Gmail

Google wants to better optimize first-party Android widgets for tablets, but in the meantime an update to the Gmail widget has made everything smaller.

With iOS 16 launching for the iPhone today, Google is detailing upcoming Lock Screen widgets across six major apps set to arrive over the coming weeks.

Soon after Gmail received a Material You redesign on Android last year, the bottom bar was shrunk, and Google is now taking things a step further by removing the descriptive labels.

Back in June, it emerged that Google wanted to exempt political campaign emails in the United States from Gmail’s spam filter. This spurred a lot of backlash, but the company is proceeding with the pilot program after receiving approval today from the Federal Election Commission (FEC). 

Google is now more widely rolling out Gmail’s Material You redesign – first announced last month – on the web while also teasing that a tablet revamp is coming later this year.

A bug that started overnight (PT) sees “Google For Education iOS users with an under-18 age settings” (i.e., K-12 and equivalent students) unable to access Gmail or Google Drive though the iOS apps.

Google is bringing Gmail’s email template layouts and multi-send capabilities to more Workspace users, just as they did with appointment scheduling in Calendar earlier this year.

In addition to the big Material You redesign, Gmail on the web is rolling out a sizable update to the Compose window that aims to let you send “more efficiently and confidently.”

Google is aware of an issue that sees Gmail frequently ask if you want to “continue receiving messages from this sender.” 

Google announced Material You for Gmail on the web this Thursday and it’s now starting to roll out. One notable addition that the company didn’t announce was the use of Google Sans.

Google announced today that Material You is coming to Gmail on the web in a redesign that also addresses complaints about the integrated view overhaul from earlier this year by introducing a “Gmail-only” view.

On the web, Gmail has long noted how much storage you’re using at the bottom of the page. A “Storage used” indicator is now on Gmail for Android and iOS to save you from needing to open another app or website for space management.

Today’s election campaigns will use every possible form of communication to reach voters and raise funds. Following complaints about Gmail’s filtering, Google is proposing a plan to keep political “campaign emails from ending up in spam folders.”

Back in September, Gmail introduced a useful way to further refine search results on Android, and those filters now appear when viewing labels.

For Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Google is previewing new features across several products covering Android and Workspace, including alt-text in Gmail.

Branding is always remarkably revealing. When you open Gmail, the splash screen shows that it’s part of “Google Workspace.” That brand was introduced in 2020 and compared to G Suite makes very clear that Gmail, Meet, Chat, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Keep, and Voice help you be productive. People obviously utilize Gmail for work, but many more are using it in their personal lives, and that use case, as of late, has been somewhat ignored by Google. One way to address that lack of new innovation can be found in Gmail’s past: Inbox.