Hi, just came here to thank for the great effort, for developing and releasing the new version.
I have just read here in the forum first. I am appalled by the way in which quite a few users complain here.
K-9 is a free open source app that many people were afraid had aborted development.
It’s nice to see that through the efforts of one person in particular, the app has been adapted to current Android versions. Thank you!
And now there are users who have obviously been using the app for free for years and are now complaining like little children because they don’t like a feature or something doesn’t work. Some don’t even bother to write in english for everyone to understand. That’s arrogant, and additionally with this attitude of entitlement.
Some threaten to quit the app. Of course you can switch, but what’s with the threat? This is ridiculous.
In addition, in the Play Store K-9 is rated with one or two stars, and this with the overall good quality of the app.
It’s normal in app development that things don’t work or that features don’t appeal in an app. At least some users manage to stay factual and friendly, and keep their eyes on the app as a whole.
I also like the new update. Some changes are to get used to and some maybe one can discuss with the devs (buttons back to the bottom? ). Looking to a bright future for K-9
Thanks for the hard work and creating a basis for future development that still can be published to Play Store and therefore auto-update on most devices!
(Most users might not be aware that Play Store no longer allows updates that do not target one of the latest Android SDKs, together with the restrictions regarding background services, battery drain, and notifications this causes.)
Probably everyone here appreciates and applauds the efforts made by the developers for years.
If k9 wasn’t already a very good app we hadn’t stayed with it for so long, even when it looks became kind of “dated”. But at the end function won over design everytime, at least for me.
The last update was essentially a complete overhaul of the UX/UI, without warning for the ordinary user. And not only in my opinion for worse. So we have certainly every right to kindly express our feelings with this development. Especially in times when k9 was the ONLY last “jewel” among a desert of sh*t in the case of mail-apps on Android.
I agree with the “kindly” part, but not the “right” part. And what I see (as a very new member of the forum) that this is not constructive criticism but a lot of complaining. Since there is an easy way of down-grading, maybe someone will take the effort to fork and maintain a “K-9 Classic” version (let’s hope it’s not necessary).
While I understand your argument, I have the feeling, that it’s the “nerds like us” that are complaining and that the new UI is way more appealing to the average users since it’s now way more aligned to how other apps work (Gmail especially).
I don’t think so. There are certainly a lot of ordinary people here working with multiple accounts on a advanced level, who simultaneously don’t know dealing with apps outside of Play Store.
They use k9 as a more “serious” and capable tool for a reason. All the other people use GMail anyway.
So what’s the point of switching to k9 in the future when it’s essentially became a GMail-clone?
Allmost all the features from before are still there, just presented differently. So for me personally the same reasons as before: good IMAP-IDLE support, integration with OpenKeyChain.
The comparison does not fit in any way. Just because the UI is now more modern according to Material Design guidelines doesn’t make it a Gmail clone.
I have both apps installed and can compare.
I rather have the impression that many are not willing to try out new ways and views for a week. Instead, many complaints came after a very short time, combined with an unjustified attitude of entitlement.
K-9 Mail finally looks like a modern app, but not identical to others. (And yes, I still have wishes about the features).
I don’t think that you understand the critics. We all loved the old version of K-9 because it was a very good tool to administer several email accounts - I use six account for different work and private purposes - in a very easy way.
I think I used K-9 for some ten years and advised it to many people, BECAUSE it was so good and professional.
The new version not only changed the overview, but also removed all kind of settings - or at least I cannot find them anymore - probably to please the non-power user. But for those who want a very simple program for their only email account there are enough other programs.
Those who are critical on the changes are so because they loved K-9 till last Sunday when the program was “updated” and can no longer be used in the professional way we used it.
Of course it is great that K-9 is still maintained, but the new version not gives us a better but only a “more simple” (?) version of what once was a great email client. I would applaud when the maintainer could see that “new” here is not “better”. And that you could see that too…
Google already abandons parts of the Material-Design/Hamburger-menus in some of their apps since quite a good time. They weren’t either ergonomical nor intuitive right from their introduction.
Think in case of the account overview as each mail-account being a “chat” when comparing k9 with f.e. every Messenger-app out there. Would you like to fiddle with the side bar everytime you want to change in another chat/contact/group?
Do you use gestures in Android 11? It’s constantly interfering when trying to open the side bar, so it gets very difficult to open it.
There is a plethora of email apps for the “average user”. K-9’s differentiating feature that raises it above the “average” email client was its accounts overview screen. I applaud the work done to bring this project up to current Android standards but only if it ends up being a useful, well differentiated app and not just another me-too mail client. We have enough of those to chose from.
Sometimes its more successful to appeal to a narrow segment of the market than to be a one-size-fits-all Swiss Army knife that does a mediocre job on everything it touches.
Of course I can understand critics. But I can’t understand the attitude users show here (not both of you).
For myself I switched to AquaMail two years ago, when I didn’t expect much for K-9.
Now I’m testing again. And as I said, I have several requests to have better functionalities. But there was just a major release with a long beta period before, let the dev fix issues mentioned.
And of course you can discuss the current UI. But with respect to the dev.
Let me tell you the words of my wife (a noob), when she made her first concat with the new 5.800 UI: “Hugh? What’s that? … Where are my e-mails? … (tapping around) … This looks awful … (tapping around) … The bin is on top and not at the bottom, now I have to use two hands”
The critics of the new UI is not a “nerd thing”. The unexperienced user out there is confused, too. There has been a clean and functional UI that really everybody understood right from the first second. This is gone now and even the noobs out there are confused and click around and get angry.
). Looking to a bright future for K-9