Taming Email Overload: Avec Makes iPhone Email Triage Nearly Enjoyable

My first effort at making it simpler to get via my e-mail day-after-day with the assistance of AI was not profitable, as you learn in “Taming Email Overload: Google’s CC Daily Briefing Agent” (29 May 2026). Google’s CC failed on two counts: its lack of accuracy and the truth that I nonetheless needed to learn and course of all of the messages it summarized for me.

What I wanted was an e-mail app that will let me shortly get rid of messages that didn’t require a response or follow-up, and maintain those who did require some interplay round for later. That’s one of many foremost thrusts behind the AI-powered Avec, which exists solely on the iPhone for now, although a desktop model is within the works. It additionally works solely with Gmail, though integration with iCloud, Outlook, and normal IMAP can be promised. I’ve been utilizing it for a couple of weeks now, and I’m fairly liking it as a option to triage my e-mail shortly with out getting sucked in.

Swipe Right on Your Inbox

As a card-carrying married individual, I’ve by no means seen, a lot much less used, the Tinder relationship app, however my understanding of its mechanics is that it presents the profile of one other individual on the service. Swiping proper signifies that you just’re ; swiping left is a cross. If each individuals swipe proper on one another, they will message.

Without editorializing about Tinder, its interplay mannequin has two attention-grabbing facets: you give attention to a single merchandise at a time and make a simple binary choice. It’s fast and requires little thought—you’re making snap judgments. (I initially deliberate to reference Hot or Not, which I additionally by no means used, however apparently it integrated a score system as a substitute of the easy binary alternative implied by the identify.) Avec’s key perception is that this strategy can work nicely for e-mail triage, significantly on the iPhone’s small display.

When I get up within the morning, one of many issues I love to do is learn my e-mail on the iPhone in mattress after Tonya has gotten as much as do Pilates or drink espresso or no matter. I’ve to learn all my e-mail in some unspecified time in the future, and I discover it a great way to ease into the day. Because I’m utilizing the iPhone, all I can actually do is learn—I seldom reply to messages as a result of typing precisely is so arduous and dictation usually requires an excessive amount of modifying. Plus, I’m usually nonetheless somewhat fuzzy and shouldn’t be replying to vital issues till I’m totally awake.

As a end result, I’ve lengthy employed a Tinder-like strategy in no matter e-mail app I’m presently utilizing on the iPhone, which was Gmail for a very long time and most just lately a check model of Mimestream to match what I take advantage of on the Mac (see “Why I Use Mimestream for Gmail,” 24 May 2023). I learn every message so as and mark as unread those who I wish to return to once I’m “at work” on my Mac. In essence, I’m triaging my inbox so I can deal solely with vital messages as soon as I’m at my desk. I may also use it to make amends for e-mail throughout bizarre little bits of downtime, reminiscent of a quick wait within the dentist’s workplace.

This strategy works, however isn’t all the time fluid. Marking a message as unread within the Gmail app requires a button faucet however takes you again to the message record, the place it’s important to choose one other message, so two faucets. In Mimestream, marking as unread and shifting on to the following message requires three faucets: tapping a ••• button to open a menu, tapping Mark as Unread, after which tapping a down-pointing arrow that takes you to the following message. Neither is tough, however each are somewhat clunky.

Quick Email Triage

With Avec, you’re offered with both a stack or a listing of your vital messages (extra on what “important” means shortly), and you may simply swap between them. The stack greatest mimics the Tinder strategy by displaying you a single message at a time; the record is healthier if you wish to choose and select which messages to course of.

By “process,” I imply swipe left or proper. In stack view, you may base that call on the roughly half-screen preview; in record view, you get 4 strains of sender, topic, and abstract, plus an avatar icon and timestamp. Either approach, nevertheless, a easy swipe left saves the message for later; swiping proper marks it as accomplished so Avec gained’t present it once more. Saving for later depends on a Gmail “Handle Later” label, however crucially, it preserves the unread state—so I can nonetheless see these messages in Mimestream on my Mac. In distinction, marking a message as accomplished additionally marks it as learn, and Avec is wise about not displaying you messages that you just’ve marked as learn already in one other app.

