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One of the main features of macOS Venture and iOS 16 was a few badly needed Improvements to the Apple Mail app. The app has long been criticized for some serious upgrades as being stagnant and too late; I have even argued in the past that Apple developed Mail.app Pro and renamed the existing app Mail.app Lite to keep the needs of business users separate from professional users. With Apple’s fall promotions, scheduled dispatch finally Built into the Mail app for macOS and iOS, but with a caveat that IT admins will appreciate. Read on to learn more about scheduling email sending in iOS 16 and macOS Ventura.
About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT network from 2009 to 2021. With his experience in deploying and managing firewalls, switches, mobile device management system, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, 100 Macs, and 100 iPads, Bradley will shine Highlighting the ways Apple CIOs can deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, stories from IT management moats, and ways Apple can improve its products for IT departments.
Scheduled sending in Gmail, Outlook, Spark, Spike, etc.
Scheduled transmission is Not A New Concept of Email Apps – It’s a pretty standard feature today, and even Gmail has included it in its web app. macOS and iOS email apps like Spike and Spark have offered it as a built-in feature for many years. Apple was one of the last objectors to not offering scheduled transmission as a built-in feature.
If you’re always stuck with Apple’s email apps to manage your inbox, you might be wondering: Why would I want to delay sending an email for later? I personally use it all the time. Here are some of the situations I use it in.
Send emails during normal business hours
I usually spend Sunday evenings getting ready for the work week, but I don’t expect anyone else I work with to do that. If I send action or meeting emails about next week, I’ll write them on Sunday but schedule to ship them on Monday morning. This way, I don’t disturb their family time.
Send follow-up emails
This example can backfire if used incorrectly, but if you’re organized – it works. Let’s say I send someone an email asking them something. I often schedule a follow-up email a week later. By doing this, I am automating the follow-up process. If they respond sooner, I will delete the planned follow-up.
Schedule time-focused emails in advance
Let’s say you want to remind your team to turn in their expense reports on the last day of the month. You can write this email at any time, but you can send it at the appropriate time. It’s a way to check something off your to-do list so you can move on to other things but have it delivered at a time of your choosing.
How Apple implemented scheduled email sending in iOS 16 and macOS Ventura
Apple includes a dispatch schedule as part of its fall releases, but it works differently than other platforms. With other apps, your email will be kept on their servers until the time you choose; The benefit of this setting is to send email regardless of whether your devices are online at the time. However, some users (and IT professionals) do not like this integration because it adds another medium for their email delivery. Email app companies integrate into the Gmail API similar to what Mail.app does, but they go a step further. Of course, you’ll want to use a company you trust, have read the privacy policy, etc. Most of the popular email providers are from great companies and have great people that you can trust.
On the other hand, Apple is coming out with a different dispatch schedule. The email is kept locally on the device. If you schedule an email to be sent from Mail.app on macOS Ventura on a Friday afternoon, but your laptop isn’t online at that time, it won’t be sent until it’s online again. Depending on your use case, this could be a great issue or feature. Scheduled emails on macOS Venture and iOS 16 don’t sync with other devices, so if you schedule an email on your Mac, you won’t see it on iOS. It is kept really locally on the device. If Power Nap is enabled, I can confirm that scheduled emails in macOS Ventura will be sent while the Mac is sleeping.
Wrap up on sending a scheduled email in iOS 16 and macOS Ventura
Apple’s way of sending scheduled email on iOS 16, and macOS Ventura will please security professionals as it limits where email is stored. However, it can cause problems for end users if they expect it to work as other applications do.
On the other hand, Apple syncs active internet accounts via iCloud from Mac to Mac, and I would like to see them extend this feature to iOS. If so, could there be a way to sync from device to device in a way that keeps everything local – maybe it can only sync over the same Wi-Fi? Either way, it’s great to see Apple adding some new features to its default mail apps.
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