Apps like Superhuman and Mimestream have tried to get users to go inbox zero on the desktop. Now it’s called a new app With for mobile devices, initially available on iOS, aims to take you to your inbox using Tinder-style swipe cards and voice responses.
By default, swiping left adds the email to a pile that you can address later, and swiping right adds it to the done (or archived) pile.
The “stack” of email cards also has a button at the bottom that lets you hold it down to reply to emails using your voice. When you release the button after speaking, the transcript will appear as a draft. You can check the transcript for errors, make the necessary changes, and then send the email.
Avec said that while apps like Wispr Flow, Willow and Monologue exist, they are limited by Apple’s APIs and users must install them as a separate keyboard app to work. Meanwhile, Avec has the full context of your email so it can understand names and apply better changes based on the tone of the email. Because of this context, the email app can also understand your personal email style, the company said.
When managing your inbox, Avec lets you mark unimportant emails by swiping down. Email will learn from what’s been placed in the junk pile and can show it to you in a group instead of forcing you to sift through those emails one by one.
While the card-based interface is Avec’s unique feature, it also offers a plain old list-based view.
The app was founded by Jonathan Unikowskiwho previously worked at Replit as a product engineer. Unikowski said he thought about building tools he would use every day. He explored ideas like building a browser, but eventually settled on email.
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“It’s this thing that hasn’t changed in 25 years,” Unikowski told TechCrunch after a call. He said that Gmail was the last big change in email that had long-term effects on how email is managed. “It’s a big part of everyone’s life, no matter how much they hate it. And it seemed very clear to me that through a combination of very good design and, of course, judicious use of these new AI tools, we could do much better.”
Avec is not alone in this thought process. In addition to Superhuman, apps like Shortwave and Spike have tried different approaches to email presentation. For the past decade, Basecamp’s Hey has tried to “reinvent” email by becoming a new provider, but as a paid service, it hasn’t reached the same scale as Gmail.
When I asked Unikowski about choosing mobile vs. desktop as the first place to launch an email client, he said that platform limitations can force creativity, and the phone is usually where people look at their email.
“I’m a really big believer in this idea that limitations force creativity, and so you get away with a lot less in an iOS app. On phones, you have a very small screen [as compared to the desktop]. You don’t have a physical keyboard. So if you’re going to get someone to install a new app, it has to be really good. And for it to be really good, you have to be extremely inventive,” he said.
The app is currently available in the US and is free for Gmail users to use. Support for Outlook is in the works. Unikowski said the company plans to introduce paid tiers at some point, but is still mulling what features to include in that premium offering.
The company has raised $8.4 million in funding to date from investors including Lightspeed and Haystack, with participation from the likes of Replit CEO Amjad Masad, Replit’s head of AI Michele Catasta, Behance co-founder Scott Belsky and Lenny Rachitsky.
