Notion Abandons Email Client as AI Agents Take Over

In a move that signals a dramatic shift in how productivity software companies view email, Notion announced today that it will shut down its Skiff-influenced email client, Notion Mail, on September 22, 2025. The decision comes just over a year after the San Francisco-based company released Notion Mail in April 2025, a Gmail client built largely by former employees of Skiff, an encrypted email and productivity startup acquired by Notion in February 2024.

Notion’s announcement, made via a post on X (formerly Twitter), gave a stark reason for the shutdown: most users no longer open their inbox. “As Notion agents have gotten more capable, we’ve seen more users hand off email workflows to them. Today, more than half of Notion Mail users manage emails without ever opening their inbox. So, we’re going all in on using agents to run your inbox,” the company wrote. This abrupt pivot underscores a broader trend in the tech industry: the rise of AI-driven automation over traditional user interfaces.

The Skiff Acquisition and Its Aftermath

To understand the end of Notion Mail, it’s necessary to look back at the Skiff acquisition. Skiff was founded in 2020 as an encrypted email, documents, and calendar service, positioning itself as a privacy-focused alternative to Google Workspace and Proton Mail. By the time Notion acquired Skiff in February 2024, the startup reportedly served over 2 million users and had raised significant venture capital. The acquisition was valued around $30 million, though details remained undisclosed.

Within a year of the acquisition, Notion shut down Skiff’s native email service, effectively ending @skiff.com email addresses. The team redirected their efforts to building Notion Mail, a Gmail client that integrated with Notion’s existing workspace platform. Notion Mail, however, did not support end-to-end encryption, a core feature of Skiff’s original offering. This departure from Skiff’s privacy-centric roots disappointed many users who had migrated to the platform for security reasons.

Now, less than five months after its public launch in April 2025, Notion Mail itself is being retired. The shutdown marks the final chapter of Skiff’s email ambitions within Notion. “We launched Notion Mail with a belief that your inbox should think like you—more personal to how you work and over time, more capable with AI,” Notion stated in its X post. But the company determined that the future of email lies not in better inbox interfaces, but in eliminating the need to manually read and respond to messages altogether.

What the Shutdown Means for Users

Notion has provided clear guidance for current Notion Mail users. Email history will remain unaffected—data stays in Gmail, not in Notion’s servers. A support page reads: “When the Notion Mail inbox shuts down, your email history will stay exactly where it is in Gmail.” However, users must take proactive steps to preserve drafts and scheduled emails. Notion urges users to export drafts and scheduled messages by September 21, 2025, as these will not automatically transfer to any alternative app.

Additionally, users can export their Notion Mail setups, including snippets and auto-label instructions, for use elsewhere. Notion offers a transition path: “If you have auto label set up in Notion Mail, you won’t have to rebuild it. Create a Custom Agent in a few clicks, and we’ll bring your existing rules over for you,” the X post explained. Users who already run Notion agents to handle email will continue to operate without interruption. “Your email connection in Notion stays in place,” the company assured.

For organizations operating in regulated environments, the timeline is different. Notion’s support page states: “If you rely on HIPAA coverage, you should plan to transition off Notion Mail by June 30, 2026.” This extended deadline gives healthcare-related businesses and other HIPAA-covered entities time to migrate to compliant alternatives.

The Rise of AI Agents in Email Management

Notion’s decision is part of a larger trend: the growing reliance on AI agents to manage digital communication. Tools like Notion AI, Microsoft Copilot, and Google’s Gemini are increasingly capable of drafting responses, sorting messages, and even completing tasks without human intervention. Notion claims that more than half of its Mail users already use AI agents to handle their email flows, effectively bypassing the inbox interface entirely.

This behavior is not isolated to Notion. A 2024 survey by McKinsey found that 40% of knowledge workers reported using AI tools for email-related tasks, and analysts predict that number will rise sharply in coming years. The shift reduces the friction of email overload but also raises questions about user agency, privacy, and the quality of automated responses. Notion’s bet is that users will increasingly prefer to delegate email to AI, allowing them to focus on higher-level work within Notion’s central workspace.

However, Notion Mail’s short lifespan also highlights the risks of rapid product iteration in the AI era. The company invested heavily in building a polished Gmail client with Skiff’s infrastructure and talent, only to abandon it when user behavior shifted faster than anticipated. This pivot may frustrate early adopters who relied on Notion Mail as their primary email tool.

