Android App: Email Widget

Use this Android Application to put a widget with your recent emails of a certain email folder on your homescreen. You can use it with every synced email folder for an Exchange, POP3, IMAP or GMail Account.  You can find many custom skins on my Skin Site. The following environments are supported by this app/widget:

Enhanced Email
 Android 2.1 / 2.2 / 2.3
 K9 Mail App GMail App until V2.3.4.1
 GMail App  >=V2.3.5
Samsung YES ONLY WITH ROOT
 YES YES ONLY WITH ROOT
HTC Sense YES YES

Desire HD / Desire Z / Droid Incredible 2 / EVU 3D  ONLY WITH ROOT

 YES YES ONLY WITH ROOT
LG YES ONLY WITH ROOT YES YES ONLY WITH ROOT
Motorola YES ONLY WITH ROOT YES YES ONLY WITH ROOT
Sony Ericsson YES ONLY WITH ROOT YES YES ONLY WITH ROOT
Dell YES ONLY WITH ROOT YES YES ONLY WITH ROOT
Cyanogen Mod YES ONLY WITH ROOT YES YES ONLY WITH ROOT
Revolution Mod YES ONLY WITH ROOT YES YES ONLY WITH ROOT
MIUI ROM YES ONLY WITH ROOT YES YES ONLY WITH ROOT
RCMix HD YES YES YES YES ONLY WITH ROOT

For “only with root” please see the description (Installing as system app) below!

By touching the widget you can open emails (GMail only with internal viewer) or the email app. Additionally it displays a small icon to indicate wether a mail is read / unread (K9 does not support this feature). You can use it as 3x(1-4) or 4x(1-4) widget. Different widget configurations are supporte.

Update Version 5.4:

  • Added support for Enhanced Email
  • Messages can now be opened from widget for K9 provider (PLEASE UPDATE TO LATEST K9 mail!)
  • Added internal viewer for GMail provider
  • Resizing of widget now supported (depends on launcher)
  • For GMail provider the widget now displays messages instead of conversations
  • Fixed: GMail provider now displays messages from inbox only if “only unread” is selected

Follow me on Twitter @invalidobject_ to get infos on recent develeopment.

ATTENTION: The App doesn’t work on Android 2.2 / Froyo (except for HTC) for the build in mail app out of the box, because of the strict permission system (technical details here). You can bypass this by installing the app as a system app. For this root access is required, explanation below. You can also use K9 or Enhanced Email.

GMail support only works out of the box until GMail V2.3.4.1. On the current version c.2.3.5 Google locked down GMail. Please see this post.

Please feel free to contact me for any feature-requests, bugs, ideas, questions or other feedback through the comments below. If you have any problems, send me a mail with the detailed logfile (option in the app menu, file is located under /sdcard/emailwidget_log.txt) for support.

qrcode

Which Feature for the next version? (select 2)

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If it's working, which device manufacturer do you use?

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Installing app as a system app

PLEASE NOTE: The following is at your own risk. I will not be responsible for any damage or malfunction of your device! Please also mind, that rooting might void your warranty.

You only need to do this, if my app tells you that android has blocked access to your mails (see screenshot below). If this does not appear but you cannot choose a mail folder, then your phone stores mails in a non standard and non compatible mode.

android-email-widget-error-dialog

Option 1 (via File Manager):

Required:

  1. Install the app emailWidget from the market
  2. Be sure not to put a widget of the app on a homescreen
  3. Start Super Manager
  4. Go to Settings and activate root support (Enable ROOT functions)
  5. Go back and open the File Explorer
  6. Move to directory /data/app
  7. Find my app Email Widget (look out for the app icon) and select it
  8. Use the “cut”-symbol from the commands below (the scissors)
  9. Now hit Menu->Switch System R/W->R/W (this makes System folder writeable)
  10. Go to /system/app and paste my app in it (the command icon which looks like a sketch sheet)
  11. Now reboot

Option 2 (via shell):

Required:

  1. Install the app emailWidget from the market
  2. Be sure not to put a widget of the app on a homescreen
  3. Start Better Terminal Emulator
  4. Type in the following commands (without the content in brackets)
  5. su (get root)
  6. mount -oremount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system (remount the system-filesystem read/write)
  7. cd /data/app (go to the directory /data/app)
  8. busybox mv de.foobarsoft.emailwidget.apk /sdcard (move app to your sdcard, app gets uninstalled)
  9. cd /sdcard (go to the directory /sdcard)
  10. busybox mv de.foobarsoft.emailwidget.apk /system/app (move app to system-folder, app gets installed as system app)
  11. Maybe you have to restart your phone.

