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MailDroid back to basics

maildroiddev

Well-Known Member
Jul 20, 2010
146
107
It has been a while since I posted a lot on here and I think it is time to go back to basics and start that again. Many of you have used our app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maildroid), a lot of you are still using our app, some have left to other apps. When we started to develop MailDroid as an alternative email client to the stock and K9 back in late 2009 this forum was one of the most helpful forums that we posted on. We got amazing feedback, good feature requests, and kind words. Fast forward to a few years later and what we have is a lot more mail options in the Play store, less feedback on the forums, overstuffed inbox with requests, and a ToDo list so long that we got lost with it over the last year. What we have decided is to scratch our ToDo list. This list was too tremendous to tackle and we would never get to anything. We obviously have kept a few things on an internal bug list but we want to reach out to the community again for everything else. What can we do better? What can we add? What is lacking from the app? Is there anything you want in an email app that has never been seen? We know for example that:

1. Our rules engine needs a re-write and some more features (help us, what do you want?!)
2. Our navigation bar many people don't like (we are active on this one now, tell me what you want to change)
3. Do you want plugins to other apps? If so, which ones? We know we have been lacking on this one...

We had a lot of pressure to add sMIME and PGP encryption last year and that took a bulk load of time to do and required a lot of effort to speak to multiple channels to get it released globally, but it was finally done. We are also releasing a slew of fixes for that as well. This was one main thing that caused us to lose focus on our task list, but now we need to get back to the basics.

In general, I am not looking for a "your app is bad because it has ads". Yes, we have ads, we are aware, most people have been OK with it for years and it is what allows us to continue to develop this for so long. We want constructive feedback like we used to get. We will listen and will respond. We want to go back to the community since it had helped us make such a great mail client and we know that everyone out there has some thoughts. Please give constructive thoughts and comments, I don't want this to turn into a bashing thread.
 
Appreciate seeing you back asking folks what they need! :)

It has taken some time and the cryptography really crushed us last year. We did not realize the hurdles until we were mid through it (beyond complex development we also had legal hurdles to release cryptography...lawyers, yuck). But, we are back and we want the feedback again that made it :)
 
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So someone on another forum asked me about expandable notification options (basically reply, reply all, delete etc. from the notification bar). We have this coming and our roadmap for June (hopefully). If anyone else has any other comments so that we can sneak something else in by then, please let me know (if you don't want to post here, you can always PM me or email us).
 
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I'm not much of an emailer so the Gmail app does me fine but I applaud you for asking the community what they want from your app.
You should start a g+ community if you haven't already :thumbsupdroid:

When we started this back in late 2009 it was all built based off feedback and users both in this forum (and another un-named forum :) So many people came in with so many good ideas and it has taken years to get to most of them! In general, all apps should be built by users who use them, we are the builders and the architects of the code, but our users are the ones that lay out the ideas and tell us where to place things.

G+? Oh no, then we would not be able to spend so much time here :p
 
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For crying out loud, I know for a fact that we have active MailDroid users here.

If one or more of them doesn't speak up soon, I'll go back to MailDroid and be happy to give you feedback! :)

And yeah - Google+ is exactly the wrong place for this. :p
As I grow tired of Inbox, and we never really a fan of the GMail app, I'm giving this a try now.;)
 
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I don't use Maildroid, but I'd check out whatever makes people use K-9 Mail and Aquamail. Could also be the name.
Verizon grabbed the "Droid" name and some of us assume most apps with "droid" belong to CDMA phones and Verizon.

I use Aquamail as my mail service is initially German. So is Aquamail and they play nice together.

Well we assume that the main reason is that we have ads that support us where K9 is free and AquaMail is free for 2 accounts (but with a signature). Our goal is not to bash either app, they are both fine apps and very well written. We have a ton of features they don't have and they have features we don't have, it's all about what works for some people and not everything will work for everyone. The goal here is to try and get people who use the app to tell us what they want to add and/or improve and for users who may have used the app and left to tell us why (was it ads, was it pro price, was it missing feature or bugs, was it too many releases etc.).

Also, just a note that AquaMail is Russian based and not German ;-) After the US the next largest user base we have is actually Germany (I believe it has a lot to do with our PGP/sMIME offering and security in general, but no idea...we do work well with gmx I guess?).
 
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I don't use Maildroid, but I'd check out whatever makes people use K-9 Mail and Aquamail. Could also be the name.
Verizon grabbed the "Droid" name and some of us assume most apps with "droid" belong to CDMA phones and Verizon.

I use Aquamail as my mail service is initially German. So is Aquamail and they play nice together.
Unbelievable.

So, your advice is to change the name so you don't get confused with Verizon and next time, be German because you believe that software is nationalistic.

The dev asked for feedback on features from users of the app. Really nicely.

Nothing similar or theoretical or gee, what's my favorite need be posted below the following line:

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Strict topic enforcement is hereby in effect.

