K-9 Mail is back (5.800 release)

This was the same in old versions. If you disable changing the background based on read/unread state, all backgrounds are white instead of grey.

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Same here, forces reboot and states that the installation failed; repeatedly. LG G7 ThinQ, Android 10.

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Great overhaul. Besides some missing things (account overview) great work. Thanks :+1:

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Oh dear, what have you done?!
Using k9 since what it feels like forever (since 1st mobile!)

The UI overhaul is a disaster!
I’m using 12 mail accounts with k9 without unified inbox and navigation always was fast, intuitive and easy.
Now I need to fiddle with an unusable hamburger menu, the back button is of no use anymore and the action bar on top is a bad joke!
No more swiping to select a mail

Who was the master of desaster here? Why? So why did you do this? Was there any need to make something good and usable that worth?

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I liked my list of multiple accounts. Press it, go into it. Back takes you to the account list. This new method is just plain cumbersome.

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I appreciate the efforts and have just signed up as a donor. However - I am missing the old UI and have downgraded to 5.600 and wait for a 5.x with the old UI included.

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Same for me. During the installation of 5.8 update from GO the phone freezes and reboots. Redmi Note 8T, Android 10, MIUI 12.0.3 stable

Ah, now I see: in the light theme, the unread messages are indeed white. But in the dark theme, the read messages are grey and the unread messages are even lighter shade of grey instead of black.
Anyway, here is a list of little tweaks that would, IMHO, make the users of no Unified Inbox like myself (maybe make them depend on the Unified Inbox being not set?) much happier and hopefully not break anything else:

  • Make the Back button in the Inbox view show the Accounts Overview pane (see my first post) instead of quitting the app,
  • Tapping the account in the Accounts Overview pane would go directly to the Inbox (saves a tap in switching accounts),
  • Show the little color bars everywhere – not just in Unified Inbox – so that it is immediately obvious what account the messages belong to.
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I am having issues navigating too.

It seems like I have to do 4 key-presses to be able to go to a specific inbox.

I’m also having issues, that I now have to use two hands to do this (due to a large phone). < 5.8 I could use one hand to check the email messages.

Is it possible to transfer the menu to the right hand side?

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New interface is more gmail lookalike which probably can ease a way for some users, but I see this as a huge step back. K9 have its own users - those who need a robust reliable adjustable instrument. Which we had for so many years. Modern communication applications are focused on small-talks, emojis, and all sorts of fun to attract young auditory with plenty of free time. Unfortunately this approach shifts aim of developers from making a good instrument for certain task to making an all in one toy. And with a great horror I see a step of K9 toward this toy.

Version 5.6 suit me quite well. Several bugs probably must be fixed, but I don’t see any need for UI revolution.

One more thing I have to underline - making a clone of some big application is a way to step in a shadow of this application. Many teams made this choice, and I cant name anyone who succeeded (opera browser for instance). It is an option for first step when you have nothing, but when you have your own community and loyal users, it quite might be a great mistake.

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It’s all been said by the majority of long-time users with many email accounts. Dropping the accounts overview that you return back to is inexcusable.

In one (German) word: verschlimmbessert!

This should not have been released as an update but as a new app (K-10? K-Ah?) that people may or may not migrate to.

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You make some interesting points/observations @Cogito. I wonder if K-9 users like myself might be partly to blame here - I’ve been using it for what must be nearly 10 years now and bar reporting one bug/issue have been all but completely silent. I must’ve spent every single day of those 10 years using K-9 - that’s 10’s of thousands of interactions - and it quite simply worked for me without issue. The interface was refreshingly simple, free of the flash-bang-wallop of ‘jazzy’ alternatives that favour form over function. This thing is: I never once mentioned this to anyone (okay, maybe to others that I introduced K-9 to), and so whilst the true value was known to me it wouldn’t have been known to the developer(s). Perhaps there are many thousands of others out there just like me?

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I totally agree!

I always recommend K-9 to users that aren’t able to get their needs fulfilled by other email apps, like Outlook, Gmail, Spark etc. The reactions where always the same “awesome app!”. I do not recommend this app to first time users, but it’s not the same that the email app is bad!

If I remember it correctly, K-9 was one of the first email apps supporting “true push”-email (IMAP IDLE); I’ve been using it ever since (recon 10+ years now?). Not many email apps supported this back in the day!

I also do understand the need to fulfill the needs for lesser email heavy users (and the younger generation of email users), but there is so many other “good” email apps that suits that use case better. I do not consider K-9 an app for the mainstream, but for email heavy users.

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Yes @mjnewton, same here! I’ve been terrible reporting back (also on the good bits added to the app over the years!). My bad!

This is the first time I’ve been to the forums! The 5.8 update made me create an user on the forums; That’s a nifty new app feature! :wink:

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You can go back to 5.6 but will lose all your settings. Ugh!!
Loss of combined emails list is a huge letdown, plus inability to sync email more frequently than 15 minutes? That doesn’t work in the real world. :worried:

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@mjnewton - IMO there is no reason to frequently post “wow - this so awesome!” for an app that simply “just works” (mostly, but no email app is perfect).
I wonder what triggered this radical change. Have there been many users complaining “I want K-9 to be more like Gmail”? If yes then we would indeed have been to blame for not speaking up against it early enough.

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@B_B yes, I read that also (that makes sense, since one of the first screens I was greeted with, was an database upgrade).

I’ll try to use the 5.8 for a couple of more days; But I would consider the time spent doing the re-setup of all my email accounts, worth it (…)

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A bit strong @mscheaf. Our lives haven’t been ruined by this update; just slowed down and made a bit more awkward that’s all… :wink:

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@mjnewton and I would be a glad chap to pay a couple of dollars, if that was the case…

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@mailnissen Yes, I too would chip in to put things back to how they were (or, even better, configurable customisation to satisfy all camps as there must’ve been some asking for these changes). But then like you say maybe this is all part of the plan - introduce an unpopular change which drives users to join the forums and also pay to put things back… @cketti and colleagues might be far smarter than we’re giving them credit for! :wink:

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