Now you should see the app in you app-folder again. Select a mail folder now and add the widget to your homescreen. It should work now. For Froyo Users: Please see the comment below.

Note: Some devices require to enable modifying the system-directory by putting the device to a mode called S-OFF. This is the case if you start your device after the steps above and the directory /system/app does not contain the emailwidget-apk. You can find information on putting your device to S-OFF here.

– Fixed: Sometimes Widget caused the system to lag and the Launcher to be unresponsive or crash
– Refactored autoupdate to be less ressource intensive
– Optimized performence for querying provider
– Updated Korean language translation

224 thoughts on “Android App: Email Widget”

  2. doesn’t work on rooted droid 2. I did exactly what the directions said to do, still got nothing.

  3. Hi Dave,
    some days ago another user gave me the hint that motorola has put a custom email client on their devices. It’s called BlurMail and isn’t compatible with my widget right now. But i’m working on a solution. Hopefully the next release will support it.

    Regards,
    Frank

  4. Downloaded it, installed it but whatever I do it wont work. Running 2.2.1 sense stock rom on desire HD. Is there a way to get it working ?. Looks briljant from what I have seen sofar !!. Hope you have a answer. Oh btw didnt buy it on marketplace but on androidpit.

  5. Was just about to refund since it does not work with MotoBlur inbox, but I’ll keep it in hopes you get it into the next release! I have been looking for something that can do that for awhile.

    xnappo

  6. xnappo, thanks for you for your patience. I already started to implement for BlurMail, but this is not easy for me, because i have no device to test it on. Anyway, i do my best.

  7. Hi –

    Running Froyo on Dell Streak. Got the widget running. Super Manager worked very well. Any way to increase font size? The text is tiny on my screen. Also, clicking on the email does not open it, although I can see the email font register the key press. Do i have to open the email box to see the email?

  8. Hi Will,
    more layout options, i.e. font size, are already on my feature list for one of the next releases. Regarding the other problem: Could you please activate the logging (starting app->global preferences), then click on an email, afterwards disable logging and at last send me the logfile by using the option “Email – send mail to developer” from the global prefs? This might help me to find out more about your problem.

    Regards,
    Frank

  9. Just bought the widget and it looks nice. I am having one small issue you might be able to help with. When I select a message, it will does not open the message… Actually it doesn’t do anything aside from highlighting . It will load the inbox when that option is set, just not the message itself. I believe I have the settings configured correctly. I am running on a rooted HTC Incredible running MIUI 1.1.14.1 with adw launcher checking an exchange account on the stock email app.

    One other suggestion/thought. It would be nice to be able to set the text size. The message are so small, I think when we get it working im going to fat finger a lot.

    Thanks in advance.

  11. Can you clarify something?

    I have a Desire with a SenseHD ROM installed on it (rooted, of course), but no Sense launcher, (LPP instead). I am using the default HTC Mail app, which works great for Exchange push email support.

    Are you saying that I can use this widget, and it will pull the mail from the HTC Mail app if, and only if, I install this as a system app?

  12. Hi Flyte,

    you’re right. On Desire HD you have to install the app as system app. This might not be very easy, because the DHD has a special security feature called s-on. You have to put it to s-off in order to install under /system, even if the device is rooted. I posted a link to xda-developers above, explaining how to remove s-off.

  13. Thanks foo.bar for the clarification.

    One alternative to doing this with s-off is simply booting into recovery mode, mounting /system, and using the user friendly AndroidCommander.

    Does this work for other mail widgets (being pushed over to /system to gain access to the HTC Mail) ?

  14. Pingback: [Q] Non Sense Email Widget fed by mail from HTC Mail app - xda-developers

  15. flyte, you’re right. Using recovery mode would also do the trick.
    I don’t know of any other app that is able to access the HTC Mail App. That’s the main reason i build my app.

  16. Tried this on a 2.1 SE X10. Doesn’t work at all despite statements to the contrary above.

    Hangs, and once in a while actually manage to get to the settings screen.

    I am using K9, and despite this am getting the “Your device blocks….” message, despite it being stated above that (re K9 and other apps) “They are using their own storage, so running as system app should not be required.”

