Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Spark Mail vs Canary Mail

Spark Mail 4.6★ · Free + IAP 60
Winner Canary Mail
Canary Mail 4.5★ · Free + IAP 75

For most users, Canary Mail offers a more stable experience with better privacy features, while Spark Mail struggles with recent performance issues and aggressive monetization.

Full reviews: Spark Mail · Canary Mail

Spark Mail, despite its long-standing popularity, is currently plagued by performance issues, bugs, and user dissatisfaction with its AI features and paywalled basic functions. Canary Mail, while not without its own quirks, generally provides a more reliable and privacy-focused email experience, though some users find its AI features and pricing confusing.

Head to head

Features & Functionality edge: Canary MailR4R6R10R11
Spark Mail Spark Mail offers features like smart inboxes, snooze, and AI for organizing and finding emails, which some users find helpful R11. However, many core functionalities, such as viewing only unread messages or blocking senders, are paywalled R4R6R21R51. Recent updates have introduced AI features that some users find bloat the app and make it harder to use, rather than improving the experience R10R34R43.
Canary Mail Canary Mail is praised for its ability to handle multiple email accounts, secure email features, and useful AI for drafting replies, summarizing threads, and categorizing emails R80. Users appreciate features like read receipts and tracker blocking . However, some basic functionalities like 'Mark Unread' or setting email priority are missing , and some AI features are behind a paywall and don't always work as expected R81.
Ease of Use & User Interface tieR2R8R12R24
Spark Mail Spark Mail's UI is generally considered clean and easy to use by some R53. However, recent updates have led to a cluttered interface with AI search bars that some users dislike R12. Issues like difficulty adding recipients R8, problems with copy-pasting R24, and an unintuitive search order R2 detract from the user experience. Some users also find the app's organization confusing after updates .
Canary Mail Canary Mail generally offers a clean and intuitive interface . However, some users find the UX design lacking and visually confusing, especially regarding finding new mail and persistent settings . The iPadOS version is noted for wasted space and less optimal design compared to iOS and Mac versions .
Reliability & Performance edge: Canary MailR1R7R9R13
Spark Mail Spark Mail has significant reliability and performance issues, with many recent reviews reporting the app locking up, getting stuck, not loading emails, and being generally slow R1R7R9R13. Notifications are also reported to be unreliable . Users on older iPhones particularly struggle R7.
Canary Mail Canary Mail is generally seen as stable and syncs seamlessly across devices . However, some users experience issues with emails not loading quickly, accounts disconnecting, and notifications being inconsistent . Connectivity issues with Gmail and Exchange accounts are also reported .
Price & Value tieR4R6R21R28
Spark Mail Spark Mail is free with in-app purchases, but many users feel that essential features like blocking senders, viewing unread messages, and smart folders are unfairly paywalled R4R6R21R28. This aggressive monetization leads to a perception of poor value, especially when free alternatives offer similar basic functions R28.
Canary Mail Canary Mail is also free with in-app purchases, including a lifetime subscription option R85. Some users feel misled by the initial free download, only to find a 7-day trial for premium features R61R79. There are complaints about AI features being paywalled R81 and confusion around billing for different subscription tiers . However, some users find the free version sufficient or the lifetime purchase a good value .
Privacy & Security edge: Canary MailR16R53R73R80
Spark Mail Spark Mail reviews do not extensively discuss privacy or security, but one user mentions that all mail is stored on Spark's servers R53. Another review highlights a concerning policy of refusing service based on country of residence R16.
Canary Mail Canary Mail emphasizes privacy and offers encryption, tracker blocking, and secure email features R80. However, a significant concern is raised about the default setting for 'Help Improve Copilot' which uses user emails to train LLMs, contradicting claims of not using data for training R73.
Pick Spark Mail if

You are a long-time Spark Mail user who values its specific organizational features like smart inboxes and snooze, and you are willing to tolerate recent performance issues and pay for advanced features R11.

Pick Canary Mail if

You prioritize a generally stable and reliable email client with strong privacy features, secure email options, and useful AI tools for productivity, and you are comfortable with its pricing model and occasional UI quirks R80.

Evidence note: Spark Mail has a much larger number of reviews, with a noticeable recent negative trend regarding performance and monetization. Canary Mail's reviews are fewer but generally more positive, though some consistent issues with reliability and AI functionality are present.

