Gmail for Mac

Gmail app for Mac: your options in 2026

Google doesn’t make a Gmail app for Mac. You can make the website an app from Safari or Chrome, add Gmail to Apple Mail, or install a mail app. Here’s each option, what it keeps of Gmail’s labels and search, and what it costs. We make Dodosend, so it’s one of them.

Get the desktop appDownload

Free for one Gmail mailbox, on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Your options for Gmail on Mac

Each one suits someone, so the table says who. Prices come from each app’s own site, checked in November 2026.

Option	Best for	What it is	Gmail’s labels and search	Cost
Gmail in Safari or Chrome	Gmail’s website as it is, in a window of its own	The website. Safari’s File › Add to Dock (macOS Sonoma or later) or Chrome’s Install page as app gives it a window	Everything, as Gmail does it	Free
Apple Mail	Mail from several providers, in the app your Mac comes with	macOS’s own mail app, with your Google account added	Over IMAP: labels show up as folders, and search is the app’s own	Free, with macOS
Outlook for Mac	Gmail next to Outlook or Microsoft 365 accounts	Microsoft’s free mail and calendar app, with ads	Labels show up as folders; Gmail syncs through Microsoft’s cloud	Free, with ads; ad-free with Microsoft 365
Thunderbird	Open source, and accounts from any provider	Mozilla’s free, open-source app, for any provider	Over IMAP: labels show up as folders, and search is the app’s own	Free
Spark	Several accounts on your Mac and your phone, with a free plan	An email app for any provider, on Mac, Windows and phones	Labels kept as labels; search is Spark’s own, with from:, has: and is:	Free; Plus $10 a month ($99 a year)
Canary Mail	Several providers in one inbox, with AI on paid plans	A mail app for Mac, Windows and phones, with a unified inbox; its AI Copilot is on paid plans	Labels kept as labels, several to a message	Free on two devices; paid plans from $36 a year, or $100 once
Mailbird	Many providers in one app, with a one-time license on offer	An app for Windows and Mac that gathers Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and other accounts	Over IMAP, which has to be turned on: labels show up as folders	Free for one account; Premium yearly or a one-time license
eM Client	Mail, calendar, contacts and tasks in one desktop app	A desktop suite for any IMAP, POP or Exchange account, with calendar, contacts and tasks	Over IMAP, with Google sign-in: labels come in as tags	Free for home use, with two accounts; Personal $24.95 a year or $39.95 once
Mimestream	Gmail in a native Mac app, if a subscription suits you	A native Mac app made for Gmail; an iPhone version is in beta for subscribers	Kept as Gmail has them	$4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, after a 14-day trial
Superhuman	Gmail and Outlook from the keyboard, with AI that writes, at a premium	A keyboard-first app for Gmail and Outlook, with AI that writes	Kept as Gmail labels; from: and has:attachment work in search	$30 a month, or $25 billed yearly; no free plan
Shortwave	An AI assistant over your Gmail, with a free plan	An AI email app built on Gmail, for Mac, Windows and phones	Labels kept and synced both ways; its own search, with from:, label: and is:	Free, with a Shortwave signature; Pro $18 a month
Dodosend	Gmail from the keyboard, on Mac, Windows or Linux	A desktop app made for Gmail, run from the keyboard	Kept as Gmail has them: labels stay labels, and from: or has:attachment work	Free for one mailbox

Older lists still recommend Notion Mail, whose inbox shut down on September 22, 2026. The Mac App Store’s apps with “Gmail” in their names come from other developers, not Google: some put Gmail’s website in a window, others are mail apps of their own.

Try it before you install

The app’s own keys, on sample mail, right in this page. Press them yourself, or let the guide show you. Nothing here touches a real mailbox.

Interactive demo. A hands-on look at how it works: use your keyboard or mouse, and the guide shows you what to do. The mail is made up.

Dodosend

Inbox

3 unread

Maya Chen

10 threads

Step 1 of 4

Press ↓ to move to the next thread.Tap “Show me” to move to the next thread.

Move, star and archive from the keyboard. Nothing is final: undo brings it back.

Why a Gmail app on Mac

Everything Gmail already knows about your mail, in a desktop app you run from the keyboard.

Gmail, not IMAP

Apple Mail reaches Gmail over IMAP, so labels turn into folders and Gmail’s search operators don’t apply. Dodosend works with Gmail itself: labels stay labels, and from:, is:unread or has:attachment work as they do in Gmail.

Mac keys, where you expect them

⌘K opens the palette, ⌘↩ sends, ⌘Z undoes, ⌘W closes a tab. Every shortcut uses ⌘ on a Mac and Ctrl everywhere else.

Out of the browser

Its own window and Dock icon, and the keys a browser tab keeps for itself: ⌘W closes a Dodosend tab, ⌃Tab moves to your next mailbox.

Your calendar, next to your mail

G then C opens your week, 0 shows today beside the inbox, and ⌘⇧A pastes your free slots into a draft as a sentence.

Your email links, in Dodosend

Turn on Open email links in Dodosend, under Settings › Email links, and an email address clicked in Safari or any other app starts a new Dodosend message to it.

A count on the Dock icon

The Dock icon counts the inbox conversations with something new since you last looked, across every mailbox you’ve connected. Bring the window forward and it clears.

