Yahoo Mail for All: Introducing Our New Mobile Web Experience and Android Go App

By Joshua Jacobson, Senior Director of Product Management

By 2025, the number of global mobile internet users is predicted to expand by over 50%. We believe it is important to understand and meet the specific needs of this massive wave of new mobile users, and deliver the same first-class Yahoo Mail experience regardless of device, location, storage capacity, or network speeds.

As such, our team has been working to deliver on this promise of global access and equality and, today, we are proud to unveil two new major initiatives: 1. a completely modern Yahoo Mail mobile web experience, and 2. a new app optimized for Android Go phones.

New Mobile Web Experience: The Best Mail in your Browser

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In order to deliver a beautiful, high-quality Yahoo Mail experience no matter where you are in the world, it was critical for our team to make the mobile browser experience extremely fast and lightweight, while significantly improving current features. The difference between the old and new is striking.

The new, enhanced mobile browser experience shares many of the same features as the top-rated Yahoo Mail app with the added benefit of freeing up space, including:

  • Swipe through your inbox: The ability to take actions on emails quickly and easily by swiping right to mark as read and left to delete.
  • Customize your look and feel: New color themes with light and dark backgrounds that allow you to personalize your inbox.
  • Get organized easily with folders: Beautiful sidebar menu with folders for easy organization.
  • Never hunt for an email address: Auto-suggest your most frequent email addresses when you type the first few letters, so sending an email is faster than ever.
  • Infinite scrolling inbox: Scroll all the way down your inbox without having to hit “next” to see more emails.
  • Take quick action on emails: Easily delete, forward, reply and do more from the easy access toolbar once you open a message.

For convenience, you can add an icon to your home screen that links directly to the Yahoo Mail mobile browser experience. By introducing smooth transitions, an updated design, modern fonts, and native-like interaction animations, Yahoo Mail mobile browser takes what users love about our app experience and brings it to the web. If you’re already familiar with the app, using Yahoo Mail in your mobile browser will feel virtually indistinguishable, letting you jump right in without missing a beat.

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In addition to the dramatic feature and design updates, what’s changed for Yahoo Mail on mobile browser behind the scenes is equally as notable. The architecture supporting the new browser experience is the same as our modern desktop tech stack, which is developed on React and Redux. Further,

  • The enhanced version is written in JavaScript and built using Node.js. The basic version of Yahoo mobile web is written in PHP and built using Apache.
  • The enhanced version uses AJAX. The basic version uses form submit for all user actions.
  • In the enhanced version, there are no reloads – all actions (e.g., deleting, marking as read, marking as spam, emptying trash) are instant. The basic version reloads the page on every interaction.
  • The enhanced version is a fully interactive app-like experience. The basic version has limited interactivity.

As we look ahead toward future improvements (we’re always looking for new ways to give you what you want), whenever you launch Yahoo mobile web, your inbox will automatically access the most current code base. You’ll always have the latest and greatest experience, so no need to worry about missing out!

Yahoo Mail Go for Android Go: Same Yahoo Mail Speed and Reliability, but Lighter on your Data

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Our new mobile browser experience is just one part of how we’re delivering Yahoo Mail for everyone. Today we are also announcing Yahoo Mail optimized for the new Android Go devices (entry-level smartphones).  

The Yahoo Mail Go app delivers the same stunning features enjoyed by our current Android app users, while keeping the RAM usage on devices below 50MB and the install size below 10MB. In fact, the original Yahoo Mail app is already extremely lightweight, so we didn’t have to remove major features to reduce the standard Yahoo Mail app size for Go. And we did not compromise on performance – the Go app uses the exact same architecture as the standard Yahoo Mail app.

If you have a phone with the Android Oreo (Go edition) operating system and would like to download Yahoo Mail Go, follow this link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yahoo.mobile.client.android.mail.lite.

No matter where you live in the world, what language you speak, or how you access Yahoo Mail, if you have any suggestions for future updates, we’d love to hear them. If you’re using the mobile browser, go to the side panel and tap on “Send feedback”. If you’re using Yahoo Mail Go, go to Settings and tap on “Send feedback”.