Frequently asked

Is Spark Mail reliable for daily use?
Recent reviews indicate that Spark Mail is experiencing significant reliability issues, with users reporting frequent freezing, slow loading times, and emails not appearing or scrolling correctly on various iPhone models R1R7R13R19.
Does Canary Mail have a free version?
Yes, Canary Mail offers a free version, but many advanced features, including some AI functionalities and secure send, are locked behind a paywall or a 7-day free trial R61R79R81R85.
Are basic features free in Spark Mail?
No, several basic and commonly expected email features, such as viewing only unread messages, blocking senders, and creating smart folders, are paywalled in Spark Mail R4R6R21R51.
Does Canary Mail use my emails to train AI?
Canary Mail has a setting called 'Help Improve Copilot' which is on by default and uses user emails to train its Large Language Model (LLM), despite claims that user data is not used for training R73.
How do Spark Mail's AI features affect user experience?
Many users find Spark Mail's new AI features to be bloatware that makes the app slower and harder to use, rather than improving the email experience, leading some long-time users to seek alternatives R10R34R43.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R4] Spark Mail 2/5 · US Missing core functionality: No way to view only unread messages. Feel like that’s a pretty major oversight. This is not something that should be put behind a paywall, that’s just sleazy.
  2. [R6] Spark Mail 3/5 · US Paywalled: For trying to set up a Smart Folder, when search folders are free in outlook? Nope. (I’d just use outlook for everything but would like to use a separate app for work and personal)
  3. [R10] Spark Mail 2/5 · US Long time user: At this point, this is no longer an email app. It is so bloated with AI slop that I can barely read an email anymore. I will be looking for alternatives, disappointing as I really love supporting this team. But I guess priorities are now on AI and not helping me read and reply to emails.
  4. [R11] Spark Mail 5/5 · US It just gets better: I’ve been using Spark several years now. I started with it because SPAM was out of control and Spark had a positive control over senders feature. Getting through all the senders was a slog but after that 100% control! Then they added AI for finding emails and whatnot. No more am I anxious I cannot find an email. I went from the most disorganized person to the one everyone reli
  5. [R2] Spark Mail 4/5 · US Mostly good, could be better: Mostly good but does not do a good job of search. It frequently leaves out older emails and the sort order it presents emails in is unintuitive. I often resort to the default Mail app when I need to search for an email.
  6. [R8] Spark Mail 4/5 · US Fix Adding Recipients To Email: Lately, I’ve noticed that when I go to compose an email and start typing in the “to” line, no names populate for me to pick. I have “full access” to contacts enabled but it doesn’t pull any names to me to view or choose. Can this please be fixed?
  7. [R12] Spark Mail 3/5 · US Great App but.....: This app is great overall. However, I hope the developers remove the AI search bar from the bottom of the IOS app and make it cleaner. I also use a Galaxy as my personal phone, and the Spark app looks much cleaner, especially with the AI search. Please make this change.
  8. [R24] Spark Mail 3/5 · US So many bugs you would think are 1980: Copy paste text from iPhone not copying, saving emails in pdf on desktop are cut off
  9. [R1] Spark Mail 1/5 · US Locks up and gets stuck every day on brand new iPhone 17 pro max, daily.: I have been using Spark email solely for five years. Locks up and gets stuck every day on brand new iPhone 17 pro max, daily. It started screwing up on my iPhone 13 Pro, this year. It is not much better on my new 17 Pro Max.
  10. [R7] Spark Mail 1/5 · US Was great, now useless: This app used to be an amazing email app now on an iPhone 13 running iOS 26.5 it is virtually unusable. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the app over a dozen times and it’s still only loads about 1/3 of the time. And when it does load it takes 10 times longer than any other app out there ** if you don’t have the absolute newest iPhone, and a ton of patience, you might as
  11. [R9] Spark Mail 3/5 · US Nice most of the time, but attention to detail is lacking: Using spark is a pleasant experience 99% of the time. But there are a lot of bugs and small things that annoy, the app randomly freezes on a white screen, emails aren’t cached and take a while to load, search is noticeably worse quality than Gmail, and emails with wide HTML content can’t be zoomed out or scrolled horizontally. I still use
  12. [R13] Spark Mail 1/5 · US Sub par experience in the last few months: Not sure what happened, but recently that app has been buggy and I keep checking the App Store for updates. Currently, any email that I open has the Accept and Block button overlay gets stuck while scrolling the email, the only way to get out of it is to close the app and reopen. This is extremely frustrating and happens on a regular basis.
