What is the default email application on macOS?
Answer
The default email application on macOS is Mail. Apple includes Mail with macOS, where it handles messages from services such as iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, and Exchange.
Mail began as NeXTMail, an application created for NeXTSTEP before Apple acquired NeXT in 1997. It was then carried into Mac OS X and became a long-running built-in Mac application. Its capabilities include IMAP and POP retrieval, SMTP sending, mailbox organization, search, signatures, junk-mail filtering, and encryption support through S/MIME.
A common mix-up is confusing the default app with the email service or account. Gmail and Outlook may provide the account, while Mail is the application used to access it. Users can also install Spark, Thunderbird, or Outlook and change macOS's default email reader, but that does not change the standard bundled choice.