The Bottom Line
Sparrow for iPhone makes accessing multiple IMAP and POP accounts a fast and convenient joy with many an intelligent user interface shortcut.
Some common actions need to be done in a somewhat roundabout manner, though, and Sparrow for iPhone offers not much help composing mail. Push notifications for new messages are missing, too.
Some common actions need to be done in a somewhat roundabout manner, though, and Sparrow for iPhone offers not much help composing mail. Push notifications for new messages are missing, too.
Pros
- Sparrow for iPhone is a delight to use and mostly offers fast ways to get mail done
- Support for multiple accounts and addresses lets you set up separate personas (including their own default signature and outgoing mail server)
- With Gmail accounts, Sparrow for iPhone includes priority inbox and color labels; threading and swift search work with all accounts
Cons
- Sparrow for iPhone does not receive push email while in the background and lacks support for Exchange
- Message templates or text macros could make writing mail faster, filters sort incoming mail
- Some user interface choices seem less than ideal
Description
- Sparrow for iPhone lets you access IMAP and POP email accounts on an iPhone.
- Multiple accounts' inboxes can be combined to form one universal new mail folder.
- Each account can have its own signature and icon. In addition, you can set up alias addresses with different names, default signatures and mail servers.
- Swiping gestures offer shortcuts to many an action (such as browsing folders and conversations or refreshing mailboxes).
- With Gmail accounts, Sparrow for iPhone supports color labels and Priority Inbox. For all accounts, it can display just unread or just starred messages.
- Sparrow hides superfluous or quoted text and strings together emails in threads and lets you navigate them by scrolling across the top or bottom.
- You can archive and flag (star) individual emails easily in Sparrow and move, archive and mark as read in bulk. "Send and Archive" delivers your reply and archives the original message in one go.
- Sparrow searches senders, recipients, subjects and the complete message text both on the phone and on the server (albeit with few search criteria to limit or sort results).
- When composing and browsing mail, Sparrow displays contact pictures from Contacts and, optionally, Facebook. Recipients mailed most frequently are put within a tap's easy reach for starting a new message.
- Including images from camera or photo library is easy with Sparrow for iPhone.
- Sparrow for iPhone supports iOS 5 on iPhone and iPod touch.
