Twobird vs Shortwave
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Twobird
This app integrates your email inbox with task management, notes, and calendar events. It helps you focus on important items, clear out clutter, and manage your day without switching between multiple applications.
- Unified inbox for email and tasks
- Integrated notes and checklists
- Real-time collaboration on notes
- Built-in calendar with event previews
- Smarter, less distracting notifications
- Email reminders and low priority sorting
- Edit sent messages
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Your email inbox is a to-do list. Twobird makes it the only list you need. Twobird helps you focus on just the conversations, tasks, notes, and events that are important now, and clear out the things that can wait. Let go of thousands of noisy emails and stop wasting time juggling tasks in different apps that don't work together. Twobird keeps everything under control, and in context, for an easier day. MEET YOUR CALMEST INBOX You don't need to hoard emails. Twobird takes the work out of keeping a clean inbox. • Reminders and Low Priority set aside things that can wait • Pinned and Recent lists keep important items easily accessible • Done and Unsubscribe quickly clear out mail and unwanted subscriptions • Smarter notifications prevent distraction HANDLE YOUR DAILY TASKS IN ONE LIST Now you can manage your entire day within the email inbox you already have. • Jot down ideas, create checklists, and tables in a personal note • Share a note to collaborate in real-time; assign tasks, leave comments, and make edits with multiple people • Organize your day with a built-in Calendar • Preview upcoming events at the top of your inbox KEEP CONTEXT AT EVERY STEP OF YOUR DAY Stay in the know without switching apps— notes, reminders, and calendar are connected within your inbox. • Set a reminder for anything in your inbox, whether it's an email or a quick note • See reminders and events side-by-side in the same calendar • Attach a note to a calendar event for invitees to see • Edit a note right inside a conversation to discuss changes with everyone involved CONVERSATIONS AS EFFORTLESS AS CHAT A minimal design makes it easier to follow conversations, keeping emails efficient and natural. • Focus on the content without distracting signatures, complex formatting, or excess buttons • Respond quickly with @ mentions that loop people into discussions • React with emojis, because sometimes a thumbs up is all you need • Edit sent messages (we know your human) PRIVACY MATTERS We don't see or share your personal data. We don't want it. We also actively take measures, like blocking pixel tracking, to keep your email activity private. Connect your existing Gmail or Outlook accounts to discover your new inbox for free. Available on iOS, Mac, Web, and other major platforms. We are working hard to make Twobird your favorite app, and would love to hear your feedback! Follow us @ Twobirdapp on Twitter for our latest news. Twobird is a registered trademark of Ginger Labs, Inc.
Shortwave
This AI-powered email client streamlines your inbox with intelligent assistance for writing, organizing, and scheduling. It offers real-time team collaboration, advanced search, and customizable workflows to boost productivity.
- AI-powered email writing and drafting
- Intelligent inbox organization and clutter removal
- Real-time team collaboration and email sharing
- AI-driven meeting scheduling
- Advanced AI-powered search and analysis
- Customizable workflows and AI snippets
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AI-NATIVE EMAIL FOR BUSINESS "The AI revolution is coming for your email" – Business Insider "This app is like ChatGPT for your email, and it changed my life" – Digital Trends "The Google Inbox successor I’ve been waiting for" – The Verge YOUR AI EMAIL ASSISTANT Supercharge your productivity with advanced AI & real-time team collaboration. Write emails, improve drafts, schedule meetings, analyze threads, translate text, and more using Shortwave’s powerful AI Assistant. ORGANIZE YOUR INBOX WITH AI With 1-tap, Shortwave’s AI Assistant can identify urgent emails, group threads into todos, and sweep away the remaining clutter so you can get to inbox zero with zero effort. SHARE & DISCUSS EMAILS WITH YOUR TEAM Get the right people involved and bring everyone up to speed fast with private team comments and live thread sharing. Assign emails to teammates to delegate next steps. WRITE EMAILS WITH AI Write personalized emails with AI in seconds, or use instant AI replies to get full drafts in just one tap. Shortwave learns your unique writing style and even facts about you from the emails you send. IMPROVE AND PROOFREAD DRAFTS Complete your drafts, adjust length and tone, translate into other languages, and more with a built-in AI editor. SEARCH AND FIND ANSWERS Use AI-powered search to find emails fast, or to analyze your entire team's emails & attachments for the answers you need SCHEDULE MEETINGS WITH AI Spend less time juggling calendars with AI-powered scheduling features. Create events, send AI-generated scheduling emails, accept calendar events with one click, and more. GET ORGANIZED WITH SPLITS AND BUNDLES Focus your time & attention by dividing your inbox into tabs for important emails, specific senders, labels & even custom queries. Use bundles for fast triage of promotions, newsletters, updates, and other automated emails. TURN EMAILS INTO TODOS Transform your overflowing inbox into an organized list of action items. Group, rename, prioritize, and add notes, right in your inbox. SET DELIVERY SCHEDULES Avoid interruptions by deferring when emails arrive in your inbox, so you only receive emails when you want them. VIEW READ STATUSES See when people read your emails to get the context you need to prioritize your time and write effective follow-ups. Close more deals and collaborate better with your team. SCREEN UNWANTED SENDERS Guard your inbox from noise with one-click block and unsubscribe. FINE-TUNE PUSH NOTIFICATIONS Granular push controls let you minimize distractions with personalized alerts for specific senders and types of emails. CUSTOMIZE EVERYTHING Customize AI prompts and automate your team’s work with AI Snippets & AI Automations. Adjust tons of details in settings, and make Shortwave yours with custom colors and beautiful light & dark modes. MANAGE MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS Organize all of your Gmail accounts from one app and seamlessly switch between them in a single swipe. SYNCS WITH GMAIL Migrate seamlessly to Shortwave from your existing Gmail or Google Workspace account with all of your labels, filters, and other settings imported. If you have questions or want to learn more about Shortwave and best practices, you can find resources here: https://www.shortwave.com/docs/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Shortwave at 4.7 against Twobird's 4.2. Shortwave also leads on review sentiment (65% vs 54%). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Shortwave holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 446 and 757 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 54% of Twobird's written reviews are positive against 65% of Shortwave's.
Twobird ships an update every 2 weeks, Shortwave every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Twobird | Shortwave |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (446 ratings) | 4.7 (757 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 53.8% of reviews | 65.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 446 | 757 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 4 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ginger Labs | Shortwave Communications, Inc. |
Customer experience
Twobird
Shortwave
User reviews
Twobird
From 446 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Aesthetically pleasing
- 🚀 Cross-platform
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 🚀 Ability to access multiple email accounts with one login
- 👍 Helps organize emails and to-dos
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes with long email chains
- 🐛 Notification issues
- 🐛 Inability to delete emails in bulk
- 🐛 Lack of customization options
- 🐛 Unreliable account deletion process
Shortwave
From 757 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent email management
- 👍 Clean and intuitive interface
- 🚀 Efficient email processing
- 💡 Innovative AI features
- 👍 Helpful email bundling and scheduling
Room to improve
- 🐛 Inconsistent mobile app experience
- 🔒 Privacy concerns around data collection
- 🔍 Limited search and filtering options
- 💻 Lack of support for non-Gmail accounts
- 🔧 Missing key features like delete and landscape mode
Bugs and requests
Twobird
Reported bugs
4 issues- Emails sliding down and disappearing
- Inability to delete trashed emails
- Inconsistent unread email count
- Drafts reappearing unexpectedly
Requested features
8 requests- Support for more email providers (e.g. Yahoo, AOL, iCloud)
- Ability to customize swipe actions
- Improved search functionality
- Integration with other productivity apps like Notability
- Widgets for calendar and to-do lists
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- Keyboard shortcuts on iPad
- Ability to color-code calendar events
- Option to view calendar in different layouts (e.g. hourly blocks)
Shortwave
Reported bugs
3 issues- Unreliable email bundling and threading
- Inconsistent performance and stability issues
- Bugs with email forwarding and attachment handling
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for more email providers
- Improve iPad and tablet optimization
- Enhance customization options for labels and actions
- Integrate with more productivity apps and services
- Provide better transparency around data usage and privacy
In-app purchases
Twobird
No in-app purchases
Shortwave
No in-app purchases









