Gmail

On Chromebooks, you can access most Google services with either the website or the Android app. Google today updated Gmail for Android on Chrome OS with the latest Material You redesign, but more importantly the latest app icon.

Besides appearing in the top-right corner of every Google app, your avatar is most prominently used for Gmail. A new “Google Illustrations” tool lets you find and build a custom profile picture.

Last week, Google’s new design language started widely rolling out to Gmail for Android in some countries. As part of that launch, Google notably shrunk down the Material You bottom bar in Gmail.

The most full-featured Gmail experience is still found on the web, but the mobile apps continue to pick up more and more capabilities. Gmail for Android is now gaining “improved search” through a set of filters. 

Gmail on the web is set to get a navigation revamp this summer, while the Android app is now beginning to roll out a Material You redesign. 

Google continues to add more features to Chat as it becomes available for more and more people ahead of the classic Hangouts depreciation. The Google Chat web app is now integrating Tenor GIF search.

The process of shutting down classic Hangouts for Workspace users is almost complete, as Google this week enables the integrated Gmail with Chat and Rooms for even more paid accounts.

With Chat serving as a key part of the integrated Gmail experience, Google lets users quickly specify their activity status. In addition to the existing availability options, you’re now able to set a custom status in Gmail and Chat on the web.

As of last month, all personal Google Accounts can enable the new Gmail that supports Chat and Rooms. The latter aspect, which will soon be renamed to “Spaces,” allows for large-scale productivity. Gmail now supports opening a Google Slides presentation directly to allow for multitasking with Chat. 

Announced last month alongside Workspace becoming available “for everyone” (i.e., free personal accounts), Google said today that its “Individual” tier is now available in five countries for those with a small business or other “passion project.”

To improve user trust in emails, the industry created the Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) standard. Gmail will start rolling out the resulting verified company logos over the coming weeks.

Gmail has seen a number of big changes in recent weeks, but Google is now rolling out a smaller one to the web client that better surfaces the advanced search capability to end users.

Last year, Google announced that the future of Gmail will see Chat messaging and group Rooms join the existing Meet video calling integration. This is already available to enterprise Workspace users, and Google is now letting personal Gmail accounts get this “integrated workspace.”

A key part of Google’s integrated vision for productivity is routing everything through the Gmail apps. As part of Workspace becoming available “for everyone,” Gmail is getting streamlined navigation on the web, while Google Chat’s “Rooms” will soon be called “Spaces.”

I/O 2021 introduced a flurry of productivity-oriented features to bring Workspace apps closer together. Gmail is now adding a convenient “Save to Google Photos” shortcut for consumers. 

At I/O 2021 on Tuesday, Google spent part of the keynote talking about privacy and security. It’s following that up with a prominent “We protect your privacy” message in Gmail and Google Photos.

Preventing “unintentional data loss” is a big concern for companies, and Gmail is now adding an “External” badge on email conversations that include recipients outside your Google Workspace organization.