Is Spark Mail Worth The Hype? | Full Spark Mail Review

Summary

In this review, Sparkmail is examined for its AI-driven features aimed at streamlining email management. The app offers a free plan with limitations suitable for basic use and a pro version at $59.99/year. Key features include priority email organization, a command bar for task management, and a unified inbox. The AI aspects, such as compose, summary, and templates, were inaccessible for testing, but Sparkmail's recent addition of a calendar for iOS, Mac, and Windows stands out, providing a comprehensive tool for managing both emails and schedules.

Takeaways

• 📧 Sparkmail is an email application with added artificial intelligence to help manage and prioritize emails.
• 💰 The app offers a free plan with limitations suitable for basic email management, and a Pro plan priced at $59.99 per year.
• 🔑 Premium features include priority inbox management, email grouping, and a gatekeeper feature for screening incoming emails.
• 📌 The app provides organizational tools like 'Pins' and 'Set Aside' to help with task management within the inbox.
• 🛠️ A command bar is available for quick actions such as snoozing emails, marking priorities, and moving emails to relevant locations.
• 🚫 The AI features, including 'Compose AI', 'Summary AI', and 'AI Templates', were not accessible to the reviewer, possibly due to a quota issue.
• 🔍 AI Summary is highlighted as a practical feature for summarizing emails and finding value in them.
• 📲 The app is available on various devices and is easy to use for both mobile and desktop email management.
• 🗓️ A recent addition to Sparkmail is a calendar feature, currently limited to iOS, Mac, and Windows devices.
• 🔗 The calendar allows for event creation and integration with video conferencing, though it lacks extensive availability functions.
• 💡 The app is considered a good upgrade from basic email clients like Apple Mail, offering more customization and features.

Q & A

What is the name of the app being reviewed in the script?

The app being reviewed is called Sparkmail.

What new feature has Sparkmail added to help manage emails?

Sparkmail has added artificial intelligence to help manage emails and prioritize the inbox.

What does the free plan of Sparkmail offer?

The free plan of Sparkmail offers some limitations that are good for an email application, though the specifics are not detailed in the script.

How much does the pro experience of Sparkmail cost per year?

The pro experience of Sparkmail is priced at $59.99 per year at the time of the video.

What is the purpose of the 'Priority' feature in Sparkmail?

The 'Priority' feature in Sparkmail allows for email group prioritization and setting certain people as priority contacts in the inbox.

What is the 'Gatekeeper' feature in Sparkmail?

The 'Gatekeeper' is a screening feature that prevents people from emailing you outside of your inbox, helping to filter who lands in your inbox.

What does the 'Pins' feature in Sparkmail allow users to do?

The 'Pins' feature in Sparkmail helps users to organize tasks and set them aside within the inbox for later management.

What is the 'Command Bar' in Sparkmail used for?

The 'Command Bar' in Sparkmail is used for actions such as snoozing emails, marking them as priority, and moving them to relevant locations.

Why was the reviewer unable to access the AI features of Sparkmail?

The reviewer was unable to access the AI features of Sparkmail because, despite subscribing to the premium rate, they found their monthly quota was at zero and could not find the settings to enable them.

What are the three parts of the AI email experience in Sparkmail?

The three parts of the AI email experience in Sparkmail are 'Compose AI', 'AI Summary', and 'AI Templates'.

What additional feature was recently added to Sparkmail for iOS, Mac, and Windows?

A calendar feature was recently added to Sparkmail for iOS, Mac, and Windows, allowing users to create events and meetings.

Outlines

00:00

📧 Introduction to Sparkmail App Review

In this introductory paragraph, the video script presents an overview of the Sparkmail app, which has recently integrated artificial intelligence to assist in email management and inbox prioritization. The host, Franchesco delesio, welcomes viewers to the review and beginner's guide, highlighting the app's features and its pricing structure, including a free plan with limitations suitable for an email application. The script also mentions a premium plan priced at $59.99 per year, and a team pricing option for enhanced collaboration. The paragraph sets the stage for a detailed exploration of Sparkmail's capabilities and whether it could be the next email software for the viewer.

05:02

🔍 Deep Dive into Sparkmail's Features and AI Integration

This paragraph delves into the specific features of Sparkmail, starting with its premium capabilities such as email prioritization and the 'gatekeeper' feature, which screens incoming emails to ensure only important messages land in the inbox. The script discusses organizational tools like 'pins' and 'set aside,' as well as the command bar for managing emails efficiently. It also touches on the premium feature of marking emails as priority and the 'home area' for a more personalized inbox experience. The host expresses disappointment in not being able to access the AI features despite subscribing to the premium plan, and shares his thoughts on the current state of AI in email applications, highlighting the practicality of the 'AI summarize' feature over other AI-driven functionalities like 'compose AI' and 'AI templates.' The paragraph concludes with a brief mention of the app's email and calendar management capabilities, emphasizing the ease of use across mobile and desktop platforms.