Privacy and Encryption Concerns

One lingering criticism of Notion Mail was its lack of end-to-end encryption, a stark contrast to Skiff’s original selling point. Skiff built its reputation on privacy, offering zero-access encryption for emails, documents, and calendars. When Notion acquired Skiff, the expectation among privacy-conscious users was that Notion would integrate these advanced security features into its platform. Instead, Notion Mail operated as a Gmail client, meaning emails were stored on Google’s servers under Google’s privacy policies.

This discrepancy led to a backlash from former Skiff users, many of whom migrated to Proton Mail or Tuta. Notion’s AI-centric approach to email further diluted the privacy focus. AI agents often require access to email content to draft replies, summarize threads, or automate sorting, which introduces new privacy risks. Notion has not clarified whether AI agent processing occurs on-device or in the cloud, nor has it detailed data retention policies for AI interactions. As the company shifts to an agent-first model, these privacy questions become even more pressing.

For comparison, competitors like Proton Mail now offer AI features with end-to-end encryption through Proton Scribe, an AI assistant that runs locally on the user’s device. Notion’s decision to prioritize AI agent convenience over privacy may limit its appeal to security-sensitive segments, such as journalists, activists, or legal professionals.

Historical Context: Notion’s Acquisition Strategy

Notion’s handling of Skiff follows a pattern seen in other acquisitions by the productivity giant. In 2022, Notion acquired Automate.io, a workflow automation tool, and later integrated its functionality into Notion’s database and project management features. The company has consistently used acquisitions to gain talent and technology, rather than to preserve standalone products.

With Skiff, Notion acquired not only a team of engineers and designers but also a vision for unified productivity that combined email, documents, and calendars. Yet, despite the acquisition, Notion has released no direct follow-up products to Skiff’s encrypted calendar or storage services. The company’s roadmap appears focused on AI agents, artificial intelligence, and deep integration with existing tools like Google Calendar and Gmail. The Skiff acquisition, in hindsight, seems more about acquiring engineering talent than about building a privacy-respecting email ecosystem.

Industry experts question whether Notion will ever fully realize the potential of Skiff’s technology. “Notion has the pieces to build a truly integrated, privacy-first productivity suite, but they’ve chosen to go all-in on AI agents. That’s a bet that may pay off, but it’s also a departure from the values that made Skiff attractive to its user base,” said Sarah Peters, a tech analyst at Gartner.

Comparison with Competitors

Notion’s move away from a dedicated email client places it in a unique position relative to competitors. Google Workspace, for example, continues to enhance Gmail while also integrating Gemini AI features. Microsoft 365 offers both Outlook and Copilot, allowing users to toggle between traditional email and AI-driven assistance. Proton Mail, meanwhile, has expanded its ecosystem with Proton Drive, Proton Calendar, and Proton Pass, all protected by end-to-end encryption.

Notion’s approach is distinct: rather than offering a standalone email client, the company wants to abstract email management entirely into its workspace via agents. This could be a differentiator, but it also risks alienating users who prefer a dedicated, familiar email interface. The shutdown of Notion Mail means users must revert to Gmail or find another client, while Notion shifts its resources to developing agent-based solutions.

The decision also raises questions about the future of Notion’s integrations. If email is entirely handled by agents, how will Notion handle calendar invites, contact management, or folder organization? Notion has not provided details, but the company’s X post suggests that existing agents will continue to run, implying that email integration remains part of Notion’s platform, just not through a dedicated inbox interface.

What Remains of Skiff

Though Notion Mail is shutting down, the Skiff acquisition still contributes to Notion’s broader ambitions. Former Skiff employees now occupy key roles within Notion, including product leadership on the AI agents team. The technology behind Skiff’s encrypted storage and calendar may also be repurposed, though Notion has not announced any concrete products. The company’s focus on AI agents suggests that Skiff’s encryption expertise may be less relevant in the short term, but could be revived if Notion decides to address privacy concerns.

The shutdown of Notion Mail represents a significant loss for users who believed Notion would build a better email experience. For Notion, it is a strategic realignment toward a future where users interact with email through AI agents rather than through traditional clients. Whether that future materializes as envisioned remains to be seen, but the company is clearly committed to the path.

As the September 22 deadline approaches, users must decide whether to stick with Notion’s agent-based system or move their email workflows elsewhere. Notion’s support resources are available to assist with exports and transitions, but the window for action is limited. For employees and executives at Skiff, the shutdown closes a chapter that began with a promise to revolutionize encrypted email. But the underlying technology and talent live on, shaping Notion’s ambitions in a post-inbox world.

Source: Ars Technica News