GW Mailbox vs AltaMail
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
GW Mailbox
This app provides a streamlined interface for accessing GroupWise email, calendar, and contacts on iOS devices. It offers enhanced notifications and enterprise features beyond standard web access, allowing for efficient management of your professional communications and schedule.
- Combined email, calendar, and contacts
- Enhanced email notifications
- View, reply, forward, and move emails
- Compose new messages and appointments
- Search GroupWise address books
- View calendar events and accept/decline
- Search within folders
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GW Mailbox is a GroupWise email and calendar app for the iPhone and iPad. With this app you get a much better interface than Novell delivers by default through GroupWise WebAccess. This app gives you some of the enterprise features that you wouldn't get with simple POP/IMAP - like access to your Frequent Contacts and GroupWise address book. This app is designed to work with a Novell GroupWise email server. Novell GroupWise is an email server like Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange. If you do not have access to a Novell GroupWise email account, this app will not work for you. Your IT department should be able to provide you with the URL to your company's GroupWise WebAccess server. Key Features: • Combined email, calendar and contacts access all in one app • Uses iOS background processing to provide faster, more secure notifications View emails • View items in your GroupWise mailbox and other folders, including shared folders • View, delete, reply and forward messages • Move items between folders • Attached documents are viewable through the GroupWise document converter, or they can be downloaded to view with other apps on your device Compose • Compose new email, appointments, tasks and notes • Add attachments to new emails • Search your GroupWise address books to select contacts when composing an email View calendar events • View your GroupWise calendar with one tap in either day, week or month view • View an item's properties to see if an appointment has been accepted, an email has been viewed, etc. • Accept or decline appointments, tasks and notes View contacts • Easily search all of your GroupWise address books including Frequent Contacts and your GroupWise System Address Book • View a contact's details including phone number, email address and physical address • One tap to use your iPhone to call a contact • Email a contact using GW Mailbox or the iOS Mail app • Create an appointment for a contact New, advanced email notifications • Better security • Control how often mailbox is checked • Banner notifications Search in your folders • Search in any of your GroupWise folders Notice: GW Mailbox uses GroupWise WebAccess to get your email data. If your GroupWise administrator has not made GroupWise WebAccess available to you, GW Mailbox will not work for you. We support Novell Access Manager. But if your company uses a different proxy server, then GW Mailbox will not work. GW Mailbox requires an active internet connection. Support: iOS: This app requires iOS 9 or later. Devices: GW Mailbox works with your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, and requires an internet connection to work. GroupWise: GW Mailbox has been tested to work with GroupWise 18, GroupWise 2014 R2, GroupWise 2014, GroupWise 2012, GroupWise 8, GroupWise 7 and GroupWise 6.5. Note: GW Mailbox requires a subscription Terms and Conditions: http://ghostpattern.com/Ghost_Pattern/Terms_And_Conditions.html Please feel free to send us an email with any questions or comments that you may have. If you think you see a bug in the app, please send us an email! support@ghostpattern.com
AltaMail
Streamline your inbox with advanced spam filtering and customizable rules. Quickly manage emails using swipe actions, organize by account, and back up messages offline. This app offers extensive customization for a desktop-like email experience on mobile.
