3 ms·

Apple Mail is riddled with bugs it’s unusable. Do yourself a favor and switch. Anything else is better than it, Thunderbird is a pretty good alternative imo. I

Apple Mail is riddled with bugs it’s unusable. Do yourself a favor and switch. Anything else is better than it, Thunderbird is a pretty good alternative imo. It feels like apple doesn’t put any care into regression bugs in their applications. It’s the same on the iPhone, Mail is so bad that I uninstalled it in favor of outlook (the irony...) —Mail was sucking so much battery that my phone wouldn’t last 8h. With outlook it lasts all day (12+h)

st3fan 6y ago
> Apple Mail is riddled with bugs it’s unusable. Weird, I've been using it for a decade and I have zero issues. Maybe 'unusable' is a pretty subjective assessment?
- auggierose 6y ago
  What configuration are you running? This bug happens to me several times a day, though I am trying to close Apple Mail when I am not using it, but that's easy to forget and also annoying.
- orloffm 6y ago
  If people keep alligators at home, and some are eaten by them, the assessment of them being unsuitable for pets is not subjective.
  - andreasley 6y ago
    It depends on the percentage. Dogs are considered suitable pets, despite some owners being mauled.
    - swiley 6y ago
      Certain breeds of dogs are not, these probably account for the majority of mailings. https://www.askadamskutner.com/dog-bites/bite-statistics-according-to-dog-breed/ https://www.askadamskutner.com/dog-bites/bite-statistics-acc...
- cwhiz 6y ago
  Same. The only issue I have noticed is that Mail sometimes freaks out when I lose internet connection. It’s pretty rare for that to happen and it doesn’t freak out every time, either. I have not experienced any of the bugs other people are having. I have six different email accounts with a ton of folders.
- strogonoff 6y ago
  I have been using Mail for many years. Like OP, I have Gmail on own domain (in my case it’s the old personal G Suite offering). Additionally, I have a regular Gmail account and iCloud’s built-in email. Like OP, I did a clean install when Catalina came out (got a new laptop around that time). As far as I’m concerned, Mail is one of those things that consistently just works. The only issue I used to have was quirky undo/redo of archivals/deletions, which I believe had to do with Gmail’s IMAP servers and/or the way Mail talks to them, but I am not noticing that lately. If I were OP, I’d consider again whether third-party software that they and their coworkers have in common is wreaking havoc here. If there’s no such software or the issue manifests itself on a clean system without any third-party apps at all, then this Heisenbug should probably on Apple’s Radar…
- lowwave 6y ago
  The best thing about Apple Mail is their integration with contacts and everything "i" Phone, Pad, etc. It is the whole ecosystem lock down deal again. Nothing has progressed in tech in this aspect, each company is still for themselves instead of consumers.
  - st3fan 6y ago
    What lock down are you talking about? Any email client can integrate with your calendar and contacts - those are public APIs.
- techbubble 6y ago
  I have 16 GSuite accounts setup and have never had this issue in Mail. Even if my account login fails or the server is unreachable, the app does not automatically come to the foreground. I don't use full screen or spaces though (I prefer Moom) so maybe that's why I have never seen the issue.
- swiley 6y ago
  No, it has a lot of memory corruption issues. Try adding another account (or don't if you need the app to keep functioning.) I don't know if apple just decided to give up on it or what but it's got a lot of bugs that have been left for years.
Vomzor 6y ago
There is a critical bug in 10.15 that deletes random mails and it still hasn’t been fixed! https://mjtsai.com/blog/2019/10/11/mail-data-loss-in-macos-10-15/ https://mjtsai.com/blog/2019/10/11/mail-data-loss-in-macos-1...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
ryanwaggoner 6y ago
I’ve been using Apple Mail on both desktop and iPhone for many years. It’s not perfect, but I’ve found it far superior to the alternatives, including Thunderbird and Outlook.
thiht 6y ago
Same here. I like using Apple programs on OSX because they're pretty well integrated, but Apple Mail is the exception. Random crashes, sudden 100% CPU or memory usage... It sometimes just stops receiving mails altogether.
- sleepless 6y ago
  Try rebuilding your mail index. You can use OnyX for that.
sys_64738 6y ago
Some bugs like this are terrible as I’ve hit the screen split bug several times. But Apple Mail has features like all messages in a single window including replies that don’t exist elsewhere. It’s also fast and smooth mostly with conversations being just right. Thunderbird is mostly OK but is a clunker for these particular areas, imo.
Hamuko 6y ago
Too bad there's not really a plethora of good email applications on macOS. I use Spark, but really only because it's the least bad option I've tried.

