Comparison

Gmail vs Speaking Email

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Gmail

This application provides a secure and efficient email experience with advanced features like spam blocking, smart replies, and multi-account support. It integrates with other Google services for enhanced productivity and collaboration.

Highlights
  • Robust security & spam blocking
  • Real-time notifications
  • Multiple account support
  • Smart Reply & Compose
  • Undo send
  • Google Chat & Meet integration
  • Threaded conversations
Features
Read full description

The official Gmail app brings the best of Gmail to your iPhone and iPad with helpful AI features, robust security, real-time notifications, multiple account support, and intelligent search that works across all your mail. With the Gmail app, you can: • Make Gmail your default email app on iOS • Stay up to date on your latest packages, upcoming events, bills, and travel details with helpful summary cards • Declutter your inbox with built-in email subscription management • Use Gemini* in Gmail to summarize lengthy emails, craft or refine responses, or search your inbox to find what you’re looking for • Connect and switch between multiple email accounts from different providers • Automatically block more than 99.9% of spam, phishing, malware from ever reaching your inbox • Quickly add events to Google Calendar based on your emails with Gemini in Gmail • Find top deals faster with a personalized Promotions tab • Respond to emails faster with AI-powered Suggested Replies that understand the context of your emails and match your unique tone and style • Undo send for up to 30 seconds, to prevent embarrassing mistakes • Access Google Meet and Google Chat without leaving Gmail • Organize your mail by labeling, starring, deleting, and reporting spam • Swipe to archive/delete, to quickly clear out your inbox Gmail is part of Google Workspace, allowing you and your team to easily connect, create, and collaborate. You can: • Connect with coworkers via Google Meet or Google Chat, send an invite in Google Calendar, add an action to your task list, and more without leaving Gmail • Use Gemini in Gmail features like Help me write, Suggested Replies, AI Overviews, and Proofread to help you stay on top of work and take care of simple tasks, so you can be more efficient with your time • Stay safe. Our machine learning models block more than 99.9% of spam, phishing, and malware from reaching our users *Some Gemini features may require a Google One AI subscription. Internet connection required. Language and country availability may vary. Check responses for accuracy.

About

Speaking Email

This app reads your emails aloud and allows you to manage them using voice commands. It's ideal for hands-free and eyes-free email access, benefiting drivers and individuals with visual impairments or motor difficulties.

Highlights
  • Reads emails aloud
  • Voice commands for replies and management
  • Hands-free and eyes-free operation
  • Smart content detection
  • Multilingual email support
  • Secure connection to various email servers
Features
Read full description

Reads your email out loud, lets you reply and manage mail by voice commands. Ideal for visually impaired users, driving, or anytime you'd like to check email hands free & eyes free. Premium Edition is free for 7 days. Then you are automatically switched to Basic Edition. (Note for CarPlay users: see our other app 'Speaking Email CP') — WHY DO I WANT IT? — FOR DRIVERS Get more time in your day when you check your email on the move. Most people spend 1-2 hours in their inbox. With the help of Speaking Email during your daily drive to work, you can easily cut this time in half. Get more done, stay on top and keep a clean inbox. Voice commands and simple gestures designed to be safe to use while driving give you the ability to archive, flag or even reply on the move. (Note for CarPlay users: see also our other app "Speaking Email CP") FOR ACCESSIBILITY Makes email easy to use for those with visual impairment, blindness, dyslexia, stroke, motor dysfunction. Designed to be used without needing to see or touch the screen, Speaking Email works as a fully voice operated email app. Note: a sighted assistant or VoiceOver is required to sign into your email account and configure the many preferences to your liking. The rest is all voice controlled! — HOW DOES IT WORK? — Speaking Email reads your latest emails out loud from your inbox, one by one. Swipe left and right to play your inbox like a jukebox. Whip through your inbox, clear clutter, flag important items and make inbox zero a reality - all while on the go. You can interact with your email using full screen taps, swipes and voice commands. Voice recognition needs a trigger. You choose when to pause for a command - on full screen tap, every 30 seconds, at the start/end of emails. — FEATURES — - Smart content detection skips over disclaimers, reply headers, and email signatures to speak only the content without the clutter - Multilingual mode automatically detects the email language and switches voices to match, using Apple text-to-speech voices - Makes use of the latest Apple speech recognition technology lets you dictate your reply, which is read back to you before sending - Our simple Ignore Sender command puts you in control, allowing you to avoid hearing emails from the sender in future - Connects securely to all email servers, including Gmail (using Google Sign In), Microsoft 365 (aka Office 365 - using Microsoft Sign In supporting Intune, MFA and OAUTH), Exchange (via ActiveSync), IMAP, POP, iCloud (using app password), Outlook/Hotmail (using Microsoft Sign In), Yahoo (using Yahoo Sign In), AOL (using AOL Sign In) - Voice commands and buttons include: Next Back Archive/Done Flag Trash Reply Forward Ignore (thumbs down) Important (thumbs up) Block Sender Rewind Fast Forward Compose Search Voice Slower Faster People When - Many preferences to set up your experience how you like — QUESTIONS — Reach us at feedback@speaking.email See our FAQ: http://www.speaking.email/faq Feature tour: http://www.speaking.email — RECOGNITION — - Gizmodo - "Highly Recommended" by Marc Saltzman in USA Today - TV3 News (NZ), Sky News - The Australian, Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph - NZ Herald, National Business Review - Featured by Apple in Best New Apps - Voted Most Fundable App by Context.IO - Finalist in NZ Hi Tech Awards — QUOTES — “This is a nifty app, and one that will make driving a little safer for inbox addicts”—NBR “My eyesight isn’t as it was years ago, and your Speaking Email makes it so much easier for me to keep in touch with folks” — Willis Hargrave “I absolutely love the app and being an outside sales rep in the car 4-6 hours a day find it incredibly helpful. It is literally freeing up and hour or 2 of time for me every day I am on the road by having a lot less time at the desk doing email. THANKS!!!” — Scott Middleton https://speaking.email/page/privacy https://speaking.email/page/terms-of-use