- Smart spam detection
- Customizable email rules and filters
- Quick swipe actions for inbox management
- Offline email backup
- Work/home email separation
- Mailshots and templates
- Watch app integration
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Eliminate Spam with smart Spam detection. Use rules and quick swipe actions to rapidly clear your inbox. Separate work and home emails for focus. Backup emails offline as files. AltaMail is easy to use but has way more features than any other mobile app! Build rules & filters, create full searches, mixed inbox view layouts, mail shots and much more. Customize menus, views, actions, swipes, email font, color, layout, shortcuts, filters, rules, smart folders, flags and notifications. Use the Watch app to view, reply and print emails on the go. iOS Shortcuts integration, Dark Mode and Widgets Some features require the AltaMail Pro upgrade The AltaMail team does not compromise on functionality. AltaMail eliminates the need for a desktop email application. - Press Reviews Incredible iPhone Apps for Dummies "The more e-mail you send & receive on your iPhone/iPad, the more you'll appreciate AltaMail" AppShouter "this app expands the possibilities for mail" iPhone Apps Finder "a very solid business app - 9/10" ArticleClick "bottom line is that this app expands the possibilities for mail on your iPhone or iPad" - Inbox Zero! Swipe emails for quick actions. eg. move to folder, mark as spam, mark as read, delete, set flags, reply with template, quick reply, snooze/set reminders and much more! Bulk select & delete email across multiple accounts Show email threads with a single tap, bulk move the entire thread Create your own swipe actions and rules to make managing your email even faster Move emails to different accounts Create your own email views, filtered by account, type, subject and much more. eg. news, lists, friends, purchases Sort emails by unread, importance, subject, sender & more. Set email flags/categories/gmail labels and view emails by flag Create, rename and delete email folders. Choose to automatically remove older emails - Email rules The most sophisticated email rules engine on the app store! Huge range of choices for filters and actions. Set up rules to auto reply, auto delete, auto file/archive, set flags & lots more - Eradicate spam A quick swipe will mark and email as spam, move it to the spam folder, block the sender email address, domain or IP address and unsubscribe - in one action! Smart Spam detector and also DMARC, DKIM, SPF Create spam actions and rules - Work-life balance Group and view your email accounts in different categories, eg. work, personal etc. Turn on "locations" to automatically view your work emails at work, and your home emails at home Schedule emails to send at a later time Schedule checking for new emails - Calendar/Reminders Manage meeting requests Email a summary of available times Print your calendar/reminders - Mailshots & Templates Quickly create mail merge/mailshot templates & send to contacts Use templates for auto replies Many contact merge fields - Security Secure email server communication and 2 factor authentication Emails are encrypted on your device App password lock S/MIME support - Notifications Quick new email notifications with actions Read receipts for sent email Custom email sounds Schedules for notifications & sounds Filter notifications & sounds Automatically back up emails as files to cloud servers or Mac/PC Contact email history records Edit contacts & groups Save emails as files Zip/unzip files Save/attach files with cloud servers Sync settings between devices The optional AltaMail Pro upgrade provides multiple accounts, Spam management, Work-Life Balance, Email Rules, Mailshots/Templates, Email file backup and Read Receipts. The upgrade has a free 30 day trial then a 99c/month or 1 year subscription ($9.99 varies by region). Subscriptions are charged to your iTunes account and auto-renew unless turned off prior to 24-hours before the end, otherwise your account is charged. Subscriptions are managed & auto-renewal is turned off in your App Store Account Settings. The free trial stops when a subscription starts. Privacy/Terms https://esz.nz/pv
Screenshots
Verdict
GW Mailbox and AltaMail both sit at 4.4 stars, but that hides the real split: 90% of AltaMail's written reviews are positive against 40% of GW Mailbox's. AltaMail also leads on monetization model (freemium vs subscription) and device support (4 vs 2). GW Mailbox's advantage is ratings volume (2.2K vs 371). On price, rating, 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. GW Mailbox sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month and AltaMail sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
AltaMail holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: GW Mailbox has 2.2K ratings behind it against 371, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of GW Mailbox's written reviews are positive against 90% of AltaMail's.
GW Mailbox ships an update every 3 weeks, AltaMail every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | GW Mailbox | AltaMail |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (2.2K ratings) | 4.6 (371 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 40.0% of reviews | 90.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.2K — better | 371 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Freemium — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Ghost Pattern Software | EuroSmartz Ltd |
Customer experience
GW Mailbox
AltaMail
Bugs and requests
GW Mailbox
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
AltaMail
Reported bugs
5 issues- Login screen freezes
- Incompatible with older devices
- Email notifications not working properly
- Formatting issues with email text
- Syncing issues between devices
Requested features
3 requests- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- Bionic reading font option
In-app purchases
GW Mailbox
- GW Mailbox Month Subscription$1.491 Month
- GW Mailbox Year Subscription$13.491 Year
AltaMail
- 1 month. autorenews$0.991 Month
- 1 year. autorenews$9.991 Year
- Lifetime AltaMail Pro$49.99
Questions
Is GW Mailbox free?
Is AltaMail free?
Which has better reviews, GW Mailbox or AltaMail?
Do GW Mailbox or AltaMail have ads?
Which is updated more often, GW Mailbox or AltaMail?
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