Dodosend’s Inbox on a Mac, on sample mail, with a peach-to-blue colour theme: the sidebar with the mailbox at the top, the Inbox, Starred, Sent, Reminders, Drafts and Trash tabs, and Subscriptions, Calendar and Settings at the bottom; the threads; and the shortcut bar, with ⌘K for the command palette. — The Inbox, on sample mail, with a colour theme. On a Mac, the keys use ⌘.

Add Gmail to the Dock with Safari or Chrome

If the website is all you need, Safari or Chrome can make it an app, with its own window and Dock icon. A Safari web app keeps its cookies apart from Safari’s, though it usually opens signed in, and it shows notifications, with their count on its Dock icon, once you allow them in the web app itself. It’s still Gmail’s website inside, run by the browser, and most of Gmail’s single-key shortcuts stay off until you turn them on in its settings.

Safari, on macOS Sonoma or later

1Open mail.google.com in Safari.
2Choose File › Add to Dock, or click Share in the toolbar and choose Add to Dock, then confirm.
3Gmail gets an icon in the Dock and a window of its own.
4The app is kept in the Applications folder of your home folder. To remove it, drag it from there to the Trash.

Apple Support: Use Safari web apps on Mac

Chrome

1Open mail.google.com in Chrome.
2In the More menu (⋮, top right), choose Cast, save, and share › Install page as app…, or click the Install icon at the end of the address bar.
3Click Install, and Gmail opens in a window of its own.
4To remove it, open More in that window and choose Uninstall Gmail, then Remove. Every app Chrome installed is listed at chrome://apps.

Chrome Help: Use web apps

Gmail in Apple Mail: what changes over IMAP

Apple Mail adds Gmail as a Google account and reads it over IMAP, the protocol most mail apps use. All your mail is there, but Gmail’s labels and search work differently.

Add your Google account

1In Mail, choose Mail › Add Account.
2Enter your Gmail address, or click choose from a list and pick Google, then click Continue.
3Sign in with Google in the window that opens. For a Google Workspace account it’s the only way since May 2025: a password alone no longer works.
4Follow the remaining steps, and the account appears in Mail’s sidebar.

What changes

Labels show up as mailboxes in Mail’s sidebar: over IMAP, Gmail treats each label as a folder.
In Gmail on the web, Settings › See all settings › Labels has a Show in IMAP box next to each label. Clear it, and Mail stops listing that label.
With the settings Google recommends, a message you delete in Mail isn’t gone: it’s still in Gmail’s All Mail.
Search is Mail’s own, not Gmail’s, so operators like has:attachment or older_than: don’t carry over.

Sources: Apple Support, Add and manage email accounts in Mail on Mac; Google for Developers, IMAP Extensions; Gmail Help, Choose your IMAP email client settings for Gmail; Google Workspace Help, About IMAP and POP clients.

Requirements and install

Every Mac build is on the download page, free for one Gmail mailbox.

macOS 12 Monterey or later
Apple Silicon or Intel: each has its own build
A Gmail or Google Workspace account

At sign-in: While Google reviews Dodosend, it may say it hasn’t verified the app: choose Advanced, then Go to Dodosend.

Disk image (.dmg)

Open the .dmg for your Mac: Apple Silicon (aarch64) or Intel (x64). Not sure which? Apple menu › About This Mac lists a Chip on Apple Silicon and a Processor on Intel.
Drag Dodosend into Applications.
Open it. It’s signed and notarized by Apple, so macOS only asks you to confirm an app from the internet: click Open.
Sign in with Google.
To have email links open in Dodosend, turn on Settings › Email links › Open email links in Dodosend.

Removing it

Quit Dodosend, then drag it from Applications to the Trash.
The mail it downloaded stays in ~/Library/Application Support/com.dodosend.desktop until you delete that folder.
To end its access to your Google Account, remove Dodosend from the account’s third-party connections.

Questions

Is there an official Gmail app for Mac?

No. Google makes Gmail for the browser and an app for iPhone and iPad, and that app isn’t offered on the Mac, even one with Apple Silicon. Safari’s Add to Dock or Chrome’s Install page as app makes gmail.com a web app with a window of its own, but it is still the website.

Is there a Gmail widget for Mac?

Google makes none for macOS. Since macOS Sonoma, a Mac can show widgets from apps on your iPhone, under System Settings › Desktop & Dock › Use iPhone widgets, but a widget from an app that’s only on the iPhone asks you to open it there to continue.

Does Dodosend run on Apple Silicon?

Yes. There are separate builds for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, both for macOS 12 Monterey and later.

How is it different from Apple Mail?

Apple Mail is a general email app that reaches Gmail over IMAP. Dodosend is built for Gmail alone, from the keyboard: labels that stay labels, a search that reads Gmail’s common operators, a command palette, reminders, scheduled send and your Google Calendar.

Does Dodosend show notifications?

Not yet. Its Dock icon counts the inbox conversations with something new since you last looked, across every mailbox, and clears when you bring the window forward.

Can I use more than one Gmail account?

Yes. Dodosend shows one mailbox at a time, and ⌃Tab moves to the next. One mailbox is free; the Multi-mailbox plan, billed monthly or yearly, connects more. The guide to managing several Gmail accounts compares the other ways too.

Is it free?

Yes, for one Gmail mailbox, with every feature. The Multi-mailbox plan, billed monthly or yearly, is for connecting more than one. Dodosend is in beta, and the download is open to everyone.

Gmail, at home on your Mac

Your labels, your search, your calendar, and a key for everything. Your mail stays on your computer, and Google lets you revoke access anytime.