In reality, Avec found out by itself throughout setup that I take advantage of Unread/Read to point {that a} message ought to be saved for later or marked as accomplished. It performs this verify if you begin, and if it determines that you just archive messages if you’re accomplished with them, it should use that because the default as a substitute. If it guesses incorrect, or in the event you change your thoughts about the way it ought to work, you may select totally different actions in Avec’s settings.

Avec’s interface is buttery easy, and the illustration above solely hints on the care that’s gone into the presentation. As you begin to swipe, what you’re swiping will get both a grey or inexperienced background (proper two screenshots above), and as you proceed, the textual content is changed with a Later or Done label (left two screenshots above). When you mark a message as accomplished, a quick popover on the prime of the display helps you to undo that motion. You can’t undo saving a message for later, however an analogous popover helps you to add a due date (extra on that later, too).

What if you have to see extra of the message earlier than making your choice? In stack view, the message is reside; you may scroll within the half-screen preview space to see extra earlier than appearing on it. If that isn’t sufficient—or in the event you’re in record view—faucet a message to open it full-screen and skim it totally earlier than deciding.

Before I get into the primary belongings you wish to do with a message apart from triaging, a couple of notes on the preview and message views above:

• Later and Done buttons: Notice the specific Later and Done buttons in each the preview and message views. Why have these along with the swipe interface? To an extent, it’s discoverability since it’s important to be instructed in regards to the swiping, whereas the buttons are apparent. But the opposite motive is that some e-mail messages do wacky issues of their HTML to seize faucets and stop swiping. Every so usually, I discover myself unable to swipe a message and should resort to the buttons.
• Contextual Reply buttons: In the stack’s preview, you’ll typically see an enormous blue Reply button and different instances not; a smaller Reply button all the time seems in message view. I imagine Avec is attempting to be good and show the preview’s Reply button solely when it is sensible. Since Seth Godin’s weblog messages are meant for one-way distribution, their previews don’t get a Reply button.
• Trash and Undo buttons: In the preview, you see a Trash button and an Undo button on both facet of the Later and Done buttons. The Trash button does what you anticipate. Undo is there as a result of swiping proper to mark as accomplished within the preview doesn’t show the identical Undo popover as if you’re in a message.

Working with Messages

For essentially the most half, all I do with Avec is triage my e-mail so there’s much less to cope with on my Mac. But it’s a full-fledged e-mail app with some attention-grabbing options:

• Voice replies: Tapping a blue Reply button opens an ordinary compose window the place you may kind your reply. However, in the event you press and maintain a type of Reply buttons, you may dictate a response {that a} speech-to-text mannequin will flip into a fairly written reply. I’ve accomplished this just a few instances, however every time I’ve been pleasantly shocked by how nicely the replies turned out. You can add directions about replies, which I needed to do to get it to insert my normal “cheers… -Adam” sign-off with out a line break within the center. Voice composition can be accessible for brand new messages. Processing is finished by Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, or OpenAI, and Avec says suppliers gained’t prepare in your information.
• Ask questions on messages: When you faucet the AI-powered Ask button, Avec gives a couple of canned choices (a foolish one on the prime, discover associated emails, and get the important thing factors), or you may press and maintain to ask any query. I haven’t been capable of give you causes to make use of this personally, but it surely appears to work as promised.
  
• AI-powered search: When you faucet the magnifying glass search button within the toolbar on the backside of the display, you may both kind search phrases or press and maintain to do a voice search. Avec interprets your textual content to good search phrases and presents the outcomes. I discovered it fairly efficient as a result of I lack the persistence to kind a protracted search phrase on the iPhone. You can refine your search by way of textual content or voice if you want, and in a characteristic I hadn’t beforehand seen, Avec despatched me an e-mail with a “better answer” that was certainly extra informative. Presumably, the builders are strolling a advantageous line between fast responses and being complete.

More AI-powered Message Collections

I discussed briefly that Avec’s stack and record views show “important” messages. It determines these utilizing some heuristic, presumably pushed by an AI backend. Messages that don’t clear the bar present up in a Low-importance assortment that seems solely after you’ve dealt with every little thing within the Important assortment. It’s fairly correct, and if it makes a mistake, it’s simple to swap the vital/low-importance designations to retrain the system.

