New senders wait on the porch.
A desktop mail client for the mailbox you already have. Anyone writing for the first time waits at the Gate until you decide where they belong. After that, their mail goes straight there.
Gmail · Outlook · Fastmail · any IMAP or JMAP
NewSeenHi Kai, a quick reminder for Thursday. Our engineer will arrive between 8am and noon. Please make sure there's clear access to the cupboard in the hallway.
If the slot no longer works, reply here and we'll find another before Monday.
Dana, Harbour Lettings
§01 · Your other appsYour phone sees it too, or nothing changes at all.
Every account starts read-only: Porch Mail writes nothing to your server, so your phone and every other mail app look exactly as they did.
Turn on mirroring and your decisions become folders on the server. Front stays in the Inbox; the Gate, Reader, Ledger and Blocked move out. Any mail app shows the same boxes, and what you've read is read everywhere.
The phone shows mirroring as if you chose to file your last 3 months too; otherwise only mail from then on moves. Servers with Sieve, like Fastmail, file new mail as it arrives, even with your computer off. On Gmail (where folders are labels) and Outlook the app files it within seconds, while it runs. Resurface stays in the app; the Reply Queue and Shelf go as keywords where the server takes them.
§02 · How the Gate worksDecide once per sender. Their mail knows where to go.
- 01 · Knock
A stranger writes. Their email waits at the Gate with hints: a receipt, a newsletter, a domain you've written to.
- 02 · Decide
One choice per sender. People you've already written to are let in for you.
- 03 · Settled
Never asked again. Blocked mail is hidden, not deleted, and can come back.
§03 · The keyboardYour whole mailbox fits under ten fingers.
Tap a key to see what it does. In the app, Ctrl K lists the rest.Press a key on your keyboard, or tap one below. Ctrl K lists the rest.
Focus Reply
Every thread in your Reply Queue on one page, oldest first, with a reply box under each. Send, skip or remove.
§04 · Your mailbox, your machineKeep your provider. There's no server of ours in between.
Trackers are removed and reported per email, and remote images load through a proxy only when you ask. To sync decisions between computers, Porch Mail writes to a hidden folder in your own mailbox. That folder isn't encrypted, so the option stays off until you turn it on. Every host the app contacts.
§05 · AgentsAgents can draft. Only you can send.
Give an assistant a token with read, draft or organise scope and connect it over MCP or the command line. Its drafts arrive badged in Drafts and Focus Reply. No token can send, change settings or make other tokens.
Draft ready. You decide whether it goes.
EditSend§06 · PricingPay once. It's yours.
No subscription and no account with us. Download the app and use all of it free for 7 days. If you keep it, buy a licence and paste the key into Settings → Licence. Without one, it still reads your mail; sending and mirroring pause.
- Linux and macOS, Windows soon
- Every feature, as many accounts as you like
- Gmail, Outlook, Fastmail and any IMAP or JMAP server
- Yours to keep, with a year of updates. Another year is $35, if you want it
- Fixes for Gmail or Outlook changes are free, renewed or not
- Runs on your computer. No server of ours, no subscription
- Free for 7 days, no card needed
- The key is checked offline: no activation, no check-ins
Let the right mail in.
Try it free for 7 days