Hiri Makes Email Less Horrible

For working people, email is still a necessary evil. A whole class of productivity apps has emerged to mitigate some of email’s inherent problems, and Hiri is one such contender. This downloadable app is an alternative interface for your Microsoft email account. It adds a wealth of tools designed to make email better.

- Jill Duffy

A dashboard with a timer discourages you from checking your inbox obsessively. A to-do list off to the right side of the screen holds synopses of messages that you’ve turned into tasks. Hiri’s price is competitive, and its features are actually beneficial. It works with Microsoft email only, however, and it doesn’t offer any mobile features.

Hiri works only with Office 365; hosted Exchange on Windows, Mac, and Linux; Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, Live.com, and MSN.com. It doesn’t support Gmail or other non-Microsoft accounts, which rules it out as an option for many. And to use Hiri, you have to use the Hiri app, which has a totally different interface and suite of tools than what’s in Outlook or whichever app you use for email currently. Some email assistant services work within your current email app rather than replace it, so you never have to learn the ins and outs of a new interface, as you do with Hiri. The star among these is Sanebox, a PCMag Editors’ Choice.

PRICING

Hiri is an app that you download and run locally; it’s available for macOS, Windows, and Linux. No matter which platform you use, you download the app for no charge and set it up with a free seven-day trial. No credit card is required for the test drive. If you choose to continue using Hiri after the trial, you must pay either $39 for the year or $119 to have access forever (or at least as long as the app is supported). Plainly put, that’s a bargain. So I would recommend downloading Hiri, giving it a try, and locking in the deal if you like what the app does.

Hiri isn’t the same as Sanebox, Boomerang, Nudgemail, or other email assistants—each does something slightly different. But it’s helpful nonetheless to compare their prices to get a sense of how much is reasonable to pay for a service designed to improve email.