# ChatInbox: Email by Sender — Chat-style mail, clean inbox > Email client organizing messages by contact in a chat-style interface. (iPhone/iPad app by Innovatism LLC.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chatinbox-email-by-sender/id6462772788 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Innovatism LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/955315491) - Category: Productivity, Business - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Rating: 4.50/5 from 27 App Store ratings · 32 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 17.0 · 44 MB - Languages: American English, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French (France), German (Germany), Greek, Hebrew and 18 more - Released: 2023-12-05 - Data updated: 2026-08-20 - Monetization: free with in-app purchases - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chatinbox-email-by-sender/id6462772788/reviews.md ## What is ChatInbox? In a traditional inbox, emails from the people who matter most get buried under everything else. ChatInbox puts people first — grouping every message by contact, so each person's conversation is always one tap away. Tap a contact. See everything you've ever exchanged — messages, attachments, history — all in one clean, chat-style view. No more hunting through a chronological pile of unread mail to find that one message from your client, your accountant, or your kid's school. If you've ever wished email worked like iMessage — but for every account, every provider, all in one place — ChatInbox is what you've been looking for. CONTACT-CENTERED INBOX Every email is grouped by sender. Your contact list shows the most recent conversation first, each person appearing only once. Open a contact to see your full history, displayed as a natural back-and-forth conversation. UNIFIED ACCOUNTS Connect Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, and any IMAP account. All your email, all your contacts, one inbox — synced across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. SMART CONTACT GROUPING ChatInbox automatically groups related contacts — airlines, hotels, online shopping, subscriptions — so you can manage entire categories of email at once. CALENDAR EMAIL FILTER Browse your inbox by date using the built-in calendar view. Find any message from any day without searching. VISUAL ORGANIZATION Tag and organize emails on a Kanban board. Track what needs attention, what's waiting for a reply, and what's done. REMINDERS & NOTIFICATIONS Set custom reminders on any email. Get notified about messages that matter and let the rest wait. MARKDOWN COMPOSER Write polished emails with built-in Markdown formatting. Style text clearly without wrestling with toolbars. PRIVACY FIRST Your emails stay on your devices. ChatInbox connects directly to your mail servers — no third-party servers, no data mining, no tracking. Previously used Unibox and miss email grouped by sender? ChatInbox carries that vision forward — rebuilt from the ground up for modern Apple platforms, with features Unibox never had. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ ## Key features - Contact-centered inbox - All accounts in one inbox - Smart contact grouping - Attachments by person - Calendar view - Email reminders ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **Subscriptions** | Subscription | Price | Period | | --- | --- | --- | | Premium Monthly | $2.99 | per month | | Premium Yearly | $19.99 | per year | **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | Premium Lifetime | $24.99 | one-time | ## Recent user reviews (10 of 32) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chatinbox-email-by-sender/id6462772788/reviews.md ### 2/5 — Slow *2026-07-25, version 2026.14.3* It’s so slow on my M1 MacBook Pro I can’t even get the e-mails to display. I end up opening Gmail on a Web browser instead. ### 4/5 — Very useful, and impressive app that simplifies emails *2026-05-11, version 2026.11* This is the exact sort of app that can genuinely can help make emails much better and bring the idea of them into the modern day. How long have emails been around for, yet the user interface hasn’t been updated in decades. This is a great way to make things easier and treat emails like your messages or WhatsApp. Look forward to seeing what comes of this app in future updates! ### 5/5 — Loving This *2026-04-20, version 2026.9.11* Actually supported version of Unibox with smart features! Loving this. ### 5/5 — Finally found a great replacement to Unibox *2026-02-27* After Unibox shut down, I was frantically looking for an alternative. Looks like this one done more than that ! ### 2/5 — Frustrated *2026-02-27* I’ve really wanted to like this client. I’ve purchased the lifetime license, but every day it just feels like too much work to use. Everything is multiple steps. Spam doesn’t work right, Sent emails don’t work right, common sense shortcuts that every email client uses aren’t here…. It’s bringing me down. I guess I’m hopeful it will come along since I’ve paid for it, but I’m ready for something else at this point. ### 5/5 — Great for getting through bulk *2026-02-07* This app more than any other I’ve found lets me deal with email the way I want to, which is by sender rather than by individual email. So much easier to go through all the mail from a single company rather than to constantly context switch between lots of things. Also makes it so much easier to deal with all the bulk email garbage you get when