mailtamer

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MailTamer 2.3.2 Out Now

We just released an update to MailTamer today. This version focuses on speed in terms of importing your email information as well as interface responsiveness. A number of bugs were addressed as well.

As a response to user feedback we included browser controls when viewing message detail, so when you follow hyperlinks from email messages, you’ll be able to return back to the original message.

MailTamer is still free for a while longer, so go and give it a spin!

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MailTamer Experiment

We released MailTamer in May of 2012. I thought for sure we would be millionaires overnight. Ha! Almost three years later we struggle with getting people to notice our app. In the beginning, I tapped local outlets and we got some press. But after I had called in all my favors, and had something for the “press” part of our website, still nothing was happening.

So I started to knock on the doors of the tech bloggers. I paid for press releases and even got a mention in lifehacker. Hooray. But again, that died down and not one tech blogger looked at my app. I have sent out countless promo codes to no avail.

It was very frustrating. Then, my husband sent me this: https://medium.com/@stuartkhall/how-i-got-2-3m-app-downloads-without-spending-a-cent-on-marketing-f4823b6bc779

Basically this guy, let’s call him Stuart Genius decided to do an experiment and set his App, The 7 Minute Workout, free. Long story short, he ended up making 72k, and 2.3 million downloads without spending more than a few hours and zero dollars to do it. I have been toiling away and so has Scott and after shaking our heads over it we have decided to do the same.

So, @stuartkhall, we are doing the same. When our new release comes out, we are setting MailTamer free!

We have answered the questions! Go to mailtamerapp.com.

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Fix for “Server Unreachable” - Version 2.3.1 Out Soon!

Some of our users were reporting an issue where they were getting an error when trying to register new email accounts in MailTamer.  Version 2.3.1 (should be in the Store soon) has a fix for this issue. We apologize for the inconvenience!

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MailTamer Now Free!

Just in time for spring cleaning, MailTamer is now free for a limited time!  Get your inbox organized today: http://www.mailtamerapp.com

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Native Gmail Support

A new version of MailTamer is upon us! Version 2.3 will bring native Gmail authentication support.  This means a couple of things: 1) You won’t have to set your Gmail account to accept “less secure third-party access” on behalf of MailTamer going forward.  2) If you’re using 2-step authentication you also won’t have to create an app-specific password for MailTamer.  

MailTamer now will have you authenticate with Google directly through OAuth 2.0 authentication measures.  With the native authentication you will authenticate with Google directly. Google will then tell MailTamer when it’s allowed to connect to your mailbox. And while MailTamer always saved your precious credentials in your phone’s secure Keychain storage, even this step will no longer be needed.

When you choose to add a Gmail account you will be directed to a screen like this:

When you type in your credentials you will then be asked to allow MailTamer access to your email account, as you see here:

All of this communication is happening with Google directly and MailTamer is out of the loop at this point.  When you agree to allowing MailTamer access, then Google gives us a token we can then use to help you tame your mail.  This token can only be used by MailTamer and only for the access you specified.  This token is saved by MailTamer in your phone’s secure Keychain.

This new version of MailTamer includes a number of bug fixes and speed improvements.  Some of these fixes focus around the handling of communication between MailTamer and your mail servers.  We keep on striving to keep speed and economy of communication to a maximum.  

With this version we introduce a delay in checking for new messages between operations.  Some of our users had indicated that MailTamer was a bit too aggressive in making sure that the information we have on the phone about your mailbox is always fresh and up-to-date.  We relaxed that a bit in this version.  You should now be able to interrupt a download to work with a subset of your messages, and then hit the “refresh” button to update the mailbox view when you’re done with your work.

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Gmail Access Issues?

Google recently changed how they allow third-party apps connect to Gmail.  They now require users to explicitly allow "less secure" apps access to your account.  You can read more about this setting and what you have to enable in order to use MailTamer with your Gmail account(s):

https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255

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MailTamer 2.2 now supports naming your email accounts with names of your choosing. Go to your email account settings and give it a unique description.  That description will show on the MailTamer account list.

