A new personal productivity app called Ocean is launching to help users triage their overloaded inbox, take action on emails by turning them into tasks, and share availability for meetings—all in one app.
Gmail dominates the email market, making it difficult for competitors to emerge. Recognizing this, Ocean chose to work with Gmail rather than compete against it. While gaining traction as a third-party client can be challenging, successful email apps have proven lucrative in the past. For example, Yahoo acquired Xobni for $60 million, and Microsoft bought Accompli for $200 million in previous years.
The opportunity attracted co-founders Martin Dufort and Scott Lake, an early Shopify co-founder. They established BigWave Labs in early 2019 to tackle email inefficiencies, ultimately leading to the creation of Ocean. Today, Scott Lake serves more as a financial backer and advisor, while Dufort drives the project forward.
Ocean integrates with Gmail and Google Workspace, allowing users to convert emails into tasks and action items so nothing gets overlooked. The app includes its own Task Manager, eliminating the need to copy information into external to-do apps. Users can create tasks with rich formatting, set due dates, organize tasks into folders, and link emails to task notes. It can even extract action items from lengthy emails automatically.
For those who struggle with follow-ups, Ocean lets users create tasks for emails they plan to reply to later, avoiding the clutter of unread messages or labels.
A standout feature for inbox-zero enthusiasts is Ocean’s triage tools. Users can filter emails by categories like first-time senders, persistent pingers, and contacts. It also surfaces potential false positives in spam, ensuring important messages aren’t missed.
Beyond basic email functions like composing, replying, and archiving, Ocean includes subscription management tools—similar to a recent Gmail update—and built-in meeting scheduling. Users can set availability based on their calendar, block last-minute bookings, send automated invites, and confirm meetings via a web interface.
The Ocean iPhone app is now available, with a Mac app featuring iCloud sync expected by year-end. The company monetizes through a one-time membership model called Ocean Blue, priced at $67, which includes a year of updates and access to the upcoming Mac app.
Dufort explains the reasoning behind the non-recurring model: “People are getting tired of subscriptions. We wanted a sustainable approach while delivering value. The freemium base app remains free forever, but the membership pushes us to keep improving.”
Ocean Blue also offers AI-powered email summaries and insights. New users can try the app with a 14-day free trial that doesn’t auto-convert to a paid plan.
The team continues to refine the app, and user feedback plays a key role in shaping its future.