st3fan 6y ago

> Apple Mail is riddled with bugs it’s unusable. Weird, I've been using it for a decade and I have zero issues. Maybe 'unusable' is a pretty subjective assessment?

auggierose 6y ago
What configuration are you running? This bug happens to me several times a day, though I am trying to close Apple Mail when I am not using it, but that's easy to forget and also annoying.
orloffm 6y ago
If people keep alligators at home, and some are eaten by them, the assessment of them being unsuitable for pets is not subjective.
- andreasley 6y ago
  It depends on the percentage. Dogs are considered suitable pets, despite some owners being mauled.
  - swiley 6y ago
    Certain breeds of dogs are not, these probably account for the majority of mailings. https://www.askadamskutner.com/dog-bites/bite-statistics-according-to-dog-breed/ https://www.askadamskutner.com/dog-bites/bite-statistics-acc...
cwhiz 6y ago
Same. The only issue I have noticed is that Mail sometimes freaks out when I lose internet connection. It’s pretty rare for that to happen and it doesn’t freak out every time, either. I have not experienced any of the bugs other people are having. I have six different email accounts with a ton of folders.
strogonoff 6y ago
I have been using Mail for many years. Like OP, I have Gmail on own domain (in my case it’s the old personal G Suite offering). Additionally, I have a regular Gmail account and iCloud’s built-in email. Like OP, I did a clean install when Catalina came out (got a new laptop around that time). As far as I’m concerned, Mail is one of those things that consistently just works. The only issue I used to have was quirky undo/redo of archivals/deletions, which I believe had to do with Gmail’s IMAP servers and/or the way Mail talks to them, but I am not noticing that lately. If I were OP, I’d consider again whether third-party software that they and their coworkers have in common is wreaking havoc here. If there’s no such software or the issue manifests itself on a clean system without any third-party apps at all, then this Heisenbug should probably on Apple’s Radar…
lowwave 6y ago
The best thing about Apple Mail is their integration with contacts and everything "i" Phone, Pad, etc. It is the whole ecosystem lock down deal again. Nothing has progressed in tech in this aspect, each company is still for themselves instead of consumers.
- st3fan 6y ago
  What lock down are you talking about? Any email client can integrate with your calendar and contacts - those are public APIs.
techbubble 6y ago
I have 16 GSuite accounts setup and have never had this issue in Mail. Even if my account login fails or the server is unreachable, the app does not automatically come to the foreground. I don't use full screen or spaces though (I prefer Moom) so maybe that's why I have never seen the issue.
swiley 6y ago
No, it has a lot of memory corruption issues. Try adding another account (or don't if you need the app to keep functioning.) I don't know if apple just decided to give up on it or what but it's got a lot of bugs that have been left for years.

Vomzor 6y ago

There is a critical bug in 10.15 that deletes random mails and it still hasn’t been fixed! https://mjtsai.com/blog/2019/10/11/mail-data-loss-in-macos-10-15/ https://mjtsai.com/blog/2019/10/11/mail-data-loss-in-macos-1...

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

ryanwaggoner 6y ago

I’ve been using Apple Mail on both desktop and iPhone for many years. It’s not perfect, but I’ve found it far superior to the alternatives, including Thunderbird and Outlook.

thiht 6y ago

Same here. I like using Apple programs on OSX because they're pretty well integrated, but Apple Mail is the exception. Random crashes, sudden 100% CPU or memory usage... It sometimes just stops receiving mails altogether.

sleepless 6y ago
Try rebuilding your mail index. You can use OnyX for that.

sys_64738 6y ago

Some bugs like this are terrible as I’ve hit the screen split bug several times. But Apple Mail has features like all messages in a single window including replies that don’t exist elsewhere. It’s also fast and smooth mostly with conversations being just right. Thunderbird is mostly OK but is a clunker for these particular areas, imo.

Hamuko 6y ago

Too bad there's not really a plethora of good email applications on macOS. I use Spark, but really only because it's the least bad option I've tried.