Yahoo Mail Makes Mother’s Day Emails Beautiful and Special, Just Like Mom

By Rachel Heit, Senior Director of Product Marketing

Mother’s Day is coming up fast and we know you have (hopefully) been diligently picking out the perfect gifts for all the moms in your lives. If you are out of ideas, though, our friends at Yahoo Search have pulled together some of the most searched-for gifts at the bottom of this post. After you’re done ordering your flowers, chocolates, picture frames, and more, the team here at Yahoo Mail wants to give you one last special gift to send: a heartfelt note delivered on beautiful, personalized stationery.

Through Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 13th, you can now easily send emails on our Mother’s Day-themed stationery by clicking “compose”, then choosing the folded “stationery” card. Don’t worry if you’re the forgetful type – Yahoo Mail will remind you before Mother’s Day to make sure you stay her favorite daughter, son, grandchild, spouse, or friend:

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Once you tap, you can choose from a number of hand-crafted designs that look beautiful no matter if she opens it on the go or sitting at home in front of her computer. Your card will look perfect no matter what:

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If your mom loves GIFs just as much as gifts, Yahoo has you covered there as well. To add a little more personality to your email, you can select from our hand-picked selection of Mother’s Day GIFs or just search for “love”, “hearts”, “puppies”, “flowers” or anything else that speaks to your love for Mom and pick the perfect animated add-on for your card.

Did you know that Mother’s Day is celebrated on the same day in over 90 countries around the world? To give moms across the globe little more love, Mother’s Day stationery is available for Yahoo Mail users on desktop and mobile (Android, iOS) in the US, Canada, Germany, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Need inspiration? Here are Yahoo Search’s Mother’s Day insights:

If you’re stumped for the perfect gift to get Mom, there’s no shame in turning to the wisdom of the crowd. The Yahoo Search team poured over 2017 and 2018 U.S. search data to identify the top gifts and help you find something special. Check out the lists below:

Gifts consistently in the top 10 for 2017 & 2018:

Unique gift ideas – some of the more popular searches out of the top 10:

Gifts to avoid – dropped well out of the top 10 for 2018:

It Pays To Be A Yahoo Mail Member: You do the shopping, we’ll help you save

By Michael Albers, VP of Product Management

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Changes to the inbox over the years have focused primarily on the productivity of managing lots of emails. Today, the Yahoo Mail team is happy to announce that we have been working on something that we think brings even more value to our hundreds of millions of members … and we are just getting started.

We are building automation into the inbox to help Yahoo Mail members find the best shopping deals and coupons, get the lowest price on what they buy and improve their online shopping service. Specifically:

  • Find deals on items you care about 
  • Get the best price on recent purchases
  • Faster shipping on your online purchases

The new Yahoo Mail features will help keep you organized and on top of your shopping game. These services, partnerships and smart features are available to access in the Yahoo Mail experience, and will only grow and evolve to deliver even greater benefits to Yahoo Mail members.

Saving you time and money with our innovative partners: ShopRunner (Free two-day shipping, free returns, & seamless checkout) and Earny (Price protection on purchases).

ShopRunner offers millions of members free two-day shipping, free returns, and seamless checkout at over 100 retailers. Normally it costs $79 to join ShopRunner, but thanks to our new partnership, Yahoo members get their first-year subscription with ShopRunner absolutely, 100% free. ShopRunner offers shoppers the world-class shopping experiences at a wide network of retail partners.  

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Earny is another company we’ve partnered with because we never want you to overpay on any recent purchases. As a loyal Yahoo member, once you sign up for Earny, you will automatically get refunds for eligible purchases.

Here’s how it works:  Earny reviews up to your last 90 days of purchases from eligible retailers, and automatically processes refund requests on your behalf when lower prices are discovered online. If you paid $60 at one retailer and Earny finds it for $45.00 somewhere else, you’ll be refunded the difference. It’s that easy, so don’t delete your receipts, there are potential savings to be had!  

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Keeping your shopping life organized: Coupons and Purchase Views

Finally, we are adding two new useful ways to look at important shopping information in your inbox. The Coupon and Purchase views.

In the Coupon view, you will find the deals and coupons we have found in your inbox all organized for easy use. We will keep track of expiration dates, and if you ask us to “clip” a coupon, we will notify you before it expires.

In the new Purchase view, all your purchases are organized to make looking up a delivery or receipt quick and easy. Over time, we will include the price protection and tracking information in this view.

