The free Gmail app can be downloaded as a standalone app on your phone, making it cleaner and sleeker than before.
It now offers support for more than one account on your iPhone. Of course, users of iOS devices might prefer to use the Mail as their primary app for emailing, but Gmail is unbeatable for its search features.
Clean Design
The Gmail app comes with a very simple design, with a menu that is collapsible andavailable on the left. Users can toggle it open and you can find folders, like Important, Starred and also Send and Drafts and so on along with any other customized folders that you have created. You will find Trash, Labels and All Mail on the bottom, whereas a button on the top allows you to switch between your Gmail accounts.
All the Basic Tools
All the main features that you must have seen in the browser-based version are present in the app as well. You can track important mail and messages in the priority inbox, organize your mail with starred messages and labels or archive them in the usual manner. As you type out an address, the app autocompletes the ‘contact them’. You can also manage several accounts and search with predictive text for inbox search.
Sorting of Mail
The app sorts your inbox with tabs for Primary, for Social and for Promotions as well as Forums and Updates. Important emails from family, friends and other regular contacts get stored in THE Primary tab. Social networking messages appear in the Social tabs and the latest sales pitches that you have singed up for, such as online shopping sites will appear in the Promotions tab, along with bills, receipts and so on. If you are a part of a forum, the threads will appear in the Forums tab. All this makes it very easy to search your mail for what is important and leaves the rest for some time later. You can also specify the notification functionalities, with no notifications, or on an account basis, or only for those marked important and so on.
Vacation Response
The Settings offers a unique and significant feature that mobile users will find very useful, namely the controls for sending automated emails for vacation response. If you have forgotten to click on the ‘out of office message’ and left on a vacation, do not worry! You can use this option for setting one.
Color Coding of Threads
You also have the Chats feature, but it is not an active service, but rather a folder where chat dialogs can be viewed, with unread mail appearing in bold and the rest in light gray. There is also a color coding used for different persons in a thread of conversation, with the one initiating the mail appearing in green, with the next in purple and the next in red and so on. The text of messages appears in any color that you opt for, with blue appearing for hyperlinks.
Search Features
The Gmail app in iPhones offers excellent search features, and can search the Mailbox thoroughly. However, the app will wait till all the letters have been typed and you hit on Search and then it starts hunting for the ‘search-terms’ in the mail.
Verdict
The Gmail app does a great job of helping you access your messages, even if you don’t have your PC or laptop with you. The app is smooth and quick and offers support for several Gmail accounts as well. Email browsing becomes very easy and launching of any other application, such as Google Drive, or Google Plus also becomes very easy from within Gmail.
- TFJ
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