We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more .

Email. It’s essential. It’s important. And on Windows 8, there’s a dearth of quality Gmail apps that fully embrace the Modern design language. Sure, you have your web-wrapper apps that look like a native Gmail client, but people want the real deal. And push notifications. And Live Tiles. MetroMail is that full native client for Windows Phone 8. We’ve covered it in the past and watched as the app has grown over the last few months. Today, its Windows 8.1 counterpart is now available. The best part? If you bought the Windows Phone version, you can generate a code within the app to fully-unlock the Windows 8 app, all for free.

Make no mistake, MetroMail is the real deal. Plus it offers Live Tile syncing across your Windows Phone and Windows 8 devices, to keep all your read/unread email counts synced. Here’s what else you can be doing from your Surface or PC: Best VPN providers 2020: Learn about ExpressVPN, NordVPN & more Instant notifications for new emails with night mode support

Instant live tile syncing between your devices across both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8

First-class support for archiving, starred emails, and labels

Support for inbox categories (e.g. Primary, Social, Promotions)

Seamlessly manage multiple accounts

Server-side search functionality with support for advanced Gmail search operators

No more broken threads when replying to emails

Support for multiple From addresses within the same account

Optional live tile support for each account

Full support for sending and downloading attachments

Contacts auto-completion from your email account

Full Win8 integration including split view and share support

I have to admit, MetroMail is basically everything you could want in a native Windows 8 RT app. Don’t like the default orange look? The app has a full suite of Accent colors to choose from. It supports multiple accounts, allows pinning, archiving, Label management and even signatures. The Live Tile sync means accessing the app on your phone will reset the tile on your tablet. That’s a fantastic feature.

The Windows 8.1 version is free to try for 30 days, with ads and push notifications disabled after that time frame. But, if you have the Windows Phone 8 version – which was just updated to 1.4.2 today – you can generate a code within that app to permanently unlock the in-app purchase for the Windows RT version.