Low-importance Messages

Avec remains to be determining find out how to deal with low-importance messages. It needs you to mark all of them as accomplished without delay—a right-swipe on the group or a faucet on the Done button. That doesn’t work for me; simply because a message isn’t vital doesn’t imply I don’t wish to learn greater than its sender and topic. To handle that, Avec added a Break Out button that turns the group into particular person messages that you just work together with within the stack view metaphor. Or you may faucet Switch to List to see them in a listing view—it’s all a bit muddled. When you’re viewing a person message, the Unsubscribe and Block buttons allow you to make sure you gained’t see extra from that record or sender.

Dealing with Your Backlog

Once you clear your low-importance messages, there’s one other doubtless assortment: your backlog. These are a lot older, unread messages within the inbox, and Avec will cheerfully make it easier to course of them. It’s a pleasant thought, however each time I begin, I get scared that I’ll lose the unread standing on messages that I nonetheless must do one thing with. Perhaps I by no means will, but when I lose that unread marker, I definitely gained’t ever discover them once more. The course of entails checking for vital messages, skimming the remainder in teams, and marking every little thing as learn.

The drawback is that skimming the teams doesn’t use the acquainted swipe interface however as a substitute requires tapping to load a message (so you may see what’s in it), then tapping both the again button or the Save for Later button, and manually opening one other message. You may also faucet a button subsequent to every message to reserve it for later.

It’s inexplicable to me why Avec would swap from its fast, fluid swipe interface to a tedious back-and-forth when you might have lots of of messages to get via. I’ve practically 800 (don’t decide), and whereas I might undoubtedly winnow that considerably, it’s not going to occur if I’ve to have a look at all of the questionable messages on this style. Plus, the present categorization isn’t helpful, significantly when most of my messages seem in Other or Older Than 8 Months.

I’d want to see Avec let me sort out the backlog in 20-message batches, optionally beginning with the oldest first. If I got the choice to clear a handful of messages on the finish of every session, beginning with the oldest and best to get rid of, I’d truly make a dent in that backlog with out dropping the messages I ought to nonetheless cope with.

Messages Marked for Later

Avec’s normal movement has you coping with vital, low-importance, and backlog messages. But what about all these messages you swiped left to deal with later? Those seem in a particular Later assortment, accessible from the clock button within the toolbar. Sections break messages into Overdue, Today, This Week, and Later—the dates are both guessed by Avec primarily based on message content material or specified by you if you marked the message for later. Tapping one opens it for additional processing, similar to from the stack or record views, and you may swipe left or proper on a message within the record or whereas viewing a message.

Even More Message Collections

Additional collections can be found from the up/down arrow icon subsequent to the clock icon within the toolbar. Tapping that permits you to select from 4 normal Gmail collections—All Mail, Starred, Drafts, and Sent—plus three Avec collections—Awaiting a Reply, Needs Your Reply, and Backlog. Avec does a fairly good job of figuring out conversations which might be awaiting a reply, both from you or another person. Within a type of two collections, you may dismiss it from the record or view the message and reply.

I haven’t used the Later and Reply collections a lot as a result of Avec is presently iPhone-only. While I take advantage of my iPhone closely, it’s not the place I do vital work as a result of it’s arduous to focus whereas utilizing it, and I don’t have fast entry to the identical sources I’ve on the Mac. By definition, every little thing that leads to these collections is considerably vital and subsequently must be handled on the Mac.

Right now, which means Avec has to keep up the learn/unread state of the messages I work together with in Mimestream on my Mac. It does that nicely, apart from the specter of marking every little thing in my backlog as learn, so I’ve had little bother switching forwards and backwards between Avec on the iPhone and Mimestream on the Mac. Nonetheless, I’m wanting ahead to the desktop model of Avec, which the builders say they’re utilizing now and anticipate to start out displaying off in early August.

Avec is free, and the builders say they plan to maintain the present characteristic set accessible at no cost whereas including paid options sooner or later. If you’re searching for an attention-grabbing iPhone e-mail app that helps you velocity via your morning e-mail, give it a strive. That mentioned, Avec wants entry to the complete content material of your e-mail to ship its options; though the corporate’s privacy policy says all the correct issues, if that stage of entry issues you, Avec isn’t for you.