AquaMail Forum
English - Android => General Discussion => Topic started by: tsoilihoi on May 08, 2019, 06:39:43 pm
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I do believe that tech support is an important part of app development and continuity. And particularly for those who have paid for the premium product. Support is something that Kostya did so very well and its a model that Mobisystems should take seriously. I've made many attempts to contact and received only one reply to an email early on. The reply was off topic. Those concerns are documented on this forum. I believe that direct support in a knowledgable and timely manner is very important, and by persons who have a technical understanding of the program. I am hoping that Aquamail maintains its high rating. Much of it, I suspect is due in great part to Kostya's work and diligence. I'd like to resolve issues and move forward, rather than move on.
PB
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Well said. I do think we all got a little spoiled by Kostya's 'always here' presence. I believe Michael(?) the 'new' product manager(?) dropped in here twice in an attempt to calm us down, but he is not a regular presence. Nor is Nadia, who was here quite a bit when Kostya was, but now is rarely here.
So much for support folks. Like the OP, I'd like to move forward rather than moving on. But I'm ready to grab a life vest on the way out if necessary.
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So, I would ask... why did Mobisystems buy Aquamail? Kostya, re-directed me to them. So for whatever reason, he is out of it.
The next step will probably be a subscription rate. At anyrate, I noticed that certain forwarded email attachments and texts from
Outlook are not hanging in with the item. (Outlook is set for html) Every other client I've switched on does fine.
In addition, I've always wondered why permanently deleted emails show up like my sent emails with their labels stripped off.
(all mail, searching for has:nouserlabels) My sent Items are reveal as "me." The permanently deleted item reveal as their original name
but there is no label. Deleting from any of my win 10 clients, seems to handle a permanent delete differently.
Its a tech support issue that I would hope that they are willing to review.
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@ParisGeek there is also Newton. It is a high quality cloud based app that charges $50 per year. They too had to shut down because even at those subscription rates and 40000 paying customers their financial model was not viable with server costs, development costs, human resource costs etc. They were bought over by @essential the company owned by Andy Rubin the founder of Android and have relaunched. Let's hope they do better this time around.
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Doesn't make sense to buy something that is unprofitable. Has to be a motive. Maybe Google is behind this... Buying a rival out! Lol
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Mobisystems needs to quickly decide what it wants to do with AquaMail. By doing nothing it is almost ensuring a slow lingering death- would be really sad. They do not have recurring server costs so a nominal annual fee in return for a well maintained, privacy oriented, cutting edge app would perhaps be an option .
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It is nice to speculate. However, it is wrong for a company to offer support and not follow through. Even more so is a careless response where it is obvious that the person responding did not
read the email or has no idea how to answer. Also, its nice to discuss company politics and business models, but in the end I am writing this because the questions that I emailed them about... the same questions that I posted, remain unanswered. Most important to me is why some attachments forwarded from Outlook are not showing... when other common email clients are having no trouble with the documents. This is a matter of technicality and answered by experience, an understanding of the program and past history.
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Hi all,
Support, I can say it's far from vanished. Please make sure you write to the support email as priority is given to requests sent there.
The forum is more directed to users sharing experience between them and not least there is a vast database of issues and solutions that have been accumulated during the years which is very useful for everybody.
Before Kostya joined MobiSystems this forum has been the main channel for support and he has done a great job developing and giving a lot of attention to users here.
After the merger, the main support channel has been transferred to the support email where there are hundreds of queries per day which are being handled.
In case anyone's wondering I'm not from the product team, rather I'm from the Business Development Team and I'm responsible for the strategic development of Aqua Mail. By saying that I am interested to know what's your opinion and I appreciate your help and concerns so that we can keep Aqua Mail a top app.
The end goal is to keep our current users as well as making more features and functionality in Aqua Mail and being transparent as much as possible. For that, it is important that you share your opinion and proposals of your experience with Aqua Mail. This has helped Kostya to build a great app. I and the management team in MobiSystems have no intentions to stop this tradition. Some of you have been around for quite some time which is very valuable and I thank you for that.
I am trying to keep up with the threads in the forum and please feel free to message me in private. My sincere intention is to work together and I am far from the thought of building walls.
nadir husain- you are absolutely right. That being said, we are doing quite a lot in Aqua Mail but please do let me know what else do you want to see in the app. What do you think is missing? There will always be bugs to fix but many times it's also not Aqua Mail but the email service provider or some 3rd party service like Chrome that breaks. But I guess you are already aware of that.
tsoilihoi- your issue is already being reviewed but give some time for a reply. It might not be that simple to answer.
phred- I really want to move forward with you and all the others here. I know Kostya very well and I appreciate his effort for dedicating quite a lot of time to create this community and I think it's good to foster it and grow it.
Paris Geek- you are right too, that we try to find the best monetization model which is upgrades and serving ads only. It's a very tricky balance between revenue generation and user happiness. Money is important but they come together with building a good product. Also what, in your opinion, we need to do in Aqua Mail to become part of your winning list.
