Last summer, Google rolled out a new redesign for Gmail on web. Though the redesign maybe rubbed some people the wrong way at first, we've had plenty of time to get used to it, as Google forced a switch for all Gmail for web users in the autumn. Now it's the mobile apps' turn, as Google has announced that a similar redesign will soon be landing on both iOS and Android.
Mozilla has a big update for Thunderbird, its email client, in the pipeline. The company hired more staff dedicated solely to full-time Thunderbird development last year, and the company plans to build upon what it got right with Thunderbird 60, adding better Gmail support and a prettier interface on top of it. The company reassures users that it has listened to their complaints and feedback and will address existing concerns.
Yesterday, Google announced its decision to discontinue Inbox by Gmail, citing the fact that many of its features are now available in Gmail proper. With that in mind, it isn't surprising to see the purge continue, and now Google has announced that it will discontinue the Gmail Offline Chrome app as well. The shut down officially happens later this year.
Google has officially announced an end for Inbox by Gmail, something users expected following the introduction of the new Gmail experience. Inbox by Gmail isn't going away immediately -- users will have until March 2019 to decide on an alternative. Fortunately, many of the features users enjoy are available in the new Gmail.
Google announced today that Gmail's confidential mode has come to mobile devices. The feature launched on desktop earlier this year, and it allows senders to restrict things like forwarding, copying, and downloading the emails they send. Senders can also set emails to expire after a certain amount of time, and, in cases where extra security is necessary, lock a message with an SMS code.
Gmail has changed the face of email for better or worse. It has offered a free service that is putting even paid premium services out of business. It has pushed for a minimalist interface that made Yahoo! Mail look and feel like the Titanic. But perhaps one of its most controversial “innovations” is one that is both hated and loved: the conversation view. Google has conceded back in 2010 that not everyone is a fan but it only offered a toggle for Gmail on the web. Mobile users won’t feel so left out anymore now that they too will have that power.
Dropbox has announced a new add-on for Gmail, the first product of a partnership between it and Google. With this add-on, Dropbox users can find any file they need from within their Gmail inbox, doing so from any browser, as well as the Gmail Android app. The company also plans to bring the new support to iOS, though it hasn't provided a launch date for that platform yet.
Your email might not be safe from prying eyes, whether you’re using Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or Outlook. And especially if you’re using third-party email clients. A recent report revealed how some developers have no qualms about letting their employees read emails that pass through their apps. Google has responded with a blog post that explains how it has mechanisms in place to prevent such abuse. Except said mechanism doesn’t seem to protect users from such third-parties and, maybe, even from Google itself.
Email is one of the oldest and most sacred Internet services still in use. Despite attempts to kill it, it remains the backbone of communication over the Internet and, as such, is a treasure trove of personal data. Exactly because of that, and the threat of lawsuits and fines, Google has stopped its practice of letting its employees read emails. But while the search giant has promised to be good, it doesn’t seem to enforce that same standard on third-party apps and developers who surprisingly admit letting their employees read those precious emails.
It's pretty safe to say that most mobile users have a love/hate relationship with their notifications. There can be times where they're really handy, and others where they're nothing more than an annoyance. Notifications for email can be particularly frustrating, especially if you're receiving dozens or hundreds of them every day.
Given the two-dimensional nature of our smartphone screens, there’s a very limited set of ways we can interact with them. In ages past, all we could do was tap and tap and hold, sometimes with some dragging action. These days, we have pinches, two to three finger panning or rotating, and swiping. Google is finally taking advantage of one of those to give a bit more functionality to its mobile apps. Yes, Google is finally letting you reassign the Swipe gesture in Gmail to more actions and has a special feature for swiping in Google Keep.
The new Gmail redesign, love it or hate it, will eventually be the default look for all users. Some people already have access to the new appearance, but many users are stuck with the current design. That'll be changing next month, Google has revealed. The company plans to make the new Gmail look available to all of its users in July, followed by a mandatory transition this fall.