Microsoft wants to kill off email subject lines on your iPhone

Subject lines have begun to feel increasingly stilted as even workplace communication has trended toward the informal. And on mobile they feel especially out of place, turning a simple email into a "form" to fill out, which can be one of the most frustrating tasks on your smartphone. Now Microsoft is taking a stab at killing them off in its new mobile email app, Send.

With Send, Microsoft wants to bridge the gap between your office email and your phone. To do so the app does away with the formal constraints of email.

"With Send, there are no signatures, subject lines, or salutations required," Microsoft wrote in a blog post. And in one of its most useful features, Send will suggest common "quick reply" messages so you can dash them off immediately. You can swipe to send messages like "On my way" or "I'll get back to you."

But why should I care if I can get these features on many other messaging apps, like iMessage or Facebook Messenger? The point of Send is that it connects to your email - right now with Office 365 business and school accounts, but soon more widely available. Not everyone at work has your personal phone number, or is friends with you on Facebook. But that doesn't mean you should have to suffer through a formal email experience not built for the mobile era.

Send is a product of Microsoft Garage, the internal "incubator" that encourages Microsoft's employees to bring their innovative ideas to completion.

You can download Send for iPhone for free over at the App Store, and Microsoft says an Android and Windows Phone version of the app "is coming soon."