you can just delete everything from a single sender in one fell swoop. There are a few bugs here and there, but I’m willing to forgive those small things for the power it gives me to get through email the way I want to. ### 5/5 — An App That Cares *2026-01-12* I’ve used a handful of email apps and this is the first one that is actually being developed! Keeps getting better and I can tell you without a doubt this is one worth investing in. Love the “Inbox Zero” feature and the locally hosted Ai is great! ### 4/5 — Good *2026-01-10, version 2026.2* I’ve been looking for a replacement for Unibox, and I like this one so far. ### 5/5 — ChatInbox is what AirMail should have been *2025-11-01, version 2.21* Chat style stuff is going to get big as people realize its the most natural and motivating approach to keeing on top of everything. Think about it, how clear is you messenger app? Chances are you stay on top of it and can easily trace stuff back for context. Awesome stuff ### 2/5 — Unfinished *2025-08-30* Needs its more work, it can be an early Alph stage at best. Not worth paying but better to wait to see if the app can develop properly. ## Frequently asked questions about ChatInbox ### What does ChatInbox do? ChatInbox transforms your email experience by organizing all your messages around the people who sent them, rather than by date. It presents your email history with each contact as a continuous chat, making it simple to find past conversations and attachments. ### What are the key features of ChatInbox? Key features include a contact-centered inbox that groups all emails by sender, support for multiple email accounts (Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, IMAP) in one place, smart grouping of related contacts, and the ability to view all attachments organized by person. It also offers a calendar view and reminders for emails. ### Is ChatInbox free to use? The application is free to download and use, with in-app purchases available. Specific features or advanced functionalities may require a purchase. ### What devices is ChatInbox compatible with? ChatInbox is available and synced across iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. This allows you to manage your email seamlessly across your Apple ecosystem. ### How does ChatInbox help with email management? It simplifies email management by eliminating the need to scroll through dated lists. By focusing on contacts, you can quickly access all communication history with a specific person, find attachments easily, and stay on top of your correspondence without feeling overwhelmed. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 2026.13.2 — 2026-07-24 New • Relationship insights (Settings → optional): open a contact's details to see how the two of you actually relate — who usually reaches out first, typical reply speed, when you tend to talk, quiet stretches and reconnections, plus a tappable chart of your message rhythm over time. It's built entirely on your device from who-and-when only — never the contents of your mail. Improvements • Tapping a contact now opens an unread message fully expanded, so you can read it straight away instead of tapping "Expand" first. • Gmail messages now show the same time gmail.com does. Some mail from bulk senders could be off by a few minutes. Fixes • Fixed conversations in the chat list showing a nonsense date like "0001-01-01" instead of the real time of the last message. ### 2026.13 — 2026-07-06 What's New Privacy - Block remote images and tracking pixels in emails. Turn it on in Settings > Privacy, then load images per message or trust a sender to always load. Contacts, Reimagined - Your pinned people live in a horizontal avatar rail at the top, with unread badges right on the avatar. - One continuous, recency-ordered list with a floating date pill as you scroll. - Waking-up conversations get a gentle green highlight; unread rows stand out with bolder names and accent timestamps. - Quieter filter chips, cleaner row separators, and softer timestamps. Status Dock - Errors, sending progress, and undo now share a single floating glass surface at the bottom, with an inline "Undo all" button. Polish Everywhere - Rebuilt calendar, search, editor, folders, and message bubbles with refined pills, capsules, and hairlines. - Better empty states with clearer descriptions. - iOS 26 shows sync freshness right under the title. More Languages - Now available in 29 languages, including Hindi, Indonesian, Turkish, Thai, Vietnamese, Dutch, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Czech, Greek, Romanian, and Finnish. ### 2026.12 — 2026-06-03 New Features - New bottom tab bar: a simpler way to get around — swap the side menu for a familiar bottom bar with Inbox, Folders, Calendar, Tags, and Settings, plus a redesigned Folders tab with search, per-account filtering, and a Snoozed view. - Calendar, rebuilt for iOS: a clean Apple Calendar–style day view with a week strip you can swipe through, an unscheduled drawer, long-press anywhere to add an event, and drag to reschedule. - Add to Calendar from a message: turn any email into an event or to-do with one tap, and see a badge on messages that already have something scheduled. - Snoozed messages stay in view: instead of disappearing from the thread, snoozed messages now show up so you don't lose the context. - Smarter search: type multiple words and only results matching all of them come back, or use quotes for exact phrases. Search now ignores trash and