Gmail rolls out navigation rail on Android tablets [U]

Abner Li | Jan 18 2024 - 11:01 am PT

While Gmail on foldables has used a navigation rail for several months now, that bottom bar replacement is only now making its way to Android tablets.

Update 1/18/24: The Gmail navigation rail for Android tablets is now widely rolled out following a server-side update.

With the Google Chat homescreen redesign, it just has three tabs. The new floating bar appears in the left-hand column for conversations. Gmail’s homescreen widget has also been updated to match.

Original 12/1/23: We’re starting to see the left-aligned navigation rail on the Pixel Tablet. You have a hamburger button followed by the compose button and up to four tabs: Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet. When you’re viewing a section, a circular tab indicator is used instead of a pill-shaped highlight.

Compared to the previous bottom bar, which kept the four tabs centered instead of spreading things out, the navigation rail and compose button are persistent and do not hide (such as when scrolling).

The nav rail does shrink your inbox/message list, but it isn’t particularly drastic. There is no change to the message body.

Like the Play Store and several other first-party apps, Gmail uses a bottom bar in portrait orientation. In comparison, Google Photos, TV, and Drive maintain the navigation rail. (Speaking of Google Drive, the double FAB for the new camera scanner has an interesting implementation on tablets. The main FAB remains in the nav rail, but you get the secondary one for scanning in the bottom-right corner.)

This navigation rail for Gmail on Android tablets is still rolling out. We’re starting to see it with version 2023.11.12.x, which was widely rolled out last night, but there is a server-side component.