It’s Free – Microsoft Outlook’s Mobile App Has Arrived

Finally, a great mobile app that can read Gmail or Exchange mail on an iPhone or Android has arrived.

Microsoft has rebranded Acompli as Outlook for iPhone and Android, and it is fantastic for those of us who use Outlook and Exchange. This mobile version of Outlook is fast, letting me quickly access my folders, switch between accounts, and provides email previews in the Notification Center. I really like that you can very easily swipe to schedule an email to return to your inbox at the future time you set. The app makes it very easy to share available meeting times with recipients so they can simply choose one of the times when calendaring the meeting.

The concept of the Focused Inbox makes this app the best email I've ever used in a phone: Focused Inbox intelligently presorts your email so you can focus on what matters. It places your most important emails in "Focused" and the rest in "Other." Focused Inbox works across all your email accounts, personal and professional.

To create an inbox that feels right to you, the system takes into account emails and contacts with whom you interact, and filters out noisy sources like bulk email or that which is auto generated. The more you use it, the better it gets. You can reclassify emails between Focused and Other. Just open an email, then select "Move" from the drop-down menu, and move it to your chosen box.

I also like how well the Outlook app handles attachments. The native mail app for iPhone forces you to scroll, scroll, and scroll some more through the entire mail thread in order to find the attachments. Outlook app for iPhone conveniently displays the attachments right on top.

The way the mobile Outlook handles calendar requests and attachments, as well as its speed and ease of use, definitely makes it worth using over the iPhone's built in mail client (which is actually very good—but Outlook is better).

Download it for free in the Apple and Google App stores.

About Dyan James

Dyan has been researching, writing, copyediting, and proofreading articles across a variety of industries since 1998. She further developed her interest and talent for covering technology while working with the guys at DCG Technical Solutions, Inc. Whether writing from scratch, copyediting or simply polishing, Dyan has mastered the art of turning rough copy or a plain idea into an eloquently written piece.