Screenshots

Gmail4 screens
Speaking Email4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Speaking Email at 68% against Gmail's 29%. Speaking Email also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). Gmail's advantage is ratings volume (2.4M vs 206) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Gmail sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Speaking Email sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Gmail holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Gmail has 2.4M ratings behind it against 206, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 29% of Gmail's written reviews are positive against 68% of Speaking Email's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gmail ships an update weekly, Speaking Email every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Gmail versus Speaking Email: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGmailSpeaking Email
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2.4M ratings) — better4.5 (206 ratings)
Positive reviews29.3% of reviews67.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2.4M — better206
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#4 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size719 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoogleBEWEB LTD

Customer experience

Gmail

All ratings2,439,152 ratings
Positive93.1%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews4,072 reviews
Positive29.3%
Neutral10.1%
Negative60.6%

Speaking Email

All ratings206 ratings
Positive88.3%
Neutral3.9%
Negative7.8%
Written reviews77 reviews
Positive67.5%
Neutral2.6%
Negative29.9%

User reviews

Gmail

From 2.4M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Efficient email management
  • 👍 Easy to use interface
  • 🔒 Secure and reliable
  • 😊 Positive user experience overall

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 💡 Lacking advanced features
  • 🔒 Security concerns
  • 🔋 Drains battery quickly

Speaking Email

From 206 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Life-changing for accessibility
  • 👍 Great for visually impaired
  • 👍 Excellent for ADHD/focus issues
  • 👍 Time-saver for busy users
  • 👍 Useful for commuting

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes frequently
  • 🐛 Unreliable connection issues
  • 🐛 Difficult to set up
  • 🐛 Poor voice recognition/robotic voice
  • 🐛 Battery drain

Bugs and requests

Gmail

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notifications not working properly
  • Emails disappearing from inbox
  • Inability to remove accounts
  • Conversation view issues

Requested features

4 requests
  • Swipe to delete/snooze emails
  • Ability to mark all emails as read
  • Customizable notification settings
  • Improved file attachment functionality

Speaking Email

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • Keeps crashing
  • Doesn't work reliably
  • Granting Gmail access is buggy
  • App crashes after an update
  • Doesn't save place in emails
Show 13 more
  • Cannot skip forward in emails
  • Cannot connect to emails
  • Times out from mail setup screen
  • Frozen in settings page
  • Emails disappear after reading
  • Unstable with Exchange
  • Archived emails disappear
  • Doesn't recognize passwords
  • Cannot delete the app
  • Hidden icon floating around screen
  • Browser cookies disabled error for Gmail
  • Too loud with AirPods
  • Emails don't load properly

Requested features

13 requests
  • Ability to search using voice command
  • CarPlay support
  • Apple Watch App for interaction
  • Support for Exchange using Active Sync or Outlook Web Access
  • Dark mode option
Show 8 more
  • Better voice quality
  • Option to turn off voice command prompts
  • Ability to set to only pull 'primary' for Gmail
  • Improve editing of responses
  • Better battery optimization
  • Clearer understanding of settings
  • Ability to save place in emails
  • Search functionality

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Gmail

Subscriptions7
  • 100 GB2 variants$1.991 Month
  • 100 GB1 Month trial3 variants$1.991 Month
  • 200 GB2 variants$2.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • 200 GB1 Month trial$2.991 Month
  • 2 TB1 Month trial$9.991 Month
  • Google AI Plus (2 TB)2 variants$9.991 Month
  • 100 GB1 Month trial$19.991 Year
5 purchases

Speaking Email

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Subscription$4.991 Month
  • Premium Subscription Annual$34.991 Year
One-time3
  • Premium Plan$4.99
  • Premium Plan 3 Months$12.99
  • Premium Plan 12 Months$39.99

Questions

Is Gmail free?
Gmail is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Speaking Email free?
Speaking Email is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Gmail or Speaking Email?
Gmail is rated higher. Gmail averages 4.7 out of 5 from 2.4M ratings, while Speaking Email averages 4.5 from 206 ratings.
Do Gmail or Speaking Email have ads?
Gmail shows ads; Speaking Email does not.
Which is updated more often, Gmail or Speaking Email?
Gmail ships an update weekly, and Speaking Email every 3 weeks. Most recently, Gmail was updated on September 25, 2026 and Speaking Email on September 4, 2026.

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