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This is just the beginning of a lot more to come from Yahoo Mail this year. We always welcome our members’ feedback so please tell us what you think.  

Yahoo Mail Wins Winter Game Gold

By Jeff Bargmann, Product Manager for Yahoo Mail

As teams of elite athletes from around the world gear up for the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, the team here at Yahoo Mail has been working hard to bring all of the excitement and drama of the Medal Hunt to your inbox.

Our goal here at Yahoo Mail is to give you an inbox experience that keeps you organized and, most importantly, on top of what matters most to you - including coverage of the Winter Games.

Starting today, fans using Yahoo Mail can easily stay tuned into every competition and cheer on your country, teams and athletes right from your inbox. Here’s how:

On your desktop - Medal Counter and Yahoo Sports Breaking News

When you log into Yahoo Mail during the games, you will see a real-time medal counter on the upper right of your inbox, letting you keep track of which country is winning the medal race and celebrate each time your country reaches the podium. 

In partnership with Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Mail will also deliver all of the leading and latest Winter Games news headlines in real-time. To get the full story and breaking Winter Games news, simply click on the arrow to be taken to the Yahoo Sports destination page for the Winter Games.

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On mobile - Breaking News with Just a Tap

Of course, we know you will want to stay on top of the Games while you’re on the move so, once again, we’ve worked with the Yahoo Sports team to create a dedicated News section that brings you all of the latest headlines right in your inbox.

To check out the news, just tap on that handy Medal icon in the upper right-hand corner of your inbox.

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Once you tap the medal, you’ll head over to the Yahoo Sports destination page for the Winter Games, bringing you the very best, up to the minute coverage of all the pageantry, drama, heartbreak, and joy of the Games.

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This is a limited time feature available to Yahoo Mail users for both our desktop and mobile (iOS and Android) applications in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Download the latest in the App Store, Google Play or visit Yahoo Mail on your computer. Let us know what you think — just go to Settings and tap “Send Feedback.”

Yahoo Wanna Build a Snowman? Augmented Reality Brings Festive Fun to Yahoo Mail.

By Aditya Bandi and Chetan Ankola, Yahoo Mail Team

Whether it’s personalized stationery, custom inbox themes and colors, or animated GIFs - the Yahoo Mail team is constantly working to bring innovative, fun, and functional features to your inbox. We are on a mission to build an amazing experience that makes email easy to use, seamlessly organized, and brings your messages to life in a way that is 100% uniquely “you”.

Now that mission leads us into new, uncharted lands: Augmented Reality. Starting today, Yahoo Mail is rolling out amazing and engaging AR experiences that magically appear in your iOS Mail app throughout the year. Our first experience, launched just in time for the winter holidays, lets Yahoo Mail users build their own Augmented Reality snowman, whether they’re staying warm in their living room, taking a break at the office, or sitting on a sunny beach sipping a tropical cocktail.

Far from being a one-time feature built just for fun, Yahoo Mail’s Augmented Reality integration will fundamentally change how you look at your inbox.

Today, Oath also announced several new ad experiences, including an augmented reality (AR) mobile ad unit designed by our RYOT team and powered by Yahoo Gemini, that enables consumers to click to access an immersive ad in an Oath content experience like Yahoo Mail.

Read more about it here.

Start Building your Snowman:

The Yahoo Mail Snowman AR experience appears when you pull down to refresh your mail app. If there are no new messages in your inbox, you are asked if you want to build a snowman and share that with your friends/family.

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Clicking on the ‘Build Snowman’ button takes you into the AR experience where you can place the snowman anywhere in the real world and start personalizing it with a selection of faces and decorations.

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Once you are done, you can wander around the room and marvel at your creation, then quickly share your AR creation with your family/friends and wishing them happy holidays.

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With that, it’s time for all of us to get those last minute gifts ordered and wrapped. We hope all of your holiday celebrations (in reality and augmented reality) are filled with friends, family, and lots of cheer. Happy Holidays from everyone here on the Yahoo Mail team.

Download the latest Yahoo Mail app on the App Store or visit mail.yahoo.com on your computer. Check it out and let us know what you think — just go to Settings and tap “Send Feedback.”

Time OOOff w/ Yahoo Mail

Get yourself into an Out of Office state-of-mind for the holidays!

