AirMail could be the best email client for Apple Watch

It seems odd even writing it, "email client for Apple Watch." But in 2016, that’s what we’re dealing with, albeit email clients which often don’t perform too well at the wrist. Before now, I’d been using Microsoft Outlook (which ships with its own Watch app plus complication) in order to process small amounts of email using my Apple Watch, but there’s a new piece of software on the block that’s taking iPhone owners by storm. It’s called AirMail.

From the folks behind the Mac app of the same name, AirMail for Apple Watch brings a small number of incredibly useful email management tools to the wrist. In fact, you’ll probably find that this piece of software can do a lot more than you initially thought after playing around with it for just a few minutes. And for this reason, I find AirMail to be hugely impressive and a must-have for Apple Watch owners.

As you’d expect, AirMail for watchOS lets users view their inbox on their smart watch. Under watchOS 2 it also supports smart notifications, allowing Watch wearers to interact with new email notifications without even opening the AirMail app itself.

However, more advanced functionality indeed lies within the AirMail application. Here, you can scroll through your inbox, but it’s also possible to archive, reply, reschedule for tomorrow, or trash individual messages after you’d read them. You can use Siri for replies, but the app also supports the more socially-acceptable (if not always accurate) quick replies Apple introduced with Messages on watchOS. Finally, a Force Touch on individual messages lets users mark messages as read, star them, schedule a todo, or create a memo.

The one problem with AirMail is that it doesn’t offer a complication (although there is a Glance). An unread messages complication would be a real treat, and hopefully this will arrive in a future update. But for now, AirMail for watchOS is nevertheless a capable piece of software that Apple Watch owners should find particularly useful.

You can pick up the app for $4.99 on the App Store.