Anything off-topic will disappear.

Any argument or questions about why, tap my name and ask privately.

No exceptions.
 
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Well I've just installed the free version for testing (I generally prefer paid to ad-supported), though I'm spending a lot of time offline at the moment (exam marking) so it won't be very intensive for the next few days and will take me a while to give any serious feedback. Initial impressions are very positive, though I've got to adjust to the sensitivity of some interactions.

One thing I immediately missed was the ability to swipe while reading one message to move to the previous or next, which I find I do in Aquamail when I am catching up on a thread (more convenient than previous/next message buttons). I've literally only used it for a few minutes though, so haven't gone through the settings to find the what options there are.
 
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I haven't used Maildroid for quite a while so I'm a little out of date regarding your latest versions and features. Honestly, I installed AquaMail and the UI was so good I never looked back. That said, no doubt you guys have a fine client and do a very nice job of supporting it.

Here's my 2 cents on this:
It struck me that Maildroid had spent time on features that were becoming less and less relevant. It makes Maildroid kinda unique, yes. It offers some things most other clients don't. But...I believe they don't offer them because there's not much point anymore.

For example...
Maildroid offers in-client spam filtering. Useful for POP3 but I'd never use it for IMAP accounts. A spam filter is much better setup on the server side so email is filtered everywhere.

Maildroid offers custom mail rules. And creation of folders. Again, kinda handy for POP3 but this stuff is better done on the server side for IMAP. Log into webmail, set it up once and forget it.

I suppose this stuff was added in years ago when POP3 was still the dominant email protocol. Why take it out when it's already in there?

So I guess what I'm really saying is, don't spend any more time on improving POP3 functionality. It's an IMAP world.
 
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Well I've just installed the free version for testing (I generally prefer paid to ad-supported), though I'm spending a lot of time offline at the moment (exam marking) so it won't be very intensive for the next few days and will take me a while to give any serious feedback. Initial impressions are very positive, though I've got to adjust to the sensitivity of some interactions.

One thing I immediately missed was the ability to swipe while reading one message to move to the previous or next, which I find I do in Aquamail when I am catching up on a thread (more convenient than previous/next message buttons). I've literally only used it for a few minutes though, so haven't gone through the settings to find the what options there are.

Yep, the pro version has arrows between emails as well as ability to use volume control to go between messages. Email me and I'll try and hook you up with a pro version.
 
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I haven't used Maildroid for quite a while so I'm a little out of date regarding your latest versions and features. Honestly, I installed AquaMail and the UI was so good I never looked back. That said, no doubt you guys have a fine client and do a very nice job of supporting it.

Here's my 2 cents on this:
It struck me that Maildroid had spent time on features that were becoming less and less relevant. It makes Maildroid kinda unique, yes. It offers some things most other clients don't. But...I believe they don't offer them because there's not much point anymore.

For example...
Maildroid offers in-client spam filtering. Useful for POP3 but I'd never use it for IMAP accounts. A spam filter is much better setup on the server side so email is filtered everywhere.

Maildroid offers custom mail rules. And creation of folders. Again, kinda handy for POP3 but this stuff is better done on the server side for IMAP. Log into webmail, set it up once and forget it.

I suppose this stuff was added in years ago when POP3 was still the dominant email protocol. Why take it out when it's already in there?

So I guess what I'm really saying is, don't spend any more time on improving POP3 functionality. It's an IMAP world.

Hey crashdamage, I half agree with you :) Yup, you are right about IMAP, totally agree, but there are a number of things to consider.

1. You'd be surprised how many POP3 users are out there. We all agree IMAP is better, but POP is often cheaper and sometimes offered for free on mail clients while IMAP costs (GoDaddy is a good example of this and even roadrunner is only POP I believe).

2. The spam filter is 'normally' better on IMAP. But, that depends on the IMAP server. Google does a good job at it, Yahoo does not. Of course, POP3 servers as well as you pointed out it will help with. You would be surprised how many people use it for IMAP though.

3. Custom folders can be created for IMAP also, you need it for POP, but also with IMAP you need ability to create folders that sync with the server and sometimes you want to create it on the device, not just on the web via a browser.

4. Rules are more than just moving emails to folders. Some IMAP servers support this, but not all. The ability to create rules to send a mail with a subject or a specific sender to an IMAP folder is worthwhile as not all servers support that filtering ability and some don't support it with wildcard characters as we do. Also, more than just move, you can set it to move and notify with a custom sound/icon. This allows notification and/or moving of an email to a specific folder. You can also set it to match by certain days and/or times and most IMAP servers don't go that granular. The rules are vast and large and not just about moving emails.

Although, I have to agree IMAP is the way to go. However, the question is, given that IMAP is better, what is missing to improve upon or add in our app? We have just about everything you can want from IMAP (though I am sure you have some ideas).

