Gmail

Google updates Gmail for iOS with iPhone 6 and 6 Plus support

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 11, 2016

The Internet giant Google has at last gotten around to updating the native Gmail application for iOS with native display support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

As a result, owners of these new devices can finally enjoy crisp typography and user interface while taking full advantage of the bigger canvas to see more of their emails and inbox without scrolling.

Now available in the App Store free of charge, the new Gmail version 3.1415926 only lists native support for the new iPhone display sizes.

Gmail for iOS update adds Google Drive support

Timothy Reavis ∙ Updated June 11, 2018

Google has released an update for its iOS Gmail app that adds support for saving attachments directly to Google Drive and inserting Google Drive files directly into email messages.

There are also new account management options for hiding accounts in the Gmail app without removing them altogether. Additionally, users can now change their profile picture in the app's settings.

Google unveils Gmail API: your email apps are about to get a lot faster and smarter

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 26, 2014

If you ever set up a Gmail account over IMAP in a third-part client like Mailbox, you're painfully aware that the experience is nowhere near Gmail's web app on desktop.

It's not Google's fault - Gmail's support for IMAP is rather smooth. To put it bluntly, IMAP just wasn't designed with all of Gmail's advanced features in mind.

For starters, typical operations over IMAP are noticeably slower compared to Gmail. Worse, IMAP does not support full searching of Gmail accounts and important features specific to Gmail - such as starring or archiving - frequently behave erratically over IMAP.

Realizing it doesn't want developers to be bogged down by IMAP's limitations, Google today at its I/O conference released the first beta of the official Gmail API.

It's a pretty big deal and here's why...

Gmail updated with iOS 7 Background App Refresh, streamlined sign in experience

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 5, 2014

Google's free Gmail app for the iPhone and iPad is being continuously improved and that's a good thing.

Now, I myself am a Mailbox convert so the only reason for keeping Gmail on my device is to occasionally check out new features. If anything, today's Gmail update gives me two new reasons to reconsider handling my email in Gmail more frequently. Now available, Gmail 3.0 brings out two major improvements.

Firstly, the app now uses Background App Refresh, a new iOS 7 technology which lets apps ask the operating system to retrieve new content even if they're not running. As a result, switching from one app back to Gmail immediately serves up-to-date inbox, negating the need to manually refresh content.

And secondly, it improves the experience by signing you in automatically using the same Google Account defined in Google's other iOS apps, such as Maps and Google+...

Gmail bug may have had you accidentally delete emails, report others as spam

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 29, 2014

A nasty bug has been discovered in Gmail that may have had you accidentally delete your email messages while reporting others as spam, Google warned Wednesday. The issue occurred on the web, the Gmail web app and its iOS application between January 15 and January 22 and is now fixed, the Internet giant said. You may want to take a look inside your spam and trash folders for any messages sent between January 12-21 that don't belong there...

Google takes on spammers by caching all Gmail images on its servers

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 12, 2013

Doesn't it bother you that Gmail on the web and mobile puts up the Show Images link at the top of your email messages that contain images, like HTML newsletters? That message will be no more real soon as Google changes how Gmail handles images in emails.

According to the official Gmail blog, both Gmail on the web and Gmail for the iPhone and iPad (and Android) will now let you see all Gmail images automatically.

Moreover, the linked images will no longer load from their original external host servers and will instead be served through Google’s own secure proxy servers. And because the images will be checked for known viruses or malware, the change will make Gmail safer and more secure, the search monster argued...

Google Maps now lets you see flight, hotel and restaurant reservations from Gmail

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 11, 2013

It's been some time since we've seen a meaningful update to Google Maps for iPhone and iPad, especially given Google Maps is probably the Internet giant's most popular product, after Search.

As if reading our mind, just an hour ago the firm has quietly pushed a minor update into the App Store. The new Google Maps version 2.5 comes with a few bug fixes and brings with it a cool new feature which lets you see your reservations from Gmail on the map.

Say you made a flight, hotel or restaurant reservation. Upon receiving the confirmation email in Gmail, Google can now take this information (they are already doing this for Google Now cards, by the way), extract the address and show you precise locations for these items within the Google Maps iOS app.

It's a minor, albeit welcome, enhancement that will up competition a notch for Apple’s own iOS Maps app. I love how little things like this make Google Maps more integrated with other Google apps. We've seen Google do this frequently and my guess is they'll continue to leverage their premium iOS apps to build a platform on top of iOS, so to speak...

Switching from Android to iPhone? Google now lets you export Gmail and Calendar data

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 5, 2013

Google Takeout is a handy service which allows you to download a copy of your data stored within Google products. Unfortunately, not all popular Google products are supported yet. Up until today, for example, two popular Google services used to be notably absent from Takeout: Gmail and Calendar.

As announced in a post over at the official Google blog, users can now export their Calendar data in the iCalendar format and Gmail archive in the MBOX format, both readily acceptable by Apple's OS X/iOS Calendar app and the stock OS X Mail program, respectively.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt recently posted a guide on switching from iPhone to Android so I guess today's news will appeal to Android/Google users looking to switch to the iOS platform...

Gmail gets full screen view on iPad and more iOS 7 goodies

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 14, 2013

Boom, Google has just updated its Gmail app for the iPhone and iPad with additional iOS 7-specific user interface tweaks and a brand new iPad full-screen view for the message compose sheet and message list in portrait. You're also going to dig a slimmed down navigation bar in landscape which you can use to quickly switch between inboxes and accounts. Finally, Google says the updated software now includes "better scrolling" experience...

Apple addresses Mavericks issues with updates for Mail and iBooks

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Good news this afternoon for folks who have been dealing with teething issues in the just-released OS X Mavericks. Apple has posted updates today for the Mail and iBooks apps, which should resolve two of the more popular complaints.

The iBooks update brings the app to version 1.0.1 and includes bug fixes and stability improvements. And the Mail update promises to improve general stability and compatibility with Gmail, solving issues that made the client unreliable...

Gmail iOS update brings Google apps integration, full screen image attachments

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Wow, you have to give it to Google for trying to take over the experience by creating a nice little ecosystem right inside Apple's iOS.

See, the Internet giant has been quite diligent about integrating its popular iPhone and iPad apps to work seamlessly together.

Take Gmail, for example.

Not only has today's update enabled a prettier attachment experience, but it's also brought out tight integration with Google apps. This is quite handy as links in email messages to Google Drive and Google+ content can now go directly to Google's native iOS apps, if installed...

FindIt: a simple iPhone app for searching Gmail, Dropbox and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 27, 2018

Folks with Gmail, Dropbox and/or Google Drive accounts will be happy to hear that there is a new app available that allows you to search through them with a single tap. It's called FindIt, and it can locate emails and files for you on all three services.

Need to pull up an old email? No problem. Just type in the name of the person who sent it to you, or part of its subject line, and FindIt will track it down. And the same goes with media and other file types. Think Spotlight search for your cloud apps...