I mentioned the iGmail app a while back and received a pretty mixed bad of comments, but personally I liked it because it was not expensive, it offered an overlay that gave me some additional controls to move through my mail easier and because it ran in full screen which gave me a little more room to read my email without scrolling.
But then one day it just sort of stopped working for me, and just crashed every time I loaded it. Naturally I just assumed that either Gmail changed the login procedure and caused this app to go a little wonky, or that I installed or did something that caused a conflict.
Not to worry, I figured I could just check the App Store and see if anyone else was experiencing this issue. But no luck, the iGmail app had been removed from the App Store. At that point I could not find anything and had just assumed it had been removed due to the name or limited functionality, at which point I simply uninstalled it and went back to the using Mobile Safari.
Well in a little bit of surprise, just the other day I was presented with an update for the iGmail app during my daily morning check. It seems the app was removed in an attempt at a relaunch with some new features, and new pricing.
First things first, and the best part here is the price — Free.
Now moving on to the features, new in this version is the addition of an icon badge that displays your unread email and the ability to login using your Google Apps account instead of just a regular Gmail account.
Additionally, the return of the iGmail app has also added push support, which will be available as an in-app purchase and appears to be $0.99 per year. I will caution though, I did receive a comment (thanks Mark) that was not all that positive.
“I can open the app and see my mail but I NEVER get a push. IMAP running and all.”
Thankfully the push support is only a buck, but still.
Anyway, other improvements were also made such as the fixing the bug in the offline mode and perhaps the best part for me is that the “crash problem introduced with the last Gmail change” was corrected.
In short, I would (despite the previous comments) recommend this app for what it is. That said, I would think twice about adding the in-app push support.
November 21st, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Users just looking for push can also set up the Google Mobile Sync (http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-sync-now-with-push-gmail-support.html), which now offers push for Gmail. This app is still useful for those who want the Gmail interface, but you don’t need to pay for the push
November 21st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Push is working great for me. Love this app.
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:28 am
Ok, so sorry for my iPhone illiteracy, but could someone please explain to me what is meant by ‘push’?
I’ve seen a few apps wanting to charge for this functionality but I’d like to know exactly what it is?
Also, do you really think there are more benefits in downloading a gmail app rather than just using the built-in mail app?
Sorry if these things are obvious to you all!
Mandee
November 24th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Push means you don’t have to open the app to see whether you got new mail. It saves you checking just in case, and igmail push can also do a popup with the name and subject of new email. I prefer it to the built in app because you get the threaded conversations function and the searching of gmail.