The Mailplane alternative for Mac

For years, Mailplane was the way Mac users ran Gmail: a native window with all your Google accounts a click apart, no browser tabs, no Electron bloat. Then in 2021 it stopped selling licenses and shut down. If you're still searching for a proper Mailplane replacement, here's the short version: Smails is built for exactly your use case.

Why Mailplane shut down (and why Smails won't)

Mailplane signed you into Gmail using an old embedded browser. Google began blocking that style of sign-in for security reasons, and Mailplane couldn't keep up, so it wound down.

Smails avoids that trap entirely. It uses Google's current, normal web sign-in with an up-to-date engine, the same flow Google expects from a real browser. That's the difference between a tool that quietly dies and one that keeps working.

What you loved about Mailplane, back again

• All your Gmail accounts in one window. A thin sidebar of accounts, click (or ⌘1–9) to switch instantly. Each account keeps its own private, signed-in session.
• Native and light. Built with Swift and WebKit, not a bundled copy of Chrome. It starts fast and stays out of the way.
• The real Gmail. Labels, search, filters, chat, your settings. Nothing to relearn, nothing to sync.
• Links open in your browser. Click a link in an email and it opens in your default browser, not trapped inside the app.
• Default mail app. Make Smails your system mailto: handler; clicking an email link pops a quick account picker and a pre-filled Gmail compose.

Mailplane vs the usual suggestions