Email Management App Mailbox Launches A Reservation System, Will Roll Out To The Public On A First-Come, First-Served Basis

Mailbox, the awesome new email management app from the productivity software experts at Orchestra, is getting ready for a public launch. But rather than just putting the app up on the Apple App Store and hoping for the best, the startup is rolling out a reservation system to gracefully manage demand once it is released.

The Mailbox app has an innovative take on reaching Inbox Zero, letting users swipe emails in various directions to archive, delete, and save them for later. It makes getting through piles of email incredibly fast, and helps users like me focus on the stuff that’s important, while getting rid of the stuff that doesn’t matter so much. I’ve personally raved about Mailbox already, and am happy to say that months after that initial review I’ve continued to use it as my primary email app.

I’m not the only one who likes the idea of the new email management tool. So far, more than 60,000 people have signed up for access to the Mailbox app during its private beta period, and its video demo alone has scored more than a quarter of a million views. With that early demand, the Mailbox team wants to make the app even more widely available.

The startup plans a general release on the Apple App Store soon, but it also wants to scale up gracefully and work out any kinks before making the app available to all. As a result, it’s rolling out a reservation system to let users connect on a first-come, first-served basis. That will help to ensure that users will be able to connect to their email and still have a great experience while doing so.

Unlike other email management applications, Mailbox checks email from the cloud, circumventing typical IMAP implementations. That allows it to support push notifications for when users get new emails, as well as to enable email snoozing — which is really its killer application.

“The IMAP protocol is nearly 30 years old and part of reinventing the inbox is building a secure, modern API that’s better suited for mobile devices,” Mailbox design lead Elle Luna wrote via email.

Users who want to try out Mailbox for themselves will need to register at mailboxapp.com/reservations. They’ll then get a reservation number by SMS, which will reserve their place in line. In addition, they’ll get a Private Code, which they can use to unlock the app once it becomes available on the App Store.

Through the public launch, Mailbox will continue to remain free to download and use. That said, the team hopes to enable some premium or paid features over time.