Browser Requirements

Because SmarterMail's webmail, chat, and online meeting features all run inside the browser rather than a locally installed application, the browser itself is effectively part of the client stack an administrator needs to support. SmarterMail doesn't publish exact minimum version numbers — instead, the rule of thumb is that any current, actively updated release of a major browser is supported, while older, unpatched versions are not.

Desktop

SmarterMail's webmail interface is fully supported on any current, up-to-date desktop browser, including:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari
• Opera
• Brave

Two practical considerations for administrators supporting end users:

• The browser should support WebRTC, since that's the underlying technology behind SmarterMail's audio, video, and screen-sharing features in Online Meetings. Every browser listed above supports WebRTC in its current release, so this is really only a concern if a user is running a very old, unpatched version.
• Letting a browser go more than about a year without updating can lead to noticeably degraded performance in the webmail interface, since webmail relies on modern JavaScript and CSS features that older browser engines don't optimize as well.

Example: If a user reports that webmail feels sluggish or that video calls in Online Meetings won't connect, checking whether their browser is actually up to date is a reasonable first troubleshooting step before looking at server-side causes.

Mobile

SmarterMail's webmail interface is also fully responsive, meaning the same interface that runs on desktop adapts to a phone or tablet screen rather than requiring a separate mobile site or app. Any mobile browser that supports modern CSS, JavaScript, and scripting APIs will work, including:

• Mobile Safari (iOS)
• Chrome (iOS/Android)
• Firefox (iOS/Android)
• Brave (iOS/Android)
• Edge (iOS/Android)

This is separate from native mail app support: users aren't limited to a mobile browser at all, since SmarterMail also syncs with most native mobile email, calendar, and contact apps over IMAP, CalDAV, and CardDAV (and EAS, where licensed). The mobile browser list above matters specifically for users who prefer accessing full webmail — including chat and Online Meetings — directly from a phone or tablet.

Online Meetings and WebRTC

SmarterMail's Online Meetings feature (audio, video, and screen sharing) depends on WebRTC, the real-time communication protocol used by virtually every browser-based conferencing platform on the market. Because WebRTC is now a mature, universally adopted standard, any current release of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Opera, or Brave supports it, and administrators generally don't need to worry about version-specific WebRTC gaps the way they might have several years ago.

One nuance worth knowing when troubleshooting on iOS specifically: Apple requires every browser on iOS — including Chrome and Firefox — to use Apple's own WebKit engine under the hood, rather than each browser's native engine. In practice, this means Chrome, Firefox, and Safari on the same iPhone all have essentially the same WebRTC capabilities and the same limitations, because they're all running on WebKit. This matters for support: if a user has a poor experience in Online Meetings on an iPhone, switching from Safari to Chrome or Firefox on that same device is unlikely to change the outcome, since the underlying engine handling the call hasn't changed.

Example: A user on an iPad has trouble with screen sharing in an Online Meeting and asks if switching from Safari to Chrome will help. Since both browsers run on the same WebKit engine on iOS, the switch is unlikely to resolve a WebRTC-related issue; the more useful troubleshooting steps are checking for a pending iOS update or verifying the browser itself is current.