Side by side
| Outlook on the web | Turnmail | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | £9.99 / $12.99 a month, 7-day free trial |
| Designed for | Desktop, mouse and keyboard | Tesla touchscreen, at arm’s length |
| Accounts | One per sign-in | Unlimited, in one unified inbox |
| Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, IMAP | No (Outlook only) | Yes |
| New-mail alerts | Only while the tab is open and in front | Pop-ups with sender and subject |
| Read aloud while driving | No | Yes, Drive Mode |
| Signing in | Microsoft sign-in, often with a phone code, per account | Sign in once; new devices confirmed by code |
| Attachments | Yes | Images, PDFs and Office files on screen |
Where Outlook on the web falls short in the car
It’s a desktop app on a car screen. Outlook on the web expects a mouse. On a Tesla screen the text is small and the buttons are tightly packed, so it’s easy to mis-tap from the driver’s seat.
One account at a time. If you have work and personal email, or several businesses, you’re signing out and back in, usually with an authenticator code on your phone.
You won’t know when mail arrives. Browser alerts only show while the Outlook tab is open and in front. Switch to navigation or music and new email goes unnoticed.
Nothing for when you’re moving. Outlook on the web doesn’t read email aloud, so it’s no help once you pull away.
What Turnmail does differently
- All your inboxes in one place: Outlook, Hotmail, Microsoft 365, Gmail and IMAP, each with its own colour and nickname.
- Built for the Tesla screen: large text and touch targets, light and dark themes, and a Display Size setting.
- New mail pops up with the sender and subject: Microsoft accounts in near real time.
- Drive Mode reads your unread email aloud: who each email is from, when it arrived, the subject and how it starts.
- Reply, forward and open attachments when you’re parked.
When Outlook on the web is enough
If you only have one Outlook account and only check it occasionally while charging, the browser is fine and costs nothing. Turnmail is for people who live in their inbox and their car: several accounts, work email, and wanting to hear what’s arrived without looking.
See how to set up Turnmail or read the full guide to checking email in a Tesla.