After dying a second time, Newton Mail wins a third chance and will continue to function

Newton Mail

At this point, the Newton Mail he can now become a character in a Marvel comic: the email client has died and returned from the beyond more times than Captain America or Jean Gray combined.

The app (which initially called itself CloudMagic, just like its original developer) had its first death decreed in August 2018, when its creators stated that there was no point in maintaining a paid email service with so many free competitors offering almost the same feature set. Months later, however, the unlikely happened: CloudMagic was acquired by Essential, and Newton Mail (along with its partner, Newton Calendar) returned to the App Store.

The problem was that Essential itself was in bad shape: Andy Rubin’s ambitious company even tried, but threw in the towel and announced the end of its activities – including Newton – last February. Could this be the definitive end of the intrepid email client? Everyone thought so… until the developers arrived Maitrik Kataria and Justin Mitchell:

Like a phoenix, Newton resurfaces again – and deservedly so. The Newton community has always been passionate, persevering in supporting apps and asking for the service to be kept alive. There are not many products that bring together so much love and adulation.

The developers, described simply as «fans» of Newton Mail, announced that they had purchased the customer from Essential’s hands – in fact, they had already tried to acquire the software at the time of the first death, but ended up being overtaken by Rubin’s company. Now Newton is in the hands of people who really care about his development (or so we hope, at least).

According to the new owners, Newton will continue to function as usual, with applications for macOS, iOS / iPadOS, Android and Windows, and will continue to cost the usual $ 50 per year (with a 14-day trial period). To maintain the already established base, developers will offer three months free to paying users of the service; people who have already used Newton and canceled their subscription will get a 20% discount on renewal. You can also refer Newton to a friend and earn the three months free, while he will earn the 20%.

The new service team will also make some adjustments to the apps: initially, there will be an effort to fix bugs and improve communication between the support team and customers. The next phase, over the next six months, will focus on bringing new features to the service’s applications, such as a Dark Mode own; developers will also develop a new privacy policy that respects the RGDP rules and gives users more control over their data.

Kataria and Mitchell admit that they are not a “well-funded venture capital company” – or, in other words, that they are not operating with a safe full of money to resist an eventual stampede of users. Still, it is good to see a service so loved by your audience to win another chance; it remains rooted for things to work out this time.


Newton Mail - Email App app icon


Newton app icon - Supercharged emailing

via Engadget