Is there a Gmail app for Mac?
Not an official one. Google makes Gmail apps for iPhone and Android, but not for the Mac. On a Mac there are four ways to run Gmail: a browser tab, a mail app that connects over IMAP, an app that wraps the Gmail website, and a native client built on Google’s Gmail API. Hark is the last kind, with Google Calendar and Google Tasks in the same window.
The four ways to run Gmail on a Mac
Each keeps something and gives something up; which suits you depends on which loss you would notice every day.
A browser tab
Complete, free and always current: Gmail on the web is the reference, every feature arrives there the day Google ships it, and add-ons, Chat and Meet sit in its side panel. It gives up the desktop. There is no window of its own, a notification depends on the tab being open, the calendar is a side panel rather than a week you can work in, and your mail shares a process with every other tab you have open.
A mail app that connects over IMAP
IMAP is the standard protocol every mail provider speaks, so any Mac mail app can open a Gmail account with it. You get a real Mac app: its own window, system notifications, the Mac’s own text editing. What it gives up is Gmail itself. Through the standard protocol, labels arrive as folders, and Gmail’s categories and search operators are not part of it. Nor is your calendar: it lives in a different app, so an invitation is read in one window and answered in another.
An app that wraps the Gmail website
It looks like an app and gets you a Dock icon and notifications, and because the window holds the Gmail website, every Gmail feature is there. But that window is the same web page as the tab, carried by a browser engine — often a full copy shipped inside the app — that has to start before your mail appears. You get the desktop’s decoration without the desktop’s behaviour, and the calendar is still the side panel.
A native client built on Google’s Gmail API
A real desktop app that talks to Gmail through Google’s own API rather than a generic protocol, so your labels, filters and search operators are Gmail’s, and a change made in the app shows on the web and on your phone. It gives up whatever the API does not expose. That is most of Gmail but not all of it: add-ons, Chat and Meet are part of the web page, and a handful of Gmail settings can only be changed on the web.
What to look for in a Gmail client for Mac
Whichever way you go, five questions separate a good Gmail client for Mac from one you will give up on in a week:
- Is it built with the Mac’s own frameworks? A Dock icon is not the test. Look at whether the menus are the menu bar’s, the text field has the system’s spell checker, and the app opens without a browser starting first. There is a longer piece on what “native” means for a Gmail app.
- Does it speak Gmail, or generic email? Your labels, filters, categories and search operators should be the ones Gmail has, and a change made in the app should show on the web.
- Where does your mail go? Some desktop apps route mail through a server of their own to sync it. One that talks to Google directly from your Mac keeps your mail between you and Google — the shape of a private Gmail client that never sees your mail.
- Is your calendar in it? If your day runs on invitations, a mail app without a calendar means a second app and a second window. See Gmail and Google Calendar in one native Mac app.
- Has its Gmail access been reviewed by Google? An app offered to the public that reads your mail through Google’s API has to pass Google’s verification for that access. Whichever you pick, you can withdraw its access later from your Google Account’s security settings.
Where Hark fits, and its limits today
Hark is a native client on Google’s Gmail API. The interface — message list, sidebar, search, composer, Settings — is built with macOS’s own frameworks, and a sync engine on your Mac keeps a local database, so the inbox opens from disk and what has synced stays readable offline. It talks to Google directly from your Mac: there is no Hark server for your mail, and its Gmail access passed Google’s review, including an independent security assessment.
What sets it apart is the other half of the window. Google Calendar and Google Tasks are one click from your inbox: a full week view you can edit, an invitation answered from the message it arrived in, a task dragged onto a day to schedule it. That half has its own pages, on Gmail and your calendar in one Mac app and on a native Google Calendar app for Mac.
And what it does not do yet, so you find out before rather than after:
- One Gmail account per Mac during the beta. The unified inbox across several accounts is built and switched off until the beta ends.
- A small keyboard set. Today it is j, k, the arrow keys and Esc. More are coming in updates, each scoped so it cannot fire while you are typing.
- Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later. It needs a Mac with M1 or later; Intel Macs are not supported. Windows is next.
- What Google keeps for the web. Add-ons, Chat and Meet are not in the app, and the few Gmail settings the API does not expose are listed in Settings as links to Gmail on the web.
If you are deciding between Hark and the tab you already have open, there is an honest comparison of a Gmail desktop app and the browser. Installing and signing in are covered on the help page.
Questions
Is there an official Gmail app for Mac?
No. Google makes Gmail apps for iPhone and Android, and on a Mac it offers Gmail on the web. Every Gmail app for macOS comes from a third party: either it wraps the Gmail website, or it connects to your account over IMAP or through Google’s Gmail API. Hark is not made by Google; it uses the Gmail API.
Can I use Gmail on a Mac without a browser?
Yes. A native mail app over IMAP, or a native client on the Gmail API such as Hark, shows your Gmail in its own window with no browser involved. A wrapper app only looks that way: it carries a browser inside to show the Gmail website. Signing in still happens on Google’s own page, which macOS opens in a window it provides.
What’s the difference between a Gmail client and a wrapper app?
A wrapper app loads the Gmail website inside a copy of a browser that ships with the app: you get a Dock icon and notifications, but the window holds the same web page as a tab. A Gmail client draws its own interface and talks to Gmail directly — over IMAP or, in Hark’s case, through Google’s Gmail API, which keeps Gmail’s labels, filters and search operators intact.
How much does Hark cost?
Free while Hark is in public beta — no account or card needed. After the beta, Hark is free for 30 days, then $5.99 a month for the whole app. We’ll give notice in the app before the beta ends.
Does it work with Google Workspace?
Yes. A Google Workspace account signs in the same way as a Gmail account, provided your organisation allows third-party apps. If it does not, Google says so on the sign-in page, and your administrator can allow Hark from the Workspace admin console.
Hark is in a free public beta.
macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon.
See the app — the window on the home page is the real interface, and you can change its accent and theme from the page.