  13. [R21] Spark Mail 3/5 · US Overall this is GREAT!: I have used Spark for almost a decade now. I love everything about it. I will say, I strongly dislike the fact that you have to pay for a subscription in order to block a sender. One of the most basic worldwide email functions is blocked unless you pay a monthly fee. I am considering jumping ship and moving to another email because of this.
  14. [R28] Spark Mail 1/5 · US Great app: That is so easy I can’t go back the Apple mail because I forgot how it works haha. That was before I got a $100 bill to get mail. I just couldn’t justify spending this much on getting email when I could do the same for free. It may not be as streamlined as Spark but the final result is the same.
  15. [R16] Spark Mail 1/5 · US peace in non-politics: This app refuses service based on the user’s country of residence. After installation, I was shown a message stating that services are not provided in Russia and Belarus, and that users from these countries are no longer accepted. I consider this discriminatory and unacceptable for an email service, which should function as a neutral communication tool. If the developers d
  16. [R53] Spark Mail 5/5 · US Hands down the best email client.: I’ve been using Spark for many years across many devices (iPhone, multiple iPads, multiple MacBooks, Mac mini, pc) and it is the most clean and well functioning client. I’ve used both the free and paid tiers and am currently back on free tier which is perfect for a regular person. All your mail is stored on sparks servers and syncs perfectly across devices. The l
  17. [R73] Canary Mail 1/5 · US Did you know?: Check this: Settings > Copilot > Help Improve Copilot ( is on by default and uses our email to train LLM). On the other hand they proudly claim that our data isn’t used to train LLM. If you are a lawyer please reply.
  18. [R80] Canary Mail 5/5 · US Best Email App Upgrade on iPhone: I’ve tried a lot of email apps, and Canary Mail is easily one of the best I’ve used. The AI features are actually useful, not gimmicky. It helps draft replies, summarize long threads, and clean up your inbox so you can focus on what actually matters. What really stands out is how it balances productivity with privacy. It’s built with a strong privacy focus and e
  19. [R19] Spark Mail 1/5 · US More frequent bugs: Recently, I’ve been encountering a frequent bug my the iPhone 17 app. After opening an email, everything initially loads normally. However, after one or two seconds, the image at the top of the email becomes collapsed or partially hidden. At that point, the entire email becomes unresponsive and I can no longer scroll. The only workaround is to exit back to the email list and
  20. [R61] Canary Mail 1/5 · US Not Free!!: It allows you to download the app assuming it’s free, gathers all your info for your emails to setup, then it takes you to a page that says try free for 7 days!! Don’t take my info and then charge me for it.
  21. [R79] Canary Mail 1/5 · US Not as great as you think: I love it at first and moved like 9 emails over to the app. But the more you use the app, the more you see the amazing things that you can do with it. Too bad you have to pay a monthly small fortune to access ANY of them. And if you just stay on the free version, it’s absolutely 100% no different from the mail app that comes standard with any iPhone. Pointless waste of t
  22. [R81] Canary Mail 3/5 · US AI Responses are a bit of a lie: The AI behind a paywall is quite scummy when they don’t work. The majority of replies I attempt to us it you get blocked by them as they misidentify any form of conversation as “newsletters”. Sending an email to another dev? Newsletter. Asking for support from a company? Newsletter. Quite convenient for them
  23. [R85] Canary Mail 2/5 · US Not what I thought it would be: I decided to get this app for the security feature secure send. I thought I purchased a version that had it and I upgraded it to a the lifetime. The secure send worked for a few days so I thought I had it right. Then it stopped working, when I actually needed it. Turns out I bought the wrong plan, and yes that is my own fault. However, when I tried to upgrade my pl
  24. [R51] Spark Mail 3/5 · US Great Organization, Gotta Pay for Everything Else: This email app is great, especially the layout and organization. However, I hate the fact that you need to pay for yet another subscription to have the ability to block spam emails. For what it is, it's not cheap. The other painfully obvious flaw is the inability to add or create new folders. I think there's a way to do it, but it's buried in the
  25. [R34] Spark Mail 1/5 · US Too many AI features: Have been using Spark for many years and with all the new half-finished additional features that have been implemented the app became unusable and made me look elsewhere. The idea is good and it was the best email app available, but since they added all the features not needed in an email app like calendar and AI that does only partially work, the app became unusable. Also se
  26. [R43] Spark Mail 1/5 · US Not good: Too many “ai” features make it hard to use

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store