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MailTamer 2.2 Now in the App Store

MailTamer 2.2 is now available in the iOS App Store.  

itunes.com/apps/mailtamer

This release requires iOS 8 for full iPhone 6 Plus support for landscape split-view along with other native enhancements.

We're continuing to update the look of MailTamer and improve the user experience.  As usual, if you have any issue with MailTamer and would like assistance, please head over to mailtamerapp.uservoice.com.  

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A new little preview video we put together for MailTamer.

With this video is the new release of MailTamer 2.2.  

In this version I focused on iOS 8 features and functionally to such an extent that this version now requires iOS 8.  I really wanted to provide iPhone 6 Plus users with the Master-Detail view in landscape mode. 

Users still on iOS 7 who have not upgraded to iOS 8 can still take use previous version of MailTamer.  Version 2.1.5 supports both iOS 7 and 8.

Over the coming weeks, I hope to take advantage of more iOS 8 features.  Stay tuned!

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UserVoice Integration

In MailTamer we've always strived to enable our users to contact us for feedback and support.  If the number of messages we get is any indication, we would say that we've been successful so far.  That said, we're always looking for ways to increase our engagement with our users.  To this end we've decided to integrate UserVoice into MailTamer.

 https://mailtamerapp.uservoice.com

UserVoice gives our application a ton of functionality that goes well beyond the email form we previously provided our users.  With UserVoice our users can now see suggestions and tips posted by us and other users.  You can leave feedback in a ticketing context that will then update you when we update that question or concern.

Just tap the little bell at the bottom of the Account List view to leave us feedback within the app.  You can also use the above link to do the same from the Web.  We think you'll love this addition to MailTamer.

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MailTamer 2.1

So much time before 2.0 was released and we're ready to give you another new upgrade.  MailTamer 2.1 focuses on flow and speed.  We're sure you'll agree that 2.1 has it in spades.

During the development of MailTamer we've always weighed all aspects of interaction with the user and the mail servers with which we interact.  In prior releases we've been very conservative with how and when we connect to the underlying mail servers, only getting what we need when we need it.  This comes at a cost, however, and we went through the app to identify where the most time was being spent by the application.

Through connection optimizations we were able to dramatically optimize the flow through the application without increasing the complexity of our code.  What that means in real terms is that action-to-action flow is now quicker and snappier.  Going from updating a mailbox, to diving into the list of messages and then down to the detail of a specific message will flow smoothly with minimal delay.

Another area improved with 2.1 is actions now available on the message detail screen.  Previously this was really just a way to view the body of a message, but we received multiple requests that we provide a way to reply to email.  

We've always had a way you can quickly compose a message to a contact, but in the context of multiple email messages, replying didn't make much sense because you haven't indicated to which message you are wanting to reply.  With MT 2.1, you have all the standard "copy", "move", "delete", and "contact" actions.  Along with these "reply" will let you reply or forward the message in the view.

MailTamer 2.1 is a big deal for us and our users.  We're sure you'll love it.

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MailTamer Hits 2.0!

It's been a while since we've sent out an update.  That's because we've been hard at work at putting MailTamer 2.0 together.  We've hit on some good ideas here, and we're confident that people will really love this new release.

A couple of things we tried to accomplish with this release was to update the look and feel to be more in-line with iOS 7.  Actually, MailTamer 2.0 requires iOS 7. Previous iOS 7 users will still have access to MailTamer 1.4.4.

We also wanted to spread the innovation to as many people as possible.  This new release is now free to try out, yes it's absolutely free.  If you like the base features of MailTamer, and you want it to do more for you, then you have that choice.  

The base functionality that you get for free is the ability to add one account of any type.  You then see all of your mail in your Inbox with sender-based view which we think is the hallmark of MailTamer.  You can then use MailTamer to view or delete as many messages as you wish.

