablet and am trying to set up a contact list so I don’t have to enter in the email addresses everytime I send an email. It is probably very easy but if someone could tell me how to set it up that would be great. Thanks!

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By Paul on June 8, 2012 at 4:46 pm:

I have checked out every app above except for Exchange by TouchDown (I’m not using MS Exchange). Not a SINGLE ONE of them will handle Calendar requests. The GMail app will handle Gmail-based calendar requests, but that’s it. In a world where iPhones, Android phones, Blackberries and email clients (Outlook, etc) speak to each other, it’s a MAJOR failing.

I would REALLY like to be wrong; if you know of another android email client that will allow calendar requests to be accepted (i.e added to the calendar with a “will attend”) or rejected, with a response mailed automatically to the user (JUST like it works in Outlook, BlackBerry, and the iPhone) then please let me know

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By mime on June 23, 2012 at 8:04 am:

Gmail app for android is crap since the most recent update, I have to manually retrieve email, using the ‘refresh’ button and go back and forth between folders until email shows up. I veered away from android for a while and just cam back, but I remember the old gmail app working much much better, with instant notifications, and the ability to retrieve email automatically. This new one is useless and very inspirational.

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By Bill on June 28, 2012 at 8:39 am:

I really like the Android platform. However, the email client is a far cry from a Blackberry’s. I do keep in mind though that the Blackberry was purpose built -email comes first and everything else is an afterthought (hence the crappy browser and limited functionality). IMHO if an Adroid developer wanted to make a decent living off an app/s they should develop similar functionality to that of the Blackberry’s email and profile operations.

“Thats all I have to say about that” Forest Gump

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By SamWiseForgyven on July 10, 2012 at 11:12 am:

Hi all – My organization locked down our outlook email so I tried every OWA Android app out there and none worked for me. They all required something open on the server end such as exchange web services or WebDav. There was no way to get my android to work with my email except the browser, but the logout was every minute, requiring a retype of my username/password. If you ever used OWA you know what I’m talking about.

This QOWA is still using the native web interface so it should work with ALL OWA email addresses. The text, divs, tables are all resized with javascript to allow it to work friendly with the touch environment.

Here is the link to the QOWA app in the marketplace.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qowa

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By Lynsey on July 12, 2012 at 4:10 pm:

Sad to see this review. I guess there really aren’t any good email apps, for Android unless you are willing to pay.

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By Azzoth on July 20, 2012 at 5:16 pm:

Here is an Android Email apps ranking, you can also rank your favorite ones by position:
http://android.zranks.com/ranking/email-apps

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By Steph on October 2, 2012 at 5:20 am:

Just started using K-9 on Motorola Defy. Aim is to create multiple pop3 accounts. Fine with yahoo so far…

BUT does not work with any gmail account, including the one initially “attached” (excuse my english, fr = mother tongue) to the cellphone. I’ve checked the wiki and followed google/gmail email & popup messages which came in relation with the issue, none of this works.

The issue seems to be google related, however, it would be nice to make it clear wether there is/will be a solution, or at least outline the problem. Maybe in the wiki.

Regards

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By mirilam on October 9, 2012 at 9:33 am:

Emoze Secure PushMail is a smart, simple and efficient way to communicate with the office, friends, ‎and family from any mobile device at anytime and anywhere.‎

Multiple email accounts can be synchronized simultaneously as well as your contacts, calendar events, ‎and sub-folders.

Emoze application provides a complete secure experience, enabling you, among other things, to remotely ‎locate, lock, and wipe ‎the data on the device if lost or stolen.‎

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emoze.Emozesync

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By Katy Lawrence on October 17, 2012 at 3:55 am:

Surely, Gmail is the best but I’m quite surprised reading Yahoo! listed on second, I was having much better expectation with MailDroid. Well, after reading your reviews you listing make sense I think I should reconsidered my own listing.

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- By Antonio Wells on October 17, 2012 at 6:52 am:
  
  We actually listed Yahoo as honored mention and not second.
  
  Reply
By TinaM273 on November 2, 2012 at 7:41 pm:

I need to know what of these apps will sort the messages for me. Over the course of a day I will get several emails about the same topic from multiple people. I would like to have them grouped together in one spot. But I don’t know if I can do that with any of these apps or not. Thank you.

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By VTQ on December 4, 2012 at 3:50 am:

I am very very dissappointed with Android email applications. In order to use it with full functions, I must rely too much on:
- Webmail,
- Gmail,
- Internet connection
In summary: Stupid design
I am thinking about switching to Windows 8 or Windows Mobile.

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By Rich on December 10, 2012 at 8:16 am:

Dame Androids please do a better job with the most important app for a smartphone!!
All mail app are reeeely shitty compare to apple mail, dame crap!

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By jozettep on December 11, 2012 at 9:51 am:

Hello an thanks for the information. I am having a problem with hotmail from the Google store. I downloaded a hotmail link from the store by accident when I was having problems with my mail one day. Ever since then I gave this appgeyser that has taken over my post, shares an anything else I try to do, can you help? I have deleted it an went back to my other hotmail from the store but that app is still there. I was using the hotmail app that had the blue envelope but it will not download my anti virus blocks it, which is good. This app is not downloaded anywhere on my phone. Got in touch with the app, no help at all. I completely uninstall an went to another app in the store an its still there, when I post or share it gives a link to that hotmail link to be downloaded. HELP PLEASE. it is driving me crazy I’m on here hours everyday with blows, EBooks, webinars etc.
Thank you in advance,

JozetteP

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- By mirilam on December 23, 2012 at 7:51 am:
  
  Hi
  Try Emoze secure PushMail.
  Works with almost all email providers. Free app!
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emoze.Emozesync
  
  Reply
  - By Androdia on April 9, 2013 at 12:48 pm:
    
    mirilam : you are patetich promoting your own app this way. Because of this I wont check it out
    
    gmail is not an option for me as its like a peakhole for google to supervise my activities and i am more than just shure that they also steal addresslists aswell.
    
    There really are no very good email apps for android, its a fact. K9 is kinda working but not good. The built in client in asus android tablets cant even remember addresses correctly. Its a big drawback for android this and it should not be dificult to solve
    
    Reply
By Samwise on December 14, 2012 at 4:15 pm:

Hi there Antonio. I work for Nitrodesk in the Support Department. We have had several reports about your post, so wanted to take the time to provide some feedback.

Thank you very much for the great review! However, we have to make one correction. TouchDown does not support POP3 or IMAP accounts.

We only support servers listed here: http://www.nitrodesk.com/touchdown

Thanks!!!

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By Raj on February 12, 2013 at 5:17 am:

I am looking for best email client for exchange on Android? what would be your suggestions?

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By Wayne on April 24, 2013 at 9:38 am:

Why are apple tards even commenting or reading this article?
I like the Gmail app, I just wish they would fix the message clipping bug. (You cannot see past where gmail clips it, and no option to view more)
The yahoo app has a glitch it needs to fix also. When I receive an attachment with a filename that is all numbers (ex. 1234.pdf) it wants to call that number instead of opening the attachment. The only way to open that attachment is to use browser mail, or another app.

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