Kiwi for Gmail Reviews

Pros

All my five gmail accounts are in one program and not bogging down Chrome.

Cons

I wish google photos was one of the options.

Alternatives Considered

Shift and Google Chrome

Reasons for Choosing Kiwi for Gmail

Shift was too expensive and harder to use.

Switched From

Shift

Reasons for Switching to Kiwi for Gmail

Cost and features.

Pros

Five Gmail addresses are smooth and easy to organize. Quick and easy to fly through messages and prioritize. Time saver!

Cons

Implementing filters still a bit quirky.

Pros

Its basically the same as google suite, but a stand alone app. Does what it needs to.

Cons

1. Nothing net new is added that I can't do from the web-based g suite.
2. Email draft windows will randomly close out. If I was using that to remind myself of something, it can then slip my mind.
3. [IMPORTANT] Calendar reminders have completely stopped working. I now longer get a pop up reminding me. This, along with email, are the two main things I need to work for this app. I've reported it, and there is no timeframe to fix this.

Pros

I like the simple filtering you can use to just show mail from the last day and mail that is unread. I also love the ability to have emails open in different windows

Cons

I would like to see some more integrations.

Pros

I like that I don't need to open a browser to access my Gmail accounts. I have all my email accounts in the same application. I have access to all the gmail functions.

Cons

I would like that the software could be an application for my Iphone and Ipad.

Pros

All the applications in one place. Clean appearance and ease of use.

Cons

Some of the pop ups overlap the screen, for example adding a new contact by using the details from an email the pop up for the contacts opens up and hides the email address and footer.

Pros

I love that I can keep several accounts in just one app, including my personal email accounts. Also, it’s easy to customize and allows me to have a professional signature for my business accounts which is very important for me.
Being English Ku second la huave, I rely a lot in grammarly to make sure everything is well written and the fact that Kiwi allows me to have it installed is one of my favorite things

Cons

I wish it wasn’t so gmail looking but a more customizable interface. Also, I’ve had a glitch with new email notifications and although I have contacted customer support before, I’ve never received a response

Pros

Having a standalone app that my Mac can use as the default mail app is great. I can have multiple accounts open at once, and even jump straight to my Google Drive files.

Cons

The only thing I dislike about the software is the embossed/indented text showing the account name at the top of the app.
A way to ONLY show notifications from the primary inbox would be great - I don't need notifications for promo emails.
A quick way to access a dark mode, without using Gmail Themes would be great.
Having the option to use more standard shortcuts would be great eg: use the delete key to delete emails. The Gmail shortcuts are horrible.

Pros

I like how it recollects all emails in one single app and how rather than mixing everything it easily still keeps it separate based on the address the messages go to. It's very user friendly and perfect for businesses.

Cons

It does make computers significantly slower and there is not much support or information on how to improve it's functionality online. For a long period of time it was very difficult for me to be able to use my MacBook efficiently as its huge energy and processor capacity consumption would lag all programs. Until the latest update came the problem did not fix itself.

Pros

It allows you to have all the accounts you need to handle in one place.
It's very helpful when your organization and most of your clients move in the GSuite space, so you can make the most out of the apps in the suite.

Being able of using a couple of the extensions available is also super helpful in the processes, specially when you need to schedule a ton of emails and schedule a ton of zoom calls.

Cons

In a sense, it's a glorified web browser for Gmail use only, and if you strip it from the drive and gsuite apps capabilities and the fact the it eats up SO MUCH processing power if you activate the wrong combination of extensions is not nice.

Also, in big sur (mac) I can't have more than 2 extensions or more than 2 accounts logged in.

Pros

Easy to use and set up. Notifications within windows and integration is good. Simple and straightforward, interface is clean. Never had any major issues with stability etc.

Cons

The calendar could be more fully into the OS. E.g. being able to open .ics files to easily add events when they are provided in that way.

Also the lack of a dark theme (and not having an addon like dark-reader) means that I don't use the calendar.

I tend to use google drive in browser, again for dark mode, but also because I can save shortcuts to specific files, or install them as 'apps'. For google sheets that I use daily, I'm not going to click through multiple screens when I can click on a shortcut on my taskbar, or hit the windows key and start typing for the shortcut I've saved.

You also can't set Kiwi as the default app for ".gdsheet" / ".gddoc" and similar (the extension formats used by Insync) so that's a bit of a pain.

No option to minimise to tray. So if I want to keep it out of the way, and not be distracted by it when I alt tab - BUT still get notifications I have to put it on another desktop,.

Pros

I really enjoy how it puts everything I do in its own window. This makes using multiple monitors easier as I don't have to try and pull tabs into their own windows all the time.
Also, Kiwi does utilize resources better. Google Chrome is not efficient in how it uses my compute resources, but Kiwi does a bit better job of it.
Lastly, being able to have multiple accounts in 1 application is very much preferred.

