latest
What is USPS Informed Delivery?
The US Post Office's Informed Delivery service can help you track what mail is coming your way
Even though much of the world is digital, we still get mail and packages. For some, it's exciting to get mail as you may get a card or money you weren't expecting. If you live in the US, the United States Postal Service (USPS) offers a service that shows you what mail and packages are expected now and in the coming days. This service is called Informed Delivery and can be accessed through any computer or Android smartphone.
The worst part about buying something online is waiting until you receive it. The only relief to waiting for your package to arrive is tracking your package along every step of its journey. No other shipper moves as many packages in the US as the US Postal Service. USPS makes tracking your flashy new Chromebook easy while it's in transit.
After 3 years of betas, K-9 Mail gets an update with tons of new features
It's not up on the Play Store, but you can get it on APK Mirror right now
While most Android users are satisfied with Gmail, power users look for something a little more tailored to their needs. One of the most popular alternatives is K-9 Mail, an open source client focused on interoperability and easily handling multiple accounts. The last time the app had a stable release was way back in September of 2018, working on a beta for an extensive overhaul in the meantime. Yesterday the stable update to 5.8 finally dropped.
Yahoo Mail is one of the most popular apps under Verizon's combined AOL/Yahoo umbrella of web services, so it has naturally been loaded to the brim with bloat. The app already had dedicated tabs for online deals and shopping, neither of which have much to do with sending email, and now Yahoo is adding videos to the mix.
Leaked Gmail redesign outs plans to integrate Docs, Chat, and Meet
It looks set to become a one-stop shop for G Suite's productivity and collaboration tools
Google has only recently announced that it was integrating its video-conferencing service Meet with the Gmail app, a move that was met with some criticism. As it turns out, the introduction of the Meet tab was only the beginning of a transformation. Developer Tahin Rahman found slides from Google's upcoming Cloud Next '20 event that show how the company is looking to turn the Gmail app and website into a one-stop productivity hub, with Meet, Chat, Docs, and Rooms built right into the service.
How to track (nearly) every piece of mail coming to your door
It's not perfect, but USPS's Informed Delivery tool really does work
As anecdotal evidence of mail theft grows in the US in recent weeks, we're all probably being a little more careful about collecting our mail in a timely manner as we await for important things to arrive, like an envelope from the IRS (the agency sending out Economic Impact Payments). And while the IRS isn't making any sort of direct mail tracking of stimulus checks available, you can at least get a heads up on the day your check will arrive using this handy tool from USPS. It's not infallible, and it won't get every single letter, but it's about the only way you can get any sort of advanced knowledge your check will be hitting your mailbox soon.
ProtonMail is an encrypted email service, with native applications available for Android and iOS. While the service has been working on new features, its development team has also been releasing the source code for various software components. Now the Android app for ProtonMail is open-source, allowing anyone to look through the code and review its security.
When it came out in 2017, EasilyDo was an Inbox alternative for non-Gmail users, before changing its name to Edison Mail a few months later. It offered advanced features such as Smart Replies, which most emails clients didn't have back then. The app is now becoming even smarter, as it's getting a built-in smart assistant.
Back in March, Google introduced Dynamic emails, which made electronic communication more interactive. Indeed, instead of being a mere messaging platform, it lets users interact with content without leaving their mailbox. This meant they could RSVP to events, respond to comments, and fill out forms without the need to open a new page. Although the feature has been available as a beta program a few months now, the company is officially releasing it to all Gmail and G Suite users.
By killing Inbox, Google is leaving many users without a comparable fallback solution, even though it's arguing Gmail has the same features as the defunct client. Readdle is using this as an opportunity to bring Spark, its popular email client, to Android with hopes it will fill the gap left by Inbox's demise.
In somewhat of a strange move, phone manufacturing startup Essential purchased CloudMagic in December of last year. CloudMagic's primary product was Newton Mail, a cross-platform mail application that cost $50/year to use, which shut down last August. Now it seems Essential has revived Newton Mail, as the service is once again online and functional.
Seven months have passed since we published the last installment of the AP Files. In that time, the Android world has seen some pretty interesting additions. Way too many flagships, including the latest from ASUS, Huawei, LG, and OnePlus, are being leaked/revealed with notches (thanks, Apple). Android P made its debut in developer preview form, and it looks like Google may be adding gesture navigation as well. LG unveiled the successor to the V30, the nicely-named V30S ThinQ, which is just a V30 with more RAM and some AI features you'll play with once and never touch again.
Welcome back to the Android Police Files, your #1 source for the brilliant stuff that the AP staff receives in our mailboxes. Since we last convened, a lot has happened. The latest version of Android shares a name with a branded product for the first time since 4.4 KitKat. The Galaxy Note8 was released, and it doesn't catch fire. And most recently, a Canadian 17-year old and his "youth leadership coach" tried to pass a Chinese ODM's phone off as their own and crowdsource it on Indiegogo.
It's been over half a year since the last installment of the AP Files was published, and the world has undergone some drastic changes. There's a squeezable phone. Bezel-less phones now dominate the world. And the newest LG phones haven't had any major reports of bootlooping. I'm sorry, I had to.
The Play Store is getting a new email client. Big deal, right? It's not as if we're suffering for lack of options. Well, MailTime, which debuted on iOS in late 2014, is anything but just another entry in a crowded category. For MailTime, emails are just messages, nothing special. You didn't ask for a bunch of metadata, you just got it. The app parses your emails to separate the actual messages from the rest of the clutter.
Synology is a Taiwanese company that specializes in hardware and software for network attached storage. It's not particularly known as a security company, but with the American government publicly demanding access to more or less all data on the planet, and other countries and less polite entities taking it without asking, the market is ripe to sell security products to wary consumers. Hence MailPlus, yet another secure and encrypted email system, this time independently hosted from a customer's Synology-branded NAS hardware.
When you think of the intersection between America Online and email, you probably think of the phrase "you've got mail," septuagenarians forwarding politically-charged but factually lacking messages, and/or Meg Ryan. But AOL Mail is still going strong, and it looks like the company is actually trying to branch out into mobile software. Take Alto Mail, for example: it's a new stand-alone mail client just published in the Play Store alongside more antiquated options like AIM and AOL On.
Like other manufacturers, HTC has made it a thing to publish its stock apps to Google Play, allowing for easier updates. The latest addition is HTC Mail.
Inbox by Gmail isn't even yet a year old, but Google is trying to improve mail even further. But this time, it's not working with the digital variety. It's doing something about snail mail.
Read update
Today Google has announced a number of changes that make it easier to handle multiple accounts from a single place, and they're biggies. For starters, there's the option to view all accounts in a single inbox. And that's joined by the ability to browse conversations in non-Gmail accounts as you would native ones. Options supported include Yahoo, Outlook.com, and other IMAP/POP accounts.