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I've seen people manage no fewer than 12 email addresses daily. If you're anywhere close to that, the default email clients like Gmail or Outlook offer little help to manage them efficiently.
Premium email clients like Shortwave promise to help you achieve Inbox Zero with AI-powered bundles, smart filters, and inbox splits. I've been testing the free version for a few weeks now, and while it doesn't do everything, it's certainly changed how I deal with my Gmail. That's the one catch: it only works with Google accounts for now.
What's Shortwave? An AI-first email client built for Gmail
Shortwave is a premium email client designed around artificial intelligence. While Gmail comes with Gemini tacked on, Shortwave builds everything from the ground up with AI at the center. It works with Gmail and Google Workspace accounts, available on web, iOS, Android, and as a desktop app.
Shortwave can organize your all-over-the-place inbox automatically. When prompted, it can bundle newsletters, receipts, travel confirmations, and social notifications into collapsible groups. You can also archive an entire bundle with one click instead of selecting emails one by one.
Shortwave also has an AI assistant that can summarize email threads, draft replies in your writing style, and answer questions about your inbox. Think of it as having Gemini built directly into your email client, except it's trained specifically for email workflows.
Shortwave makes it easy to manage emails The setup is quick, and the AI assistant feels genuinely useful
You can sign up with your Google account and add more if you have multiple Gmail addresses. During the setup, you choose an inbox layout: single inbox, "important + other," or classic Gmail-style tabs. I went with "important + other" since it separates the stuff that needs my attention from everything else.
Right after onboarding, Shortwave asks if you want its AI to organize your inbox. I let it run, and the assistant walked me through marking emails as done, unsubscribing from newsletters I never read, and starring important messages. I also went ahead and marked a few emails as unimportant to remove them from the Important folder. To clean up your email further, type "Organize my emails", and its AI assistant will scan your inbox for low-quality emails that you can mark as done.
The feature that I liked the most is turning emails into to-dos. Press T on any email, and Shortwave uses AI to create a one-line task summary linked to that thread. These tasks live in a dedicated to-do list until you mark them done. It's a simple workflow, but it means important emails don't get buried under the tons of newsletters and notifications I receive every day.
The AI search is another standout feature. Instead of trying to remember the exact subject line or sender, you can type something like "Find all my upcoming 1:1 meetings" and get relevant results with a summary. Shortwave also suggests quick replies and can write first drafts for you. When someone sends a meeting request, you can tell the AI to "decline" or "accept and ask for an agenda," and it generates appropriate responses.
Shortwave is big on keyboard shortcuts. You can press T to add an email to To-do, D to delete an email, and so on. It also offers an easy way to bundle similar newsletters, collapse them into one group and deal with them when you have time. Similarly, you can snooze an important email and receive a reminder when you are ready to read it.
What you need to know Gmail-only support, premium pricing, and AI privacy trade-offs
Shortwave currently only supports Gmail and Google Workspace accounts. If you use Outlook, iCloud Mail, or work with multiple email providers, this won't fit your workflow. If you do, alternatives like Superhuman might be worth considering.
The free tier is generous for getting started. You get access to the AI assistant, bundling, and core productivity features. However, the AI only searches through your last three months of email history and doesn't fully adapt to your writing style. For deeper AI personalization and longer search history, you'll need a paid plan.
The subscription costs $18 per month, or $14 per month if you pay annually. That's steep compared to free email clients, but it's cheaper than Superhuman's $30 per month. Still, this is the price you pay for AI-powered features, which is becoming the norm for premium productivity tools.
One thing worth knowing is that when AI features are enabled, Shortwave sends your email content to OpenAI for processing. The company claims this data is encrypted and not used for training, but if you're privacy-conscious, that's an extra data processor in the loop. For sensitive work emails or financial communications, you might want to stick to conventional email clients.
Shortwave is worth trying if Gmail is your primary inbox
If you're drowning in emails, Shortwave can be a useful tool. It groups newsletters and receipts on its own, turns emails into tasks so you don't forget the important ones, and search always finds what you're looking for.
But it only makes sense if you'll use the AI stuff. If you just want Gmail to look cleaner, Spark Mail is free and does that. If you're fine paying and can live with Gmail-only, Shortwave does what it says, which is making email less of a headache.
