Comparison

Compose vs Shortwave

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

Head to head
About

Compose

This app offers a streamlined way to compose and send emails without the distractions of a full inbox. It focuses on a minimalist writing experience, allowing users to quickly draft messages. Email accounts must be pre-configured on the device.

Highlights
  • Minimalist email composition
  • Distraction-free writing environment
  • Quick message drafting
  • Requires device email configuration
Features
Read full description

Compose is a simple little app that lets you send email without being overwhelmed by what's in your inbox. Just open compose and start writing. Currently, Compose requires email accounts to be configured on your device.

About

Shortwave

This AI-powered email client streamlines your inbox with intelligent organization, writing assistance, and team collaboration tools. It helps you manage emails, schedule meetings, and turn messages into actionable tasks, all while learning your unique style.

Highlights
  • AI-powered email writing and drafting
  • Intelligent inbox organization and clutter removal
  • Real-time team collaboration and email assignment
  • AI-assisted meeting scheduling
  • Email to-do list conversion
  • Customizable AI prompts and automations
  • Management of multiple Gmail accounts
Read full description

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

Compose1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Shortwave at 4.7 against Compose's 3.9. Shortwave also leads on ratings volume (749 vs 7). Compose's advantage is iOS requirement (8.1 vs 14.0). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Shortwave holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Shortwave has 749 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of Compose's written reviews are positive against 65% of Shortwave's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Compose versus Shortwave: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterComposeShortwave
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (7 ratings)4.7 (749 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews — better65.4% of reviews
Number of ratings7749 — better
Update frequency—Every 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS8.1 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCluster Labs, Inc.Shortwave Communications, Inc.

Customer experience

Compose

All ratings7 ratings
Positive71.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative28.6%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Shortwave

All ratings659 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral1.8%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews211 reviews
Positive65.4%
Neutral10.9%
Negative23.7%

Bugs and requests

Compose

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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

None

Compose

No in-app purchases

None

Shortwave

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Compose free?
Compose is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shortwave free?
Shortwave is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Compose or Shortwave?
Shortwave is rated higher. Compose averages 3.9 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while Shortwave averages 4.7 from 749 ratings.
Do Compose or Shortwave have ads?
Neither Compose nor Shortwave shows ads.

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