Cons

There are a few functions (mostly right-click) that are available in Google Chrome GSuite that are not available yet in Kiwi. But that is about all I can think of......

Alternatives Considered

Shift

Reasons for Switching to Kiwi for Gmail

Price, features, and ease of use.

Pros

As someone who spends a lot of time answering emails, then having to set up a calendar invite/schedule meetings, KIWI Mail has been a real game-changer. Now admittedly, I use the free version because I only really use it with my school account on my district-issued computer. Anyone who has used a Macbook knows that your RAM gets bogged down when multiple windows are open, especially in CHrome. And since our Ed Suite is all web-based, you need multiple tabs open to get things done. KIWI optimizes all of that running those other functions (other than email) as an app instead of through the browser certainly has sped things up for me. Also, its functionality and efficiency at having what I need available to me without having to open tabs and navigate through something has been huge.

Cons

If I had one request it would be to add a Google Classroom launch from the app. I couldn't find an add-on. That is the only thing missing from my type of use. Thank you for an awesome product.

Pros

easy to navigate and use while having multiple tabs to check other multiple accounts

Cons

overall it is a very good product however the only thing that I see is that sometimes it gets stuck and i have to re-open for it to work well but lately it doesn't happen as often.

Pros

I liked the fact that Kiwi is "taking out" gmail/G-Suite from the browser - Using a browser for emails is a nightmare. The ability to take it out for an independent tool, but at the same time keep the spirit and direction of Gmail is brilliant!

Cons

I would like the software to fully support "Dark Mode" - I mean in the email body as well, not only in the UI.
Also, to have tighter support with 3rd party like Rightinbox for example where I have a specific problem with integration with one of my accounts.

Pros

Having independent windows for multiple docs, spreadsheets and so forth.

Cons

Locks up much too frequently. Click almost anywhere and I get a not responding result. Started happening about six months ago. Finally gave up, tired of having to end task and start over.

Pros

I love that it works both Mac and Windows; love having easy access to all my gmail accounts in a simple app instead of chasing through browser tabs

Cons

No native support for Apple silicon yet, not indications if it’s coming. Won’t run on Microsoft surface pro X. Often one or more accounts ends up with a blank screen and no way to fix it without restarting the app. No Linux support.

It’s pretty good, just wish they were more aggressive about making it work everywhere given the price.

Pros

The 3 things that I really love about Kiwi is...
1. It brings all of my inboxes together.
2. My email is free from the browser.
3. The UI is clean and simple.

It does integrate with some extensions but the only one I use is Grammarly.

Cons

I don't have many complaints but it is slightly lacking in features in comparison to some competitors. I think the main complaint I have is that I can't highlight text and click Search in "Name of default search engine"

Pros

I really like having access to multiple GSuite accounts in the same app.

Cons

Sometimes it is hard to find 'unread' mail.

Pros

Isolating the email and other apps from the browser.

Cons

Editing controls are browser based, not app based. For example, when writing an email pressing tab moves me to another field instead of acting like a tab within an editor.

Additionally, when the scrolling of the editing window it gets cumbersome.

Lastly, there is a feature (wrongly off by default) to show the actual URL when hovering over a hyperlink. However, the link shows up down at the bottom of the window as opposed to tooltip right where the mouse is.

Pros

The keystroke shortcuts are an absolute time saver. I am able to create unlimited projects and keep track of my daily work as well as long term meetings, goals, etc. using Kiwi.

Cons

I wish there was a way to create auto-text replacement for frequent typos.

Pros

I love the integration of all the google products into one desktop location. It is the perfect email and google client.

Cons

There is really nothing missing from the suite of programs available within the Kiwi software.

Pros

Kiwi made it very easy for me to organize all of my email accounts, of which I have several, in one spot. It is very simple for me to bounce between accounts, access various applications within each account, and keep track of all of my correspondence in one spot. I love that it creates a new window for things such as my Google Drive, Calendar, and even composing individual emails. This makes it much easier for me to bounce around without losing my work.

Cons

The feature that allows me to share I file directly through Kiwi worked great for the first few weeks but stopped working shortly after. It is definitely a feature that I used heavily and would love to get working again.

Pros

I use two different e-mail addresses for two different practices that I prefer to keep silo'ed from each other. For that reason, given that one is O365 and the other one is GSuite, Kiwi fit the bill by letting me keep the GSuite e-mail apart. Feature-wise, it offers all functionality of the web-based GSuite, but operates as an independent app. It has been reliable, with no crashes, and allows me to keep out of the browser.

Cons

More customization would be good. I, for example, can't figure out how to change the default download directory, so saving an attachment requires an extra step.

Pros

I use it for everyday emails. I like the bright interface and that it’s uncomplicated. Categories are useful and incoming emails get sorted just as they should.

Cons

Limits the size of some large files I try to forward.