spam, just like your inbox does. - Attachment previews: see thumbnails for documents and other files right in the chat list — not just images. - Refreshed Folders banner: a cleaner, full-width filter row at the top of folder views. - Polished Tags: a more native look and smoother drag-and-drop on the kanban board. Improvements and Fixes - Mail stays in sync: a long-standing issue where syncing would silently stop has been fixed, along with several causes of stuck or frozen accounts — including iCloud accounts that wouldn't load message bodies. - Stuck messages and attachments now self-recover: if a message body or attachment failed to load, it now retries automatically instead of staying stuck. - Gmail accounts recover better after long gaps without opening the app. - No more unread badge flicker when you open a feed — the newest message opens as read immediately. - Back-to-Top button redesigned as a smaller round button that's easier to tap. - Avatars: fixed a bug where colleagues at the same company would briefly show the wrong logo after restarting the app. - Fewer battery drains: stopped a case where a spinner would keep animating invisibly and use CPU. - Cleaner conversations: stray "references" to threads no longer clutter your chat list. - Small polish to the mail list so the first section header no longer sits flush against the top edge. ### 2026.11.1 — 2026-05-07 New Features - Search, redesigned: unified Filters control with live person autocomplete in From / To, parallel-query results, and tab count badges that show hits per tab at a glance. - Snooze: new snoozed banner and section in chat, plus a custom date/time picker that stays open during native popups. - Sync progress toast: a freshness-gated pill at the bottom of the screen with a self-creeping progress bar, so you always know when mail is catching up. - Profile avatars: Gravatar-first chain, corner domain badge on initials avatars (toggleable), and favicon avatars for group/domain contacts. - Custom filter chip counts: see message counts next to each filter chip (toggleable in Preferences). Improvements and Fixes - New Preferences toggles for the corner domain badge and filter chip counts. - Contact swipe: trailing swipe defaults to delete-latest, pin, and move-to-group actions. - Snoozed banner localized; iOS banner alignment refined with bigger type. - Chat auto-pops back to the list when a thread becomes empty; undo toast aligns with the back-to-top control. - Fixed random empty pane and ghost toolbar after rapid back/forward thread navigation. - Attachments hide the extension label when there isn't one. - Sync reliability: stopped zombie syncs from clearing a fresh sync's account state; full sync no longer blanks the filtered contact list between batches; woke-up snoozed rows with empty bodies are now surfaced. - IMAP / Outlook: cross-folder MOVE label handling, orphan-folder reclaim, adaptive throttling, single-message archive sync, non-English folder-type detection, and view-switch sync for custom folders shown by leaf name. - Folder-type mapping surfaces a missing-folder warning at Settings entry points. ### 2026.11 — 2026-04-30 New features - Customizable hover actions on the contact list (Preferences) - Toggle to hide thread references in chats - Expanded message font styles with a dropdown picker - Sender-only contact grouping mode with merge-by-From banner Improvements and fixes - Sending: failed sends now recover the message instead of losing it - Drafts: discard actually removes the saved draft, no more duplicate creation, body preserved across save/reopen, Pending draft badge clickable - Trash: retries on transient failures, no more stale folder badges, Gmail no longer resurrects INBOX on trashed messages - Capitalized account emails no longer drop rows from chat list and contacts - Folder view refreshes when new mail arrives for the selected sender ## Apps similar to ChatInbox | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Spark Mail: AI Email Assistant](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spark-mail-ai-email-assistant/id997102246) | 4.6 (82,232) | Free | Productivity | | [myMail box: email client app](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mymail-box-email-client-app/id722120997) | 4.4 (17,566) | Free | Productivity | | [VK Mail: secure email client](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vk-mail-secure-email-client/id1563419339) | 4.6 (853) | Free | Productivity | | [Yandex Mail](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/yandex-mail/id441785419) | 4.8 (13,126) | Free | Productivity | | [Mail: Email, Cloud, Calendar](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mail-email-cloud-calendar/id511310430) | 4.7 (59,876) | Free | Productivity | | [Gmail - Email by Google](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/gmail-email-by-google/id422689480) | 4.7 (2,430,734) | Free | Productivity | ## More apps by Innovatism LLC - [Execute: Daily Planner](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/execute-daily-planner/id1644423937) - [Leeway: Time Budget Planner](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/leeway-time-budget-planner/id6779352711) All apps by Innovatism LLC: https://appshunter.io/developer/955315491 ## Related topics [chatinbox](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/chatinbox) · [spike email](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/spike-email) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-20.*