WMail vs Apple Mail for Fastmail

Apple Mail is already on your iPhone and connects to Fastmail in a minute, so it's where most people start. It's a good mail but, but it only connects to Fastmail over IMAP. This means there is no way for Apple Mail to use features Fastmail is known for like Masked Email and Private Memos. WMail feels just at home as Apple Mail on iPhone because its designed speciifcally for iPhone whilst also being built for JMAP so you get the features you love from Fastmail in WMail.

	WMail	Apple Mail
Built natively for iPhone	Yes	Yes
Talks to Fastmail over	JMAP	IMAP
Masked Email	Yes	No
Replies keep the mask	Yes	No
Private memos	Yes	No
Send later	Held by Fastmail	On device
Undo send	Yes	Yes
Pause the inbox	Yes	No
Newsletter bundles	Pro	No
Templates with shortcuts	Pro	No
Gmail, iCloud and other accounts	No	Yes

What IMAP leaves out

IMAP was designed decades before Masked Email existed. When Apple Mail connects to Fastmail it sees folders and messages, but not the Fastmail features built on top of them:

Masked Email. There's no way to create a masked address from Apple Mail, or to browse, enable or block the ones you have. Replying from a masked address means setting it up by hand as an alias first.
Memos. The private notes you add to conversations in Fastmail don't appear in Apple Mail.
Send later. Apple Mail can schedule a message, but the Mail app does the scheduling rather than Fastmail. WMail hands scheduled mail to Fastmail's servers, so it goes out on time with your phone switched off and shows up in Fastmail's Scheduled folder on the web.

WMail talks to Fastmail over JMAP, the protocol Fastmail designed, so all of these work the same way they do on the web.

What stays the same

Switching doesn't mean giving up the things that make Apple Mail nice to use on iPhone. WMail is a native iPhone app too: it has dark mode and swipe actions, and Widgets, Control Centre actions and Quick Actions. Undo send, unsubscribe and blocking senders are all there.

What WMail adds

On top of the Fastmail features, WMail has tools Apple Mail and even Fastmail doesn't:

Pause the inbox outside the hours you choose, so evenings and weekends stay quiet. Stop spending hours checking your email.
Quick reply from under the conversation, with the email still in view. Start replying with context.
Newsletter bundles, which collect chosen senders into one bundle delivered at a time you pick. Stopping seeing new newsletters constantly hitting your inbox throughout the day.
Templates, which expand a shortcut into a saved reply. Insert Templates easily via shortcuts or from a list you can organise when replying or composing a new email.
Integrations with Things, Reminders, Bear and more. So you can quickly add an email as a task or a note. You can even include a link to the thread in WMail.

When Apple Mail is the better choice

Apple Mail handles almost any email account. Gmail, iCloud, Outlook and Fastmail side by side. WMail only works with Fastmail and other JMAP accounts, on purpose: everything it does well comes from JMAP. If your Fastmail account is one of several providers and you want a single inbox, Apple Mail is the better fit. However if you have multiple Fastmail accounts and want to keep Fastmail features plus have tons of power-user features on top, then WMail is perfect for you.

The short version

If Fastmail is your main email, WMail gives you the native feel of Apple Mail with the Fastmail features Apple Mail can't reach. It's free, and your mail stays on Fastmail, so you can try it alongside Apple Mail and keep whichever you prefer.