Outlook for iOS and Android Review

Our Verdict

Outlook for iOS and Android is an intuitive mail app that makes it like shooting fish in a barrel to share files and organize your inbox.

For

Works with most major mail services
Rich cloud storage integration
Handy quick controls for meetings and attachments

Confronting

Swipe functionality could be amend

Tom'southward Guide Verdict

Outlook for iOS and Android is an intuitive mail app that makes it easy to share files and organize your inbox.

Pros

+
Works with almost major mail services
+
Rich cloud storage integration
+
Handy quick controls for meetings and attachments

Cons

-
Swipe functionality could be ameliorate

Even if you lot're obsessive about checking email on your phone, there'southward a good chance you exercise little more than read and chop-chop respond to messages on the go. Microsoft's new dedicated Outlook app for iOS and Android aims to change that.

Based on the framework of Acompli, an all-inclusive email app recently caused past Microsoft, the mobile version of Outlook is designed to put your well-nigh important messages front and center, with useful quick controls that permit y'all organize your inbox and respond to invites with a few taps.

Sporting a user-friendly interface and deep integration with cloud storage services like Dropbox and iCloud, you just might detect information technology worthwhile to ditch your phone's default post app for the all-new Outlook.

Setup

Once yous download Outlook mobile, all you need to do is log in to any of the app's supported email services: Substitution, Outlook.com, Gmail, iCloud or Yahoo Post. If you lot want your cloud storage synced with the app, you can too log in to your Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, Google Drive and iCloud accounts.

Once I logged in to my Gmail account (I was able to add others afterward via the Settings card), I was taken direct to my inbox after just a few seconds of syncing.

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Interface

Like its desktop counterpart, Outlook mobile sports a clean, minimal, white interface with blue highlights. The app comes optimized for both iOS and Android, so Apple users will run into iOS-style control icons and a white inbox header reminiscent of Apple'due south Mail app, while Android users will see a big, blue Gmail-style header with Android icons.

Equally with many mail apps, smartphone users can see only a list of recent emails, while tablet users tin can run into a preview of any highlighted email on the right side of the screen. Regardless of the platform, tapping the top left of your inbox lets y'all rapidly switch accounts, besides as jump between folders such every bit Sent, Trash, Drafts, Outbox and Spam.

What sets Outlook apart from other mobile email apps are the Focused and Other tabs. The Focused tab is designed to put your about important emails front and middle. I'thousand not sure exactly what makes an email qualified for the Focused tab, but when comparing my Focused Gmail feed with the all-inclusive one on my desktop, I noticed that emails labeled as loftier-priority and those from contacts I speak to ofttimes were the ones that made information technology through.

You can dig deeper on either tab using the Quick Filter icon on the right of the screen, which lets y'all zero in on emails that are unread, flagged or accept attachments.

Composing, answering and organizing emails

Composing email in Outlook mobile works as it does in any other mail app, though there are handy icons for attachments, location sharing and calendar that announced on the bottom correct of the screen equally soon as you start a new message. The latter icon lets yous send a contact all of your available meeting times for a given solar day, every bit well every bit quickly create an appointment.

Outlook mobile besides makes it easy to keep your inbox organized. By default, swiping right on an electronic mail will archive information technology, while swiping left will allow you schedule information technology to reappear in your inbox at a subsequently time. You tin customize what each swipe does, if you lot prefer to be able to delete a message, motion information technology, flag it or marker it as read/unread with a quick finger stroke.

While Outlook'due south swipe controls are handy, I found that the "Flag, Trash and More" trio of options that appears when you swipe left in Apple Mail provides access to more than functions with less work.

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Complementing Outlook'southward swipe controls is a quick RSVP role, which helps you lot save some time when responding to invites. Any email that has an appointment invite attached will brandish a pocket-sized RSVP icon in the thumbnail — once you tap the icon, you can accept, turn down or say "perchance" to the invite, without having to open the bulletin.

I of Outlook mobile's biggest strengths is how seamlessly it syncs with your cloud storage services. You lot can log in to your OneDrive, Google Bulldoze, Dropbox, Box and iCloud accounts, and in one case y'all practice, you can view a list of all of your contempo files available on each business relationship.

The app'south Files tab also supports a Quick Filter feature, which lets you search specifically for any recent slideshows, images or documents stored on any of your cloud accounts.

In addition to making information technology supereasy to send attachments, Outlook'due south cloud storage capabilities allow you to salve your cloud-based files, send them in a text message or share them to social media. This functionality elevates Outlook from a mere electronic mail app to a ane-terminate shop for accessing and sharing nigh anything you accept stored in the cloud.

Outlook'south calendar functionality is pretty standard; you can view the entire month at a glance or focus on a specific calendar week, with your appointments appearing at the lesser of the screen for any highlighted day. After making a few appointments on my Gmail agenda using the app, I noticed that the meetings were immediately synced to my account on my desktop.

The app's People tab pulls in contacts from all of your continued email accounts. Contacts are sorted by how recently you've contacted them, and you can quickly email any contact on your list right from the People tab.

Bottom Line

Outlook for iOS and Android has a somewhat misleading name, as this app does much more than than just connect y'all to Microsoft's own electronic mail service. This new mobile take on Outlook is a clean, easy-to-use hub for all of your email accounts, and the app'south rich deject storage integration and quick-response features make it supereasy to share files or respond to meeting invites on the go.

Whether you're looking for a more than robust version of the default iOS post app or yous're an Android user who needs more but Gmail, Outlook is well worth a free download.

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Mike Andronico is an Acquaintance Editor at Tom's Guide. Follow Mike @MikeAndronico and on Google+. Follow u.s.a. @TomsGuide, on Facebook and on Google+.

Mike Andronico is Senior Writer at CNNUnderscored and was formerly Managing Editor at Tom'southward Guide. When not at work, yous tin can ordinarily catch him playing Street Fighter, devouring Twitch streams and trying to convince people that Hawkeye is the best Avenger.