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Please consider adding ActiveSync in addition to or in stead of EWS - This should surely offer a surge in user base (profits). I miss AquaMail and having to use Gmail because of ActiveSync only
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@Michael there should be a lot more presence from the support team on this forum simply because experiences and issues and their solutions are shared rather than a one on one response on email where the benefits and ideas are restricted to one person and not shared with a community.
Also since last few months there have been no major updates ie since Kostya took a back seat nothing significant has happened. Can you tell us when we can expect a major update? Also do you really have the technical expertise to take this app forward? As I said before honesty will help you a lot. Thanks
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djart- I agree about ActiveSync but that will definitely increase the upgrade price.
nadir husain- I agree there hasn't been a major update but we are in a process of unpredicted restructuring. We are building a new plan and there will be new things and major updates but I cannot set a term on this at this point. We have the capacity to further developing the app. Giving opinions on what to prioritize on will help a lot.
Regarding support- we might think of a different approach so that more people have access to more solutions.
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"Regarding support- we might think of a different approach so that more people have access to more solutions."
@Michael lots of apps have active Twitter accounts. Maybe you can think along those lines, but I still prefer this forum because it is already established , mature and very interactive.
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"Regarding support- we might think of a different approach so that more people have access to more solutions."
@Michael lots of apps have active Twitter accounts. Maybe you can think along those lines, but I still prefer this forum because it is already established , mature and very interactive.
The forum rather than twitter: +1
Mainly because it offers the users a place to easily search for issues already resolved.
I understand the desire for support requests to be emailed but as someone in this thread stated, it then becomes one-on-one. If the issue were asked and resolved here on the forum, I would be able to see the resolution. If ten people were having the same issue, and those ten each sent an email to support, your support team will be doing multiple, redundant work. One post to the forum, one fix posted as a resolution, and the issue for ten people is resolved.
Doing it via email seems to be a waste of your resources.
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"The forum rather than twitter: +1
Mainly because it offers the users a place to easily search for issues already resolved."
@Phred +1000
You explained it better than I did !
Thanks
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"The forum rather than twitter: +1
Mainly because it offers the users a place to easily search for issues already resolved."
@Phred +1000
You explained it better than I did !
Thanks
It was your idea, Nadir. I simply expanded on it. Great minds think alike.
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@phred :)
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(..) so that we can keep Aqua Mail a top app.
At least the price for the AquaMail Pro key is top now: 20,99 €
You have beaten Nine Email this way :)
On the other side people don't buy as a result. Since the free version involves too much advertising, they now use other apps.
This can be observed in other forums and also in reddit
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It always amuses me how many people will pay up to 1000 pounds/euros/dollars for a phone, but complain that 20 is too much for an app which they will use several times a day!
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Most people read postings of did not complain. They just restrain from purchasing. Too much trouble, if the app is bad. They want the best app for themselves.
And if they know the free version with many ads, it's another reason to switch to another app.
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I'm noticing that on French Play Store the app is now priced 1.33 euros per month.
That's 18 dollars per year.
Do you see in the same in your countries?
Here in the US it's the same price today as it was yesterday 19.99USD.
Interesting (or not) that there's been no notice on the forum by Mobi that they're switching to a monthly/annual subscription. That's sure to kill off a lot of sales. I know if I was looking for a mail client (which for the time being I'm not) I wouldn't sign up.
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I sure hope that we who have paid the 'one time' charge for the unlocker will be grandfathered in. But somehow I doubt that will happen since Mobi doesn't appear to be that upfront about most things.
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This is exactly what bothers me the most about Mobisystems- how they do things- surreptitiously, in the dark, through the back door. If they want to charge more it is their right, heck its their app. They never announce, come out front with their strategy , take their customers into confidence. They certainly do not build confidence. Everything is done in a slide, slimy way. Really sad!
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@Phred I think the next time we (those who have paid the one time charge) reinstall the app( either on a new phone or even reinstalling on the same phone) we will be switched to the subscription model. Maybe they will even have a special app update which will force us to pay . Who knows!
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I won't pay a yearly charge ever.
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Looking at Nine at the moment.
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Looking at Nine at the moment.
Yes, good idea. Consider also Spark. I have tested both.
Why not Gmail?
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Looking at Nine at the moment.
Yes, good idea. Consider also Spark. I have tested both.
Spark is cloud based or not?
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Looking at Nine at the moment.
Yes, good idea. Consider also Spark. I have tested both.
Spark is cloud based or not?
Yes, cloud based. I'm finding many good features within Spark (among others: very powerful server search, snooze messages, smart inbox, unified trash).
Among those email apps I have used recently, only k-9, Nine and Aquamail are not cloud based.
Sure, that's why I'm using Nine, since AM decided not to implement Activesync.
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"Good question. Short answer: use Gmail."
@parisgeek great analysis by you. For me I have following issues on Gmail
1. Gmail only provides push notifications for Gmail accounts. Others are periodic sync. I need push for imap account.
2. Even push notifications for Gmail accounts are often delayed because of doze mode on Samsung phones with Android 8 and 9. This is very commonly expressed on various forums including reddit . I am experiencing same issue.