Thanks so much for your feedback and nice comments, you really do always point out all the clients when answering questions.
 
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OK, just got another comment sent to me, someone did not want to post here. Anyway, he wanted to have the ability to view emails with a dark background, not just white as his eyes are sensitive. In the past, we avoided this because it means that the email you are viewing could be stripped of HTML and it makes bold/underline and some other text hard to see. Some developers bypassed this and basically made underline yellow or some color and bold some other color, we did not want to do this. However, this feedback makes sense (sensitive eyes) and we are going to add it in such a way that you can have a dark background and get an alert shown on newsletters or html website style emails that HTML may not be shown and to perhaps change to light theme for those specific emails.
 
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1. Yeah, I know there's still a fair amount of POP3 use. TWC RR apparently still thinks the competition is AOL. I have a GoDaddy business domain but fortunately got IMAP with unlimited storage while it was still free and GoDaddy swears I'll never lose it.

2. Does Yahoo do anything right with email? Whatta mess...
I am surprised more than a few people use your spam filter with IMAP.

3. OK, but I always thought it was preferred to create folders on the server side and let them propagate to the clients, because some server software didn't like doing it client to server. Not so?

4. Good points. So far, I've been able to do whatever I need, but I get what you're saying.

Anyway, back to the subject of this thread...
I'll install Maildroid again, get reacquainted with it and see if I can come up with something worthwhile. But don't expect me to give up AquaMail...
 
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1. Yeah, I know there's still a fair amount of POP3 use. TWC RR apparently still thinks the competition is AOL. I have a GoDaddy business domain but fortunately got IMAP with unlimited storage while it was still free and GoDaddy swears I'll never lose it.

2. Does Yahoo do anything right with email? Whatta mess...
I am surprised more than a few people use your spam filter with IMAP.

3. OK, but I always thought it was preferred to create folders on the server side and let them propagate to the clients, because some server software didn't like doing it client to server. Not so?

4. Good points. So far, I've been able to do whatever I need, but I get what you're saying.

Anyway, back to the subject of this thread...
I'll install Maildroid again, get reacquainted with it and see if I can come up with something worthwhile. But don't expect me to give up AquaMail...

AquaMail is a really great piece of software, well done. It is actually great to hear from someone who may not change to the app on what he would want to make this app better...so he may change to it one day ;-)

2. Many do, as noted, not all IMAP servers have a great spam filter added to it.

3. It is, but there is nothing in the RFC that says it can't be done another way (from last I checked).
 
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Just downloaded and tried it (again - can't remember when I tested last) and I gave a couple of queries/suggestions which may be better sorted through email. Just let me know:

1) I basically want ALL of my email on my phone even though I have an imap account. The reason is that I live in a part of the UK where a 3G signal is 'spotty' so can't rely on a data connection to download things all the time. Obviously I wouldn't have anything from the time when a data connection disappeared but to have everything until then would be ideal. I've gone into settings but there doesn't seem to be an obvious way to do this. Can it be done? If not, can you add it?

2) When I 'migrated' to my current imap provider (from a pop account) I used their tool to convert my Outlook pst file from my PC. When I look at email dates within Maildroid this is set to the 'conversion date'. i.e. the date I converted this pst file. If I look at the same email within Outlook (2010) on my pc, and also on my providers web interface to the folder directly, the date is correct. Any ideas? (Though another email app has the same problem).

Thanks in advance.

Dave
 
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Just downloaded and tried it (again - can't remember when I tested last) and I gave a couple of queries/suggestions which may be better sorted through email. Just let me know:

1) I basically want ALL of my email on my phone even though I have an imap account. The reason is that I live in a part of the UK where a 3G signal is 'spotty' so can't rely on a data connection to download things all the time. Obviously I wouldn't have anything from the time when a data connection disappeared but to have everything until then would be ideal. I've gone into settings but there doesn't seem to be an obvious way to do this. Can it be done? If not, can you add it?

2) When I 'migrated' to my current imap provider (from a pop account) I used their tool to convert my Outlook pst file from my PC. When I look at email dates within Maildroid this is set to the 'conversion date'. i.e. the date I converted this pst file. If I look at the same email within Outlook (2010) on my pc, and also on my providers web interface to the folder directly, the date is correct. Any ideas? (Though another email app has the same problem).

Thanks in advance.

Dave

1. When you say download all, I have a few questions. Do you mean download all in your inbox or in folders, or both? For the inbox, we have a load older mail at the bottom where if clicked a few times (depending on how much mail you get) will load. Are you asking to add an ALL option in that dropdown? To get all from all folders and your inbox is asking a lot of the mail server and a big query like that could time out. However, maybe we can do it in batch requests. Either way, what are you looking for exactly?

2. Send me an email on this one so we can dig deeper here, but the pst creation may change internal headers in the mail envelope (which seems strange to be honest).
 
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