Mimestream is a new email app that's 'made for Mac, optimized for Gmail'

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By Oliver Haslam
last updated

Mimestream On Mac
Mimestream On Mac

What you need to know

  • There's a new Mac email app in town and it's designed for Gmail.
  • The app is developed by a former Apple engineer.
  • The app is native and written in Swift using AppKit and SwiftUI.

Apple's Mail app does support Gmail but the experience can be clunky at best. There are also plenty of third-party email apps out there that support Gmail, but many of them try to over-complicate matters by adding their own features. Mimestream is a new email app that tries to bridge the gap – it looks similar to Mail, but is built especially for Gmail.

Unlike most other Gmail apps, Mimestream connects directly to Google's servers as well – your data doesn't go anywhere other than your computer, and Google. That's a win for privacy-focused users right there.

Mimestream follows the model of a traditional e-mail client: a cache of your recent messages are stored on your device, and the originals remain on the Gmail server. Mimestream communicates directly from your device to Google's APIs, without using an intermediary server. In addition, your account's access tokens stay on your device.

The app itself is built using AppKit and SwiftUI and runs as a native Mac app. It's actually being developed by Neil Jhaveri, a former Apple engineer who worked on the Mail app that lives in macOS. That might be why Mimestream looks similar. But with native Gmail features like labels, advanced search, and even synced aliases this is definitely not Mail.

New features are planned for the future as well, with Google Drive support on the list. Right now Mimestream is Mac-only, but an iPhone and iPad version of the app is planned.

Mimestream is free right now while it's in beta form, but it'll be a paid app once development is complete. I'd already heard some good things about Mimestream before MacRumors reminded me about it – and I can't wait to check it out. Especially once there are some mobile apps to go with it.

Download Mimestream now and try it for yourself.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.