Gmail moving low-priority emails to refreshed ‘Updates’ inbox on Android, iOS

Abner Li | May 24 2024 - 10:44 am PT

Google is rolling out a refreshed “Updates” inbox to Gmail for Android and iOS that aims to help users “focus on the emails that matter most.”

Gmail has long offered auto-categorizing inboxes — Promotions, Social, Updates, and Forums — in addition to the Primary one. (Those that just want a reverse-chronological list of messages can turn those categories off.)

Google is now enhancing the behavior of the “Updates” inbox, which today is home to “Personal, auto-generated updates, including confirmations, receipts, bills, and statements.”

Gmail will move lower priority emails that may “not need your immediate intention,” like automatic airline mileage statements or account creation confirmations, from the Primary to the Updates inbox.

This is meant to better prioritize what actually appears in the Primary inbox.

After experimenting with this change and seeing positive feedback, Gmail is now rolling out this refreshed Updates inbox. Once available, Google will show a banner in the Primary inbox threadlist explaining the update.

Now, Gmail puts messages that may not need your immediate attention in Updates. You can change this any time in settings.

Notably, if you already have Primary, Social, and Promotions enabled (which is the default for most people), this new Updates inbox will be turned on automatically. You can disable it from Gmail Settings > email account > Inbox categories.

Google tells us today that this is starting to gradually roll out to Gmail for Android and iOS.

The Google Workspace team continues to deliver new features that have proven benefits to our users. Recently, we conducted an experiment that activates a refreshed version of the Updates inbox in Gmail. We received positive feedback from participants and are now bringing the feature to additional users to help them focus on the emails that matter most to them.
Google spokesperson