Apollo is a strong sequencing and prospecting platform, and plenty of teams run their entire outbound motion through it. What it no longer does is warm your mailboxes. In 2024 Apollo retired its native email warmup feature, and the replacement, Inbox Ramp Up, solves a different problem. It gradually increases how much you send, which is useful, but it does not generate the engagement that builds sender reputation. For Apollo users whose deliverability quietly declined after the change, that distinction is the whole story.
What changed with Apollo warmup
The old warmup feature did what warming tools do: it produced engagement signals to build mailbox reputation. Its replacement does not. Here is the practical difference Apollo users are dealing with:
- Inbox Ramp Up raises your sending volume on a schedule so you do not spike from zero. It is a throttle, not a reputation engine.
- Warming generates opens, replies, mark-as-important, and spam-folder rescues, the signals receivers use to decide between the inbox and spam. Ramp Up produces none of these.
- The gap: ramping volume on a domain with no reputation simply sends more mail to the spam folder. Volume without reputation is the wrong half of the problem.
Why warmup still matters for Apollo outreach
Apollo sends your mail, but the mailboxes it sends from, your Gmail, Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365 accounts, are what receivers actually judge. Cold email lands or fails on the sending domain's reputation, and that reputation is built through engagement over time, not through volume. A new or recently-cold sending domain with great Apollo sequences still lands in spam, because the sequences are not the thing receivers distrust. The unwarmed mailbox is. This is exactly the case for why warming works independent of which tool sends the mail.
Connect your Apollo mailboxes to MailStrike
MailStrike fills the exact gap Apollo created, and it does it without changing how you run Apollo. The two tools work at different layers:
- Connect the same mailbox. Link the Gmail, Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365 inbox you send Apollo sequences from to MailStrike. The Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 guides cover setup, and SMTP works for anything else.
- MailStrike warms, Apollo sends. MailStrike builds and protects the mailbox's reputation with persona warming on a business-hours schedule, while Apollo continues running your sequences from the same inbox. No conflict, because warming runs alongside live sending.
- Warm a whole team in parallel. Every Apollo-connected inbox is warmed independently with its own persona, so a full SDR roster builds reputation at once.
Recovering deliverability that already dropped
If your inbox placement fell after Apollo's warmup ended, the reputation behind it decayed, and decayed reputation is recoverable. MailStrike re-warms the affected mailboxes with realistic engagement at a measured pace, generating the opens, replies, and spam rescues that lift placement back up. Combined with clean authentication and steady volume, a sliding domain can recover over a few weeks of consistent warming. See how warming works for the mechanics.
The short version
Apollo discontinued native warmup in 2024 and replaced it with Inbox Ramp Up, which raises volume but does not build reputation. Apollo still sends your outreach; it just no longer warms the mailboxes it sends from. MailStrike warms those same Gmail and Outlook inboxes with persona-driven engagement while Apollo runs the sequences, filling the exact gap the change left, and re-warming any deliverability that slipped in the meantime.
Frequently asked questions about Apollo and warmup
Did Apollo discontinue its email warmup?
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Yes. Apollo removed its native email warmup feature in 2024 and replaced it with a feature called Inbox Ramp Up. The two are not the same thing: Inbox Ramp Up gradually increases how much you send, but it does not build sender reputation through the engagement signals (opens, replies, mark-as-important, spam-folder rescues) that warming relies on. So Apollo users who depended on the old warmup no longer have a native way to build the reputation their deliverability needs.
Do I still need email warmup if I use Apollo?
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Yes. Apollo is a sequencing and data platform; it sends your outreach, but it does not warm the mailboxes that outreach goes out from. Cold email still depends on sender reputation, and the mailboxes you connect to Apollo (your Gmail or Outlook accounts) still need to build and maintain that reputation through engagement over time. Without warming, a new or cold sending domain lands in spam regardless of how good your Apollo sequences are.
What is the difference between Apollo Inbox Ramp Up and email warmup?
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Inbox Ramp Up controls volume: it raises your sending gradually so you do not spike from zero to a large send. Warming builds reputation: it generates the positive engagement signals receivers use to decide between the inbox and spam. Ramping volume on a domain with no reputation just sends more mail to the spam folder. You need both a sensible volume ramp and a genuine reputation, and warming is what supplies the second.
How does MailStrike work with Apollo?
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MailStrike warms the same mailboxes Apollo sends from. You connect your Gmail, Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365 inbox to MailStrike, which warms it with persona-driven engagement on a business-hours schedule, while Apollo continues to run your sequences from that same inbox. They operate at different layers: MailStrike builds and protects the mailbox's reputation, Apollo handles the outreach. There is no conflict, because warming runs alongside your live sending.
Which mailboxes can I warm for Apollo outreach?
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Any mailbox you send Apollo sequences from. MailStrike connects Gmail and Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Outlook, and any provider over SMTP, which covers the inboxes Apollo users typically send through. Each connected mailbox is warmed independently with its own persona, so a whole team's Apollo-connected inboxes can be warmed in parallel.
Can MailStrike help recover deliverability that dropped after Apollo's warmup ended?
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Yes. If your inbox placement slipped after losing native warmup, the fix is to rebuild the reputation that decayed. MailStrike re-warms the affected mailboxes with realistic engagement at a measured pace, generating the opens, replies, and spam rescues that lift placement back up. Pair that with clean authentication and steady volume, and a domain that was sliding can recover over a few weeks of consistent warming.