Keywords

💡Sparkmail

Sparkmail is the central subject of the video, an email application that integrates artificial intelligence to assist users in managing and prioritizing their inboxes. It is the main focus of the review and beginner guide presented by Franchesco delesio, who explores its features and assesses its value as an email management tool.

💡Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI in the context of Sparkmail refers to the app's feature set that uses machine learning algorithms to help users with tasks such as email prioritization, summarization, and drafting. The video discusses the integration of AI in Sparkmail and the reviewer's experience with its functionality, noting that it was not fully accessible during the review.

💡Pricing

Pricing is a key aspect discussed in the video, highlighting that Sparkmail offers a free plan with limitations suitable for an email app, as well as a pro plan priced at $59.99 per year. The pricing structure is important for potential users to understand the cost-benefit of using the app and its advanced features.

💡Priority Inbox

Priority Inbox is a premium feature in Sparkmail that allows users to categorize and prioritize certain contacts or emails, ensuring important communications are easily accessible. It exemplifies how the app aims to enhance productivity by streamlining the email management process.

💡Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper is described as a screening feature in Sparkmail, which helps prevent unwanted emails from cluttering the user's inbox. It is part of the premium features and is compared to similar functionalities in other email apps, emphasizing the app's focus on inbox organization.

💡Pins and Set Aside

Pins and Set Aside are features that facilitate task organization within the inbox. Users can mark emails for later action, which is crucial for managing workflow and ensuring no important tasks are overlooked, as illustrated in the video script.

💡Command Bar

The Command Bar is a user interface element in Sparkmail that enables quick actions such as snoozing emails or marking them as priority. It represents the app's effort to provide efficient email handling tools, as mentioned in the tutorial assistance provided to new users.

💡Unified Inbox

Unified Inbox refers to the feature in Sparkmail that synchronizes emails across different devices, offering a consistent experience no matter where the user accesses their emails from. This feature is part of what makes Sparkmail a comprehensive email management solution.

💡Calendar Integration

The recent addition of a calendar feature in Sparkmail for iOS, Mac, and Windows is highlighted in the video. It allows users to create events and integrate video conferencing, enhancing the app's capabilities beyond email management to include scheduling and meeting organization.

💡Templates

Templates in Sparkmail are pre-designed email formats that users can utilize to save time when composing common types of messages. This feature is noted for increasing efficiency and maintaining a consistent communication style.

💡Delegation

Delegation in the context of Sparkmail involves the ability to assign emails to other team members for follow-up, a feature that requires collaboration with team members and is limited to Gmail users on the appropriate pricing plan. It showcases the app's collaborative capabilities.

Highlights

Sparkmail is an email application with added artificial intelligence to manage and prioritize inbox.

The app offers a free plan with limitations suitable for an email application.

Pro version priced at $59.99 per year with enhanced collaborative features.

Sparkmail is available on multiple devices with a variety of features for email management.

Premium features include email prioritization and a screening feature called Gatekeeper.

Pins and Set Aside features help organize tasks within the inbox.

The Command Bar is used for snoozing emails and other organizational tasks.

Marking emails as priority is a premium feature that helps manage a full inbox.

The Home area in premium offers a breathing space for inbox items.

AI features in Sparkmail include compose, summary, and templates but were not accessible for review.

AI summarizing emails is practical for quickly understanding content.

AI compose features may not be as valuable due to limited training data and power.

Sparkmail's AI features are not as compelling as other email apps' AI functionalities.

Email functions like AI search are more beneficial than AI compose features.

Managing emails on mobile and desktop is easy with features like pinning and delegating.

Delegation requires team collaboration and is limited to Gmail on the premium plan.

Replying to emails is straightforward with quick actions like 'Done'.

A recent addition is a calendar feature for iOS, Mac, and Windows, allowing event creation and meeting setup.

The calendar includes video conferencing integration but lacks extensive availability functions.

Sparkmail offers a good free experience with command bar, reminders, and customizable settings.

Premium plan is reasonably priced at $4.99 per month, totaling $60 per year.

Sparkmail is a practical tool for managing inbox on the go with unified features.

Transcripts

today we're looking at an app called sparkmail  it's more recently added artificial intelligence  

wants to help you manage your email every single  day and prioritize your inbox but is it a good  

email application is it a good software we're  going to dive into it in today's review and  

beginner guide to spark now we're going  to look at some features and tell you if  

this is your next email software hello folks  my name is Franchesco delesio welcome to duf  

finder if you're new here hit subscribe  or if you're hunt for productivity tools  

like email software jump over to tool finder  you can find a wide range of resources there  

tools for work in life and I think you'll  find it awesome you can head over to Tool

finder.com it's a really interesting application  and I think the best place to start is the pricing  

the pricing is fairly reasonable it actually has  a free plan which does have some good limitations  

that are good for an email application like this  but the pro experience takes that one step further  

and is priced at $59.99 per year at the timing  of this video there is also a team pricing which  

offers some more collaborative abilities but  let's dive into some of the features to give  

you some more insight into whether this is right  for you so for those who don't know sparkmail is  

an application that you can download on a variety  of devices those devices will be shown on screen  

and it's an email application a software that's  going to help you to manage your emails together  

now I wanted to show you the application starting  off with some of the premium features priority is  

one of the premium features that allows you to  do email groups prioritization of certain people  

in your inbox which will allow you to set people  that you have emailed and communicating with as  

priority people and there's also a feature called  gatekeeper as part of this which is essentially a  

screening feature which is also available in other  apps like hey email and the idea behind that is to  

actually stop people emailing you outside of your  inbox so that you can screen who is important to  

