Gmail app for Mac: Gmail in a native Mac email app

Gmail on a Mac today

Google's Gmail page offers the Gmail app on the App Store and Google Play. There's no Gmail app for the Mac: for a computer, the same page says Gmail “works great with desktop clients like Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird”.

So on a Mac you have Gmail in a browser tab, Apple Mail, which comes with macOS, or another Mac mail app. Gemini in Gmail, Google's AI, works in the browser and runs in Google's cloud; it comes with Google Workspace or a Google AI plan.

How LocalInbox works with Gmail

• It connects over IMAP with an app password you make in your Google Account. There's no Google sign-in service and no LocalInbox server in between, and you can revoke the password from your Google Account at any time.
• Your Gmail labels appear as folders. New Folder, Rename and Delete in the sidebar make, rename and delete the labels in Gmail itself.
• Archive works with Gmail's All Mail, which LocalInbox recognises in any language.
• Search on Server, at the end of your search results, asks Gmail for matches this Mac hasn't downloaded.
• Settings › Keyboard switches the single-key shortcuts to Gmail's, so you don't have to learn new ones.
• Drafts stay tidy: a draft you discard, the copies saved while you write and the draft of a message you've sent are deleted from Gmail too.
• Mail from every account is sorted on your Mac into Primary, Updates and Promotions, tabs much like Gmail's, and with Apple Intelligence into categories you describe in your own words.
• Google Workspace accounts work the same way, if your administrator allows IMAP and app passwords. gmail.com and googlemail.com addresses both work.

What LocalInbox adds

What every account gets in LocalInbox, Gmail included:

• Unified inbox: One inbox for Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, Fastmail, Zoho, GMX, AOL, Proton Mail Bridge and any IMAP account, each with its own colour. Native and fast.
• On-device AI: LocalInbox summarises, sorts and drafts your email with Apple's on-device model. No AI cloud unless you add your own key, and no LocalInbox server.
• Ask your mailbox: Ask a question in plain words and LocalInbox answers from your own mail, with numbered sources you can open. It runs on your Mac by default.
• To Reply and smart sorting: LocalInbox sorts mail into Primary, Updates, Promotions and your own categories, and keeps a To Reply mailbox of mail waiting on you.
• Today and the Morning brief: Today lists what needs a reply, what you're waiting on, meetings, deadlines, parcels and trips. The Morning brief sums up important mail, on your Mac.
• Waiting On and Nudge: Waiting On lists mail you sent that hasn't had an answer after three days. Nudge writes a polite follow-up for you to edit and send.
• Phishing warnings: LocalInbox flags suspected phishing and says why: a look-alike address, failed SPF, DKIM or DMARC, a misleading link, or pressure to sign in or pay.
• Search inside attachments: LocalInbox reads the text in scanned PDFs and photos on your Mac, so a receipt or a boarding pass turns up in search.
• Undo Send, Send Later and snooze: Undo Send for up to 30 seconds, Send Later, snooze, and remind me if no reply, for every account. They work even when LocalInbox is closed.

Set up Gmail in LocalInbox

1. In LocalInbox, open Settings › Accounts and click Add Account (or use the welcome screen the first time).
2. Choose Gmail and enter your Gmail address.
3. Click Open Google App Passwords. On Google's page, create a password named LocalInbox.
4. Paste it into LocalInbox. Google shows it in groups of four; the spaces don't matter.
5. Click Add. LocalInbox signs in and starts syncing your mail.

Server settings and what to do if it doesn't connect: Gmail IMAP and SMTP settings, with an app password.

Sources

Facts about Gmail's own apps were checked in November 2026 and can change. Facts about LocalInbox come from its own documentation.

• Google: Gmail, its apps and desktop clients
• Google Workspace: Gemini in Gmail