Buried under emails? Losing control of an overflowing inbox? New apps are designed to help consumers deal with seemingly endless streams of electronic mail.<\/p>\n
Three apps, Dispatch and Boxer for the iPhone, and Boomerang for Android devices, try to make email management on smartphones fast and simple.<\/p>\n
Another app called Sanebox, which works on any platform and costs between $2 and $20 each month, creates a folder in a user’s mailbox where it filters unimportant messages. Algorithms in the app learn about a user’s behavior to understand what he or she considers urgent.<\/p>\n
“You think you’re being productive by clearing stuff out of your inbox, but no matter how good you are, more emails will keep coming,” said Dmitri Leonov, a vice president for Boston-based SaneBox.<\/p>\n
The average office workers spends 13 hour each week reading, writing and replying to emails, according to the McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of McKinsey management consultant.<\/p>\n
The Dispatch app works by communicating with 16 other apps, such as one for note-taking and another linked to-do lists to simplify email. Users can send a link to Instapaper, an app for reading articles at a later time, and can also customize messages to help them respond to emails faster.<\/p>\n
Boxer has a feature so users can “like” an email and put it on the app’s to-do list for later processing. They can also request that a coworker handle an email, and there are templates for quick responses, such as “Good idea,” and “When do you need this?”<\/p>\n
Both Dispatch and Boxer cost $4.99 and are available worldwide.<\/p>\n
Boomerang, for Android devices, allows users to defer messages until later, schedule emails to be sent at a particular time, and track responses. The free app only works with Gmail.<\/p>\n
Leonov suggests people focus on dealing with urgent and important messages, rather than trying to keep up with everything that lands in your inbox.<\/p>\n
“Email is a to-do list that other people can write on for you,” said Leonov.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t know what foreigners are saying? There\u2019s an app for that.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Want to listen to live music? There\u2019s an app for that.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Lonely this Valentine\u2019s Day? There\u2019s an app for that.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Want lower mobile call rates? There\u2019s an app for that.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Prefer video messages to text? There\u2019s an app for that.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Want to avoid red lights? There\u2019s an app for that.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Get out of an awkward date? There\u2019s an app for that.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n