    Once, after much frustration and a reboot of the phone I was actually able to get the widget on the screen. But no emails appeared. Ever.

    Config is SE X10 with 2.1 Global running ADW+ as home screen. Doesnt work.

    Of course, TRYING to get this to work took longer than 15 minutes, so was unable to get a refund from the market.

    Good effort, but this is still alpha/beta software and people should NOT charge for beta SW. Gives meaning to Apple’s (NOT a fanboy by any means) screening apps *before* they are put on SALE. This is NOT fit for purpose in its current incarnation. Would be great if it were

  17. Dear Augusto,

    i’m sorry that you had some problems with my app. Please mind that on large mailboxes there could arise some performance issues, i.e. launcher get’s stuck. You should limit the number of mails then to 30 or 40, for smaller widget sizes also 10-15 makes sense.
    Could you also please try to deactivate scrolling and tell me if there are still performance issues?

    Like the description on the market says i will refund the money to you if you experience problems or don’t get the app to work! So please don’t mind.

  18. Hi

    I hace an HTC HERO on 2.2.1 and cannot make it run. When I try to do it through the file manager process I get an out of storage memory error when I try to copy to the system folder. When I try co copy trough the terminal process I get a Can replicte ownership error.

    Please Help!

    Angel

  19. Hi Angel,
    it seems that your mobile has a special security feature enabled (called s-on), which prevents you from modifying the system volume (see above). You can either try to turn your device to s-off or use the recovery mode and an update.zip to put my app there. Unfortunately both alternatives are not easy to achieve, so i can offer you a refund if you want.

    Regards,
    Frank

  20. I got two things:

    – When will there be an option where the email will be on 2 lin..es? Or atleast it will be bigger
    – Also i got an bug in android 2.3, you can’t open an specific email from within the widget, when will that be fixed?

    Thanks,
    alexw

  21. Hi Alexw,
    thanks for the feedback. More layouting options are already on my list and i hope to get out a release in the next few weeks. On android 2.3 the permissions got a bit more strict so that my app now cannot open a specific email with the mail app. I am working on a preview function to show the mail without the mail app.

    Regards,
    Frank

  22. Just wanted to give you a little more info on my issue. I just switched to Cyanogen, to experiment with a few things, and I am still having the same issue. Can’t open messages, only inbox. Not sure if that is at all helpful, but thought you would like to know.

  24. I installed you email widgit on my Samsung Epic 4G, running Android 2.1. It’s reading my Exchange inbox, connected to the stock Android mail app. It doesn’t seem to refresh itself. New mail does not show automatically and read mail does not dissappear automaticaly. If I press the refresh button manually, both processes work fine. Anything I need to know or do to enable auto refresh?

  26. Matt,
    thanks for your comment. Yes i’m already planning to implement a preview which shows the mail without mail app, so this will work on all roms / devices.

  27. If you have update issues please activate the periodic auto updates. You can reach this setting by opening my app (not the widget config), activate auto update and set an update interval. I’ve set it to 40 secs on my device and this is working quite good. Hope this helps.

  30. Hi foo.bar
    I purchased your app yesterday. Congratulations, this app will be exactly what I need to make my SGS a business machine.

    Comments:
    1. Not sure what happened but I was editing the details of a widget yesterday and ran into a huge lag (had to restart phone). It’s fine now.
    2. Is it normal that the widget does not refresh automatically?
    3. The refresh button does not do anything
    (for 2 and 3, I received a couple emails during the night, have them in my android app – Exchange email – can’t get them to appear in the widget)

    Suggestions:
    4: I’d like to see date/time in the widget e.g. 21/06-10:21 – maybe have it optional as it takes some place
    5: Bold font for sender name option
    6: Extra space or delimitation in between sender name and subject
    7: Option for maximum characters for sender name, e.g. in the options we could chose to show only the first X characters of the sender name. You seem to have it by default at 12, I could do with 6-7: more space for a date field and subject.
    8: Scrollable on default UI

    Korean SGS, Chinese ROM, rooted and installed as system app, Exchange and Gmail email, simple dark theme