Add-on functionality is available as an In-App Purchase. Adding multiple-accounts, moving and copying messages, and the various view modes are all available now as add-ons.  You can also choose to purchase a "full-access" add-on which will unlock all functionality within MailTamer now and out to the future as we continue to add new capabilities.

MailTamer was created to help its users with Inbox overload, and we feel 2.0 will help you gain control over your email and get back to what's important.

You can get the latest version of MailTamer at: http://itunes.com/apps/mailtamer

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With five email accounts tied to her career and other roles, and three children to raise with husband Scott Greiff, she often was overwhelmed by email. The task of weighing what required immediate attention and what could wait among hundreds, if not thousands, of emails had become daunting.

We are so happy to have been interviewed by the Columbus Dispatch.  Ria did a wonderful job working with the newspaper to get the word out there about MailTamer and what it has to offer.

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MailTamer Version 1.4 Immenent

We have great things baked into the next version of MailTamer.  This new version focuses on stability and speed.  We feel that the setup experience and stability would be most useful to existing and new customers, so we��ve tackled those two areas and we’re very proud of the results.  

This version we are bringing back iCloud sync for account settings, so account configurations from one device will automatically get replicated over to any other of your iCloud connected iOS devices.

We’ve totally rewritten the account setup screens to now include shortcuts for iCloud, Microsoft Exchange, Outlook.com (the old Hotmail), Aol, along with the Gmail and Yahoo mail shortcuts we had previously.  In addition to these account shortcuts, we’ve added the ability to specify authentication types of CRAM-MD5 and NTLM for those users who need them.

The only other interface change you may notice is the addition of the Size View in the Sender List which will show you messages sorted by size in descending order.  This was requested by users who want to tackle email and have space limitations on their email accounts.

Other than those UI changes, all of the work for this new version has been done under the covers.  One of the optimizations you may notice is the ability for MailTamer to download mailbox messages in the background.  Now, when your iOS device goes to sleep, or you hit the Home button, MailTamer will continue to import message information.  No need to keep MailTamer open to import your messages! You still have the ability to cancel downloads by hitting the stop button that appears at the bottom right of the Sender View screen.  One other change we made is that now when you search for senders in the Sender View, MailTamer will search the sender’s email address along with the sender’s name.

Version 1.4 is a major release for our users.  Again with this release, we focused on stability, speed and ease of setup.  We hope you like what we’ve done.  As always, send us your thought and suggestions at support@mailtamerapp.com.  Thanks!

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MailTamer at A Date 2 Remember 2013

Ria is going to be representing MailTamer at the sixth annual 'A Date 2 Remember' young professional date auction, fashion and talent show.  This is an event put on by the Columbus Young Professional Club.  

This is a great event as all event proceeds are donated to two local charities, and this year the charities are the United Way of Central Ohio and City Year Columbus.

If you are attending the event, please stop by the registration table and say "Hi" to Ria!

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Attachment to Attachments...

A MailTamer user had asked whether mail attachments were supported.   I put MT together with the notion that it would be a broad-brush email utility, not a traditional message-by-message email management application.  I didn't want the complexity, and I had this idea of viewing your inbox in new and inventive ways.  So, to answer the question of email attachment functionality in MailTamer, currently there really isn't much there.  One of the reasons being is that I didn't want to overburden storage space on a user's phone.  Responsiveness is also an issue.  The less MT has to fetch from your mail server, the better the experience. 

Thinking about this a bit more, however, it is clear that this is one area where we should do a bit more.  There are a number of ways we are looking to extended MailTamer.  Perhaps MT could list email attachments with a bit more detail like, size, type, and perhaps offer a way to quickly view the simple contents of the attachment in some way.  What would you all like to see?

Keep on 'taming!

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A little write-up in this month’s Columbus Monthly about MailTamer.  John Ross interviewed Ria about MailTamer and told Columbus all about it.  So cool.