By Zach Feintech, copywriter

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The holidays are here, and Yahoo Mail is helping you prepare for a #SoOutOfOffice state of mind.

We kicked it off last weekend with a special event in NYC, where folks got in front of a green screen to show everyone their idea of an out-of-office experience… many were out of this world.

As if that wasn’t enough, we’ve also partnered up with some totally awesome social celebs, like @KalaniBallFree, @JackieOProblems and others, who’ve helped us create super fun content. Check out their videos on our #SoOutofOffice tumblr.

You work hard all year. And now Yahoo Mail encourages you to play just as hard during the holidays! ’Cause pretty soon, we’re all going to be #SoOutOfOffice. Happy Holidays!

Top 10 Most Notable Types of Holiday Shoppers

Written by Zach Feintuch, Yahoo Mail copywriter

As you may know, Yahoo Mail is rolling out its newest feature for the holidays, Coupons, on both mobile and web. And with Black Friday / Cyber Monday nearly here, we’ve been thinking about all the different kinds of shoppers out there.

Here are the top 10 most notable shopping characters we see during the holidays… in no particular order.

Which one are you?

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Hunter (the Deal-Sniper)
Hunter is … extremely careful with his money. Okay, fine, he’s cheap! So he’s constantly on the lookout for the best deals and may even partake in couponing from time to time. Or every weekend. (Shhh, don’t tell anyone!) His kitchen drawer is filled with coupons from Bed Bath & Beyond, and Black Friday feels like his birthday. In fact, if you ever see Hunter receive a new coupon in his inbox, you’ll be witness to the single happiest man alive. And that’s why he’s lovin’ this new feature from Yahoo Mail. Because it notifies him when a deal is about to expire. Basically, deal hunting has never been easier!

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Sensible Sally (the Cyber Shopper)
Crowds are the worst. Physical stores are a thing of the past. And besides, why go out when you can sit, click and tap? And now, she doesn’t even have to search for coupons because Yahoo Mail keeps them in one place for her. Every coupon she’s ever clipped, right in her inbox. Talk about a relaxing lifestyle, Sensible Sally is doin’ it right!

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Robin (the Early-Bird Shopper)
Meet Robin. Her favorite month of the year? November. Her favorite holiday? All of ’em. A whole lot of love to give, and giving presents is her favorite way to do it. That’s why she plans holiday shopping in advance, sees all her coupons in one place within her inbox, and puts ’em to good use in order to get shopping done super early. With all her presents purchased and wrapped before the holidays roll around, Robin avoids the stress of crowded malls. Which means less time being anxious, and more time spreading holiday cheer!

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Last-Minute Dan (the Last-Minute Shopper)
Ahh, Dan. What a guy. His heart’s in the right place but can never seem to prioritize his to-do’s, especially around the holidays. Which means a bunch of “Oh, shoot!” moments and even more last-minute shopping. What’s left for him come holiday time? Whatever’s convenient. That’s where Yahoo Mail comes in to save the day; by saving him time. Thankfully for Dan, his inbox kept all his coupons in an easy-to-reach Smart View. Whewww!!

Gaby Gift Cards (the Gift Card / Money Giver)
Gaby, Gaby, Gaby. She lives a hectic lifestyle. And with her full schedule, there’s barely any time to spend thinking of “the right gift,” let alone time to go shopping. That’s why she either buys gift cards in bulk nearly a year in advance (thanks to special coupons she receives via email), or gives money to everyone on her list. After all, that’s the easy thing to do. And her life just became easier thanks to Yahoo Mail.

DIY Denise (the Do It Yourself Gifter)
Denise puts her all into each and every gift she gives. And that means spending the time to make them herself. Her loved ones will never call her out on being “budget conscious” (or broke), which is perfect for this starving artist, so long as she gets to the stores early enough to grab the necessary arts & crafts supplies needed for her creations. Thank goodness for coupons, otherwise, the art supplies would really add up!

Mimi (the Selfish Shopper)
It’s alllllll about Mimi. She loves to shop- for herself. No need to stress about the holidays because she makes sure the things she wants are bought in advance. Will she take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Sure! …’cause when Mimi sees the coupons saved together in her inbox, she gets uber excited about how many more gifts she can buy for herself thanks to the savings she piles up.