  32. Hi Simon,
    thanks for your very detailed feedback, i appreciate this a lot!

    1) I have already worked on the lagging issue and the next release has some big changes for it. Some other users have reported this, too, and i tested with them the new version with success.
    2/3) The update issue can have many reasons. Please check if you have a large mailbox and maybe limit the number of mails to 10 or 20. If this isn’t the case please send me a logfile by doing so:
    – activate logging in global preferences by starting my app (not a widget)
    – add a widget to your homescreen with the desired configuration
    – do some changes in the mailbox, i.e. setting mails to read/unread
    – push the refresh button of the widget at least two times
    – go back to the global prefs, deactivate logging and hit the “email – send mail to developer”. you will be asked to attach the logfile.
    4) one of the next version will have some new layouts and one containing the sender (maybe as a picture from your contacts) and the date/time.
    5/6/7) added to the list of planned features
    8 ) already on the list of planned features, you can vote for them above

  33. Just found out that RoadSync cannot be supported. I succeeded to access the mail folders but failed to access the messages. It doesn’t expose its messages to third party apps 🙁

  34. Hi Frank, thanks for the detailed answer. Its working like a charm now. I limited the no of emails to 15, did the trick.
    One other request: Support for gmail labels?

  36. Pingback: iAndroid • צפה בנוש×? - ש×?לה לגבי Email Widget
  37. Pingback: Email Widget - Android Market

  38. Great app, works on galaxy S on froyo and K9. I have one problem still. All my email from K9 (exchange) remains unread, no matter how often I read them. Any ideas?

    Other than that, great job…

  41. Dil,
    with the recent version (5.2) i added support for Moto BlueMail. Please have a try. This will work only with root and as system app though.

    Regards,
    Frank

  42. Hi foo.bar,

    thanks for your quick reply. I followed your steps on making it a system app, and now it works fine. I prefer the K9 interface though, but for now it suits me just fine.

    thanks!

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  46. foo.bar,

    This app is very useful, and from I can tell, one of a kind. However I’ve had to uninstall. The auto update process (refreshing the widget with new emails) consumes so much CPU on my Samsung Epic 4g (andriod 2.1, 1ghz proc) that it drags everything else to a halt. It even makes my media players skip. Why the need for such a memory sap? Also, the alternate skin I selected would default back to the blue and white default skin every time I restart the phone. Very annoying. Would love to reinstall this app, but it needs improvements or order to be usable. Please keep us posted if a subsequent release fixes these problems.

  47. Hi Ect,

    Did you experience the performance issues before or after the update to version 5.2? I changed the update mechanism completly, so in most cases the auto update is not needed any longer. Also i fixed a few performance issues which might occur on the last releases 5.0 or 5.1.

    If you’re already on 5.2 then please check size of your mailbox. If it contains a large number of mails this might still slow down your phone because it will query all these mails when refreshing. You can limit the number of mails in the widget preferences.

    Regaring the changing skin: This is a really strange behaviour and i had no other complaints about this. Please check the following.
    With a file browser go to the following directory:
    /data/data/de.foobarsoft.emailwidget

    if this doesn’t exist, please create it manually.

    the directory should contain the following subdirs:

    – cache
    – databases
    – files
    – lib
    – shared_prefs

    Especially the last one is importand. If this doesn’t exist, please create it, too. Then try to add a widget and do your desired configuration. Then please go back to the file browser and check for the contents of the directory (/data/data/de.foobarsoft.emailwidget/shared_prefs/)

    This should now contain a widget configuration file called EMAILWIDGET_PREFS_X.xml where X is the number of the widget.

    Please tell me, if the recommendations above solve your problems.

  48. I can confirm that, like the HTC Desire HD, Email Widget only works on HTC Desire Z after rooting it. The two devices are very similar in software. After rooting and following the instructions on this page the widget works normally. Which I’m very happy about because it’s the perfect widget for my needs.

    I hope Android will fix this problem some time, so legitimate apps like Email Widget can access your inbox without having to resort to hacks like rooting.

    Instructions for permarooting the Desire Z are available online in the usual places.

  49. Hey Frank,

    I bought your app and tried to setup the unread widget with my SGS i9000m stock email client. I can’t seem to see my hotmail inbox when I tried to setup.
    The mailbox selection is blank.

    I bought this app for my hotmail account but I can’t get it to work. Since I can’t get this to work, I’ve cancelled my order within 15 mins.

    Does your app support it? if yes, I will buy your app again and can you please let me know what went wrong with my setup?

    Thanks

  50. Hi betaboy00,

    thanks for contacting me. Are you getting any error when adding a widget
    and opening its preference dialogue?

    If you are using android 2.2 on your sgs you have to use root and install
    my app as system app to get access to your folders. There is a discription
    on how to do this on my website.

    Regards,
    Frank

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