Is Shortwave worth it in 2024?

Top Features, Pricing & User Reviews

Shortwave is an email application that integrates with Gmail, offering a variety of AI-powered features. This overview we'll explore whether it effectively helps you manage your emails. It includes several AI functions and provides a solid free plan to get you started. Additionally, it offers triage tools that can assist in better organizing your inbox.

What is Shortwave?

Shortwave is an email software designed using AI to enhance better how you manage and respond to email. It is available on iOS, Android & web. It has an AI assistant to help you communicate with your emails, search history, and book calendar events.

Many people compare Shortwave to tools like Superhuman and Spark Mail. It is used by busy professionals managing their inboxes.

How does Shortwave work?

Shortwave lets users connect their Gmail and Google Workspace accounts to bring in emails. It's available on iOS, Android, and the web, but the desktop version is just a Chrome browser download, not a dedicated app for Mac or Windows.

The app combines AI features with triage abilities to help manage your inbox. It lets you group emails into "bundles," similar to how Gmail organizes things, such as travel, calendar, newsletters, or finance.

There's an AI assistant on the right side, but most features are limited to paid plans. One of these features is AI-assisted search, which works well but has limits. For instance, it can answer questions like "when was the last time I emailed Sarah," but it only searches back three years on the pro plan and five years on the business plan. Older emails aren't indexed.

The premium plan also has calendar tools that link with Google Calendar, making it easy to schedule meetings. You can also search and summarize PDFs, which could be useful for some users. The calendar feature is one of the standout tools, offering a good way to organize schedules.

How much does Shortwave Email cost?

Here's how much Shortwave costs for users:

Is Shortwave free?

Yes, but with limited features and Gmail access.

So is Shortwave suitable for you?

Based on our testing, it’s clearly an AI-based application, but many core features, like triage and email management, are available in most other email apps. What sets Shortwave apart is how it bundles these features into a smooth experience. The lack of a dedicated desktop app is disappointing, but overall, it looks good for getting started and organizing your inbox. Smaller features, like to-dos, help separate tasks from your inbox.

The AI features, especially for calendar management, worked well. While some other abilities felt a bit generic, the AI-driven search was useful in organizing and finding specific emails. The "Help me schedule" tool was also a highlight.

In comparison to apps like Superhuman, Shortwave’s AI features might not be as advanced, but the app is still growing quickly.

Shortwave is a good option with plenty of potential for future development for those who don’t want to pay too much for an AI email app and are looking for solid features.