Organized Adam (the Careful, Thoughtful Shopper)
Adam is thoughtful. He’s considerate. He’s… organized. And that means taking the time to gather his knowledge about who in his life will receive which kinds of gifts, and what sort of coupons he can use for each person. But it also means he’s developed a serious appreciation for the organization his Yahoo Mail provides. Because for Adam, it’s process, process, process. And he has it down to an exact science: Let Yahoo Mail do all the legwork, and take all the credit … It’s okay, he deserves it!

Johnny Moneybags aka Mr. Moneybags (the “Money-Is-No-Object” Shopper)

Johnny Moneybags has all the dinero in the world. He gets what he wants, whenever he wants it. But that doesn’t mean he’s the one doing all the shopping. In fact, his executive assistant, Penny, is the brains and the brawn behind his holiday shopping operation. And Penny needs to use coupons in order to save money and look savvy in Johnny’s eyes. Because the less money he has to spend, the more money she can pocket for herself as a “holiday bonus” so to say. Yup, she’s thrilled to have Coupons available to her.

Manny the Maniac (the Scattered Shopper)
Manny is crazy. Crazy awesome! He loves to be around people and experience shopping in-person. He’ll wander through stores for hours on end, waiting for the perfect gifts to suddenly appear right before his very eyes. For Manny, shopping is a visceral experience. And luckily for his loved ones, they get some pretty amazing gifts out of it! But this unpredictable behavior has never yielded any holiday savings, as couponing never found its way into his lifestyle… Until now. Thank you, Yahoo Mail Coupons, for making it all too easy for Manny to ignore!

Different types of shoppers are all seeing the benefits of Yahoo Mail’s Coupons feature. And so can you… Try out the new feature on the Mail app today.

Happy Shopping, everyone!

Make Holiday Travel a Breeze with Yahoo Mail

By Selena Shang, Product Manager

You might remember the scene from “Home Alone” where the McCallisters, late for their flight due to a power outage, are barrelling through an airport while “Run Run Rudolph” blares in the background. We’ve all been there once or twice, and during the holiday travel season every delay, gate change, missed connection, and canceled flight can make all the difference in getting home stress-free.

Thankfully, Yahoo Mail just made it a little easier to manage your travel this holiday season with our new Travel feature.

Starting today, Yahoo Mail will help bring together all of your flight information into one view, across all of your connected Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook, or AOL accounts. Also, we’ll notify you of any important changes to your flight, so you can plan your trip accordingly.

Yahoo Mail now offers:

  • Cancellation Help - If (worst case scenario) your flight is canceled, your Travel View information will update and prompt you to call the airline with just a tap of a button.
  • One Travel View - Yahoo Mail finds all the relevant information about your flights from every connected inbox and displays that information in an easy-to-use Travel View. (Departure/arrival airport, date, time, etc.)
  • Check-in Notifications - 24 hours before your flight, you will receive a notification that it is time to check in, with a direct link to the airline’s check-in page.
  • Up-to-date Details - Six hours before your flight, Yahoo Mail updates your Travel View with relevant information such as gate and terminal details. You can also tap on the “Get Directions” button for directions and expected travel time to the airport.
  • Change Notifications - Yahoo Mail starts tracking all gate changes, delays, and cancellations to notify you if and when your flight might have changed.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Add your mailboxes - Connect as many email accounts to your Yahoo Mail app (in the App Store and Google Play) as you like (e.g. Yahoo, Google, Outlook, or AOL).

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2. Explore the Travel View - Check out the new “Travel View” tab in the left panel and all of your flights (past and upcoming) will appear in an easy-to-glance view. If you want, you can tap on the flight to see your original email.

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3. Check-in and see details - On your travel day, use your Travel View to check into your flight and review any changes to your plans before you reach the airport.

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4. Bon Voyage - That’s it!

Yahoo Mail currently supports the Travel View on iOS, Android, and web. If you don’t see your flights, don’t fret. We are constantly learning and improving our flight discovery, so keep coming back! Happy and safe holiday travels from all of us here at Yahoo Mail!

This feature is available to iOS users in the US with their language set to English, as well as web and Android users with their language set to English, anywhere in the world. Download the latest on the App Store (iOS 4.21), Google Play (Android 5.21) or visit Yahoo Mail on your computer. Check it out and let us know what you think — just go to Settings and tap “Send Feedback.”