I have tried Spark but it is still very new on Android and lacks a lot of features compared to its iOS counterpart. Among free cloud based emails I prefer Edison. But that is a personal choice.
Best wishes
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Guys, calm down a bit and easy on the accusations. First, let me remind you all of these claims that we have to inform you before we do anything is not possible. What we can do is discuss afterward some topics that are of interest but we cannot post everything so that all of our competitors should know what we are doing. And believe me, they are looking.
I appreciate that all of you are interested in how Aqua Mail will be developed and you are excited about the app. This makes me and our team very happy but we can find a better way of asking and giving information.
Regarding subscriptions. Some of you even suggested that we should have an annual fee in order to keep developing our product and being profitable. Being profitable guarantees that we will remain independent from big corporations.
We kept the one time Pro key, but because it's one time and not subscription it's on a higher price which is very logical.
If you already have paid one time and have a working license you'll keep having it forever, regardless that we will have to pay wages to developers to keep delivering updates to you. So for the price of only 1-2 coffees, some of you have it for even less you will have a working product till the end of the eternity of time. Try going to your local coffee shop and claim that you'll pay $5 and you'll be there every day to get your coffee for free for as long as you decide. I guess this is a great deal, isn't it? Let's drop this topic once and for all because it's getting old explaining the same thing over and over again.
Stop speculating that we will lie and squeeze out anybody's money in a "sneaky" way as some of you implied. This is fake news and speculations.
My opinion about Spark- yes they can be popular in iOS but for Android, they have a long way to go and look at their price and then start accusing MobiSystems of being here only for the money. They charge $75 per user per year, so at least be honest of your comparisons before you claim any speculations or how Aqua Mail is too expensive and everyone else is "for free". Rember the old saying "There's no free lunch", right?
Again thank you @parisgeek for the elaborate analysis, much appreciated.
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@Michael thanks for that response. We need someone from Mobisystems to be regular on this forum to keep it alive.
Spark is free for individuals.
Those apps that charge an annual fee have server costs , frequent updates and read receipts ( newton, missive).
I had suggested Aquamail to charge a nominal annual fee but had requested a few things in return - guarantee of privacy ( not quietly slipping in analytics or anything similar) . Regular feature updates keeping Aquamail on the leading edge. ( There have been no significant updates in over a year). My point was any money you charge has to be justified not randomly decided.
In the end I would like to say I feel better about Mobisystems- since you came on board with your candid and sincere responses. Let's see what the future holds!
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@nadir husain, thank you for sharing this. Aqua Mail needs analytics and we have given the option to users to opt-out. This is very standard and is very plain and straight forward. Nothing is being "slipped-in" as it would be first of all illegal.
Think of the monthly running costs for the developers and the whole other people involved in making Aqua Mail run. I know they aren't servers but it's a running cost too. Automation hasn't evolved that much to replace them yet so that we can have a running cost for a machine but not having a running cost for a person ;)
Features are coming and being introduced all the time. There are a lot of things being done in the background related to the OS and the neverending restrictions with the newer Android versions that we need to keep up with and preserve the functionality of the app.
Remember that Aqua Mail has more than 300 different features and settings. I really can't think of any other email client to have that many.
For a major feature, I've seen a lot of requests for ActiveSync or PGP encryption. What do you guys think, any other alternatives?
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@Michael is there any way you can implement snooze? I know Kostya had at some point said that it would be difficult for a non cloud based app but , even though I have not really tested it, I know FairEmail has this feature and it is not a cloud based app.
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I know about this request but at this moment I cannot promise anything about this feature. Also Kostya's remark about the complex development puts a lot of questions. Even if we develop a workaround we have no guarantee that some of the next Android versions won't enforce new restrictions that would make our work worthless and we would have lost a lot of time. It's a gamble of investing resources and how long it would be working.
The biggest challenge is that for the past few years Google has been pushing more and more for apps to move to cloud-based technology. This is not saying that we will stop trying but makes decisions not so easy to make for some features whether to make them or not.
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The question was about a snoozing feature.
Your answer:
we have no guarantee that some of the next Android versions won't enforce new restrictions that would make our work worthless and we would have lost a lot of time. It's a gamble of investing resources and how long it would be working.
This is the risk of every app development.
Your answer sounds like there will not be any significant development for AquaMail app in future.
This is what users are concerned of. But it seems that you are confirming?
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@justin
"Your answer sounds like there will not be any significant development for AquaMail app in future.
This is what users are concerned of. But it seems that you are confirming?"
Very valid point. I guess we just have to wait and see what happens from here on out. At least @Michael has assured us we wont be paying anything extra if we are already using the Pro version.
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For a major feature, I've seen a lot of requests for ActiveSync or PGP encryption. What do you guys think, any other alternatives?
I will happily PAY AGAIN if ActiveSync was available. I will also encourage several other colleagues in my organisation (NHS - UK) to use AquaMail.
I am grateful that you are paying attention to this forum
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I haven't said that there won't be major features coming. I was referring to cloud based features being introduced to Aqua Mail through workarounds.
@drjat thank you for the heads up.