Mailicity / Email for Apple Assistive Access

For families using Assistive Access

Email, for Apple Assistive Access.

Apple's Assistive Access does a lovely job of simplifying the iPad for the people you look after. It just doesn't include email (at least, not really). Mailicity is the calm, allowlisted inbox that slots into the gap.

Request access → Read about how Mailicity works

Free during early access · No card needed · Works on any iPad, alongside Apple Assistive Access

Assistive Access

9:41 ● ● ●

Calls

Messages

Camera

Photos

Music

no mail

Mailicity

9:41 ● ● ●

Your messages

Sarah

daughter

This morning

Eli

grandson

Yesterday

Tom

son

On Monday

Ruth

sister

Last week

Write a message

· · ·

§Section 1 · Credit where it's due

What Apple Assistive Access does well.

If you're reading this, you've probably already set Assistive Access up, or you're about to. It's a thoughtful, well-designed feature, free with iPadOS, that strips the iPad back to a small set of bigger, calmer apps: Calls, Messages, Camera, Photos, Music, and a couple of others. For someone who's started to find a regular iPad overwhelming, it's a real improvement.

If you haven't set it up yet, it's worth doing. Our complete guide to setting up an iPad for an older parent walks through the wider setup, text size, home screen, tap-proofing, around it. We'll wait.

How to set up Assistive Access on an iPad — Apple Support →

¶Section 2 · The bit that's missing

Email isn't on that list.

There's no Mail app inside Assistive Access. You can bolt the regular iPad Mail app on, but it isn't designed for it.

Calls

Messages

Camera

Photos

Music

Mail

The Assistive Access home, as it ships. Five apps and a missing one.

You can add the regular iPad Mail app to an Assistive Access setup, but it isn't designed for it. The inbox is the same one they were already finding hard to use, just inside a slightly more forgiving shell. Links inside emails don't always work properly. The interface is the same dense list of subject lines and senders, scaled up a bit. And (the part most families notice first) the scam emails keep coming, exactly the same as before.

This isn't a bug. Apple has explicitly chosen not to ship a simplified Mail experience for Assistive Access. Calls, Messages, and Photos cover most of what their audience needs. Email is harder (it has to connect to Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, and a dozen other providers, each with their own quirks), and Apple has, so far, left it alone.

Which is why we built Mailicity.

✶Section 3 · What Mailicity adds

A calm inbox that runs alongside Assistive Access.

You don't have to choose between them. They're built for the same person, and from your parent's perspective, it's all one oversized, gentle experience.

Their email

Wraps the account they already have.

Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, anything with IMAP. Mailicity works with their real address, the one their doctor and their sister write to. Nothing to migrate.

Allowlist, not blocklist

Only people you've approved get through.

You add the small circle of family and friends and trusted contacts. Anything from a stranger lands in your review queue, not their inbox. The scams never reach the front door.

Per-person settings

Calibrated to the person using it.

Three accessibility tiers per family member: bigger type, bigger buttons, bigger names, less of everything else. It looks like Assistive Access looks, and feels like part of the same family.

⁂Section 4 · Why this exists

Why I built this.

A note
from Stevefounder

When Mum moved into an aged-care home, email became her lifeline. With her hearing mostly gone, it's how she stays in touch with me and her brothers overseas. We tried Apple Assistive Access; it helped with most of the iPad. Mail was still Mail though: same scams, same dense subject lines, same weekly "Google Security Alert" panic.

So I built Mailicity. It works for my Mum. I think it'll work for yours.

– Steve Founder · Mailicity

§Section 5 · Setting it up

About five minutes, once.

You do all five steps on your own phone or laptop. Your parent doesn't need to do anything until step four. Then the iPad just opens to their inbox, forever.

Sign up for Mailicity.

You: the family admin, not your parent. On your phone or laptop, takes about a minute.

Connect their existing email account.

We talk to Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, and any standard IMAP provider. Their address doesn't change.

Add the people you want to reach them.

Their sister, the grandkids, the GP, the church friend. Anyone you forget can be added later, in seconds.

Install the Mailicity app on their iPad.

Pair it once with a six-digit code from your admin. From then on, the app just opens to the inbox: no password to remember, no log-out screen to land on by accident.

Keep Assistive Access on for the rest of the iPad.

Add Mailicity to the apps Assistive Access shows. From your parent's perspective, email is just another big calm tile on the home screen, alongside Calls, Messages, Photos.

That's it. From then on, anything that lands in their inbox is from someone you've approved. The rest goes to your review queue. You decide.

Calmer email, by lunchtime.

Set up Mailicity on the iPad your parent already has. Free during early access, no card needed.

Request access →

Works with Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, and standard IMAP · Designed in Australia · Built by a son for his Mum

?Questions, answered

For families on the Assistive Access path.

Does Mailicity replace Apple Assistive Access?

No. We run alongside it. Apple Assistive Access stays on for the rest of the iPad: calls, messages, photos, music. Mailicity handles email.

Will I have to set up a new email address for them?

No. Mailicity connects to the email account they already have. Their doctor and their sister keep writing to the same address.

Does this work with Gmail?

Yes. Also iCloud, Outlook, and any provider that supports IMAP.

What if someone new genuinely needs to reach them?

Their first message lands in your review queue. You see it, you decide. If they're someone the person you look after wants to hear from, you approve them, and from then on their emails go straight through. If they're a stranger or a scammer, you reject them and the message never lands.

How much does it cost?

Free during our early access period. No card needed. We'll let you know well in advance when paid pricing starts.

Does it work on iPhone? Android tablets?

The Mailicity app is iPad-first, which is where most of our families set it up. Android tablet support is in the works. iPhone is not a v1 target; the larger screen of a tablet is meaningfully better for the people Mailicity is designed for.