Landing in your inbox now there are actually some  decent features like pins and set aside that will  

help you to organize your tasks and this is great  for setting tasks aside inside of your inbox and  

managing them for later now the command bar is  something that you can use to snooze stuff and  

there's actually some good tutorials when you get  started with something like this they can help  

you set things like snooze as well as Markus  priority and so much other stuff like moving  

things to the relevant locations and details like  that now marking as priority is something that is  

part of premium and it's a great way to separate  things because when your email inbox gets full  

it'll start to coordinate that and as part of  that the home area which is part of Premium is  

something that really does stand out it's an area  that can see some of your inbox items and allow  

you to have a little bit of a breathing space  when you get started now moving on to talking  

about the AI feat features I actually wanted  to talk about this because I wasn't able to use  

them I wasn't able to actually get access to the  AI features although subscribing to the premium  

rates I actually checked the monthly quota and  it's something that I wasn't even I was at zero  

but for some reason haven't been able to access  them now something about this is obviously not  

as compelling they've baked AI into this and they  do this by scanning some of your sent emails to  

base uh some of the details off of it and I've  actually used some of this spark AI email before  

there's three parts of this email experience for  AI there's compose AI summary and AI templates now  

compose is basically drafting based on a prompt  AI summary is summarizing email based on what's  

in the email and AI templates is generating drafts  for template use and I kept getting meeting this  

message recharge using Ai and the rates to upgrade  are quite extensive at almost $9.99 for two times  

the monthly quota limit now even in my settings  I wasn't able to find this and I've actually been  

reading a lot on the forums that people actually  haven't been finding as much use with the spark  

AI features now to be honest I actually find  that Ai and email is pretty messy at the moment  

unless youve got a feature like AI summarize  which they do have that's actually much more  

practical in terms of its day-to-day use because  you're actually summarizing the email and finding  

value in it whereas I think some of these composed  AI features actually don't find much value because  

the data it's trained on is not extensive and  also it's not as powerful I think uh to finding  

the true tone of who you're communicating with  now I find um certain email functions like AI  

search to be much more beneficial in email but of  course I'm sure that's something that sparkk mail  

have on the radar viewing an email and managing  it both on mobile and desktop is easy you can do  

things like pin it and also delegate the email  to another person but for delegation you need  

to be able to collaborate with team members this  is great for sharing comments and also sharing  

inboxes that is limited to Gmail only and you have  to be on that pricing as well but for that ability  

you have shared templates team Administration and  shared thread as well as a bunch of email sharing  

with secure link abilities replying to emails  is really easy and it does come with some really  

simple abilities like done that can be accessed in  the top leftand corner so one of the things that's  

most impressive in this account is a more recent  addition of calendar this is available for iOS  

Mac and windows only limited obviously to those  devices right now but the application allows you  

to create events as part of your whatever accounts  set up on it and it's great for creating a a  

meeting connecting a video conferencing and you  using the meet with function which is actually  

limited to premium but it does allow you to create  a meeting instantly with somebody now you can set  

a few people on the right hand side as defaults so  that you can meet with them on regular occurrences  

and share recommended times but it doesn't have  any large availability functions that you get  

inside of other availability apps like calendar  motion or other such resource but as whole the  

application was fast and easy to use in calendar  mode and it was quite extensive in settings with  

how much customizations you can have to making it  really truly your own so as a whole managing your  

inbox inside of spark Mount is pretty good it's  an upgrade to something very basic like apple  

mail and will give you a few customizations that  you won't have inside of other applications the  

addition of calendar is really really helpful  templates will save you time a Unified Inbox  

would sync between devices as well as the smart  inbox notifications and search feature which I  

was fairly impressed with near the end of the  review you can also switch off signatures as  

part of the free plan which I'm not sure whether  it was available previously before but I always  

found you couldn't do that and the free plan  maybe I'm a little bit wrong combine that all  

with the command bar and also some of the reminder  abilities and this is a good free experience the  

premium isn't drastically more expensive at $4.99  a a month which totals out at $60 a year which for  

a fairly well-built application is pretty good  now I would love to have tried the AI features  

I've heard from some other users that it's not  extensive or really impressive in comparison  

with other AI features that are available through  other apps like shortwave and superhuman but what  

spark mail's going to do is help you to manage  your inbox on the go and in a practical sense  

unifying everything in one place thank you  very much and I hope you enjoyed this review  

I hope it gave you an outline of sparkmail  apart from the AI side of things please  

do find sparkmail linked below and follow  up on any questions in the comments below