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Google’s Gmail app on iOS has always felt like a subpar side-project when compared to Gmail on Android. But that changed on Tuesday with a version 2.0 update that brings a fresh new look and key features for iPhone and iPad users. In short, the new iOS Gmail app rocks.
Most notably, Gmail on iOS can now handle up to five Gmail accounts, a big improvement over the one, and only one, account the previous app could be tied to. The reboot brings push delivery and improved notifications, and the ability to see pictures in messages, attach multiple files to an email, and scroll infinitely though your mailboxes. And animations throughout the app run much more smoothly. In all, Gmail 2.0 is a much more stable and polished product than earlier versions of the iOS app, which were known for bugginess.
Searching through your mailboxes is now faster thanks to search predictions that pop up as you type. This makes finding a message or conversation much easier than before. And you can respond to Google calendar invites from within a message too.
Although a lot has changed in Gmail on iOS, Google has been smart enough to keep around what was good about the old app. Gmail has always had a clean, minimalist look that we’ve appreciated. But the style shown off in version 2.0 is even more mature and restrained.
If you’ve used Google’s newest Search and Google+ apps on iOS, you’ll know what we’re talking about. Like these other Google apps, Gmail on iOS is sleek, easy to use and elegant. The font you’ll see in Gmail is shared with Google+ and Google Search, and there’s a noticeable lack of superfluous chrome or 3D icons here.
The reboot still uses a sliding-card user interface, and that’s a good thing. When you’re looking at your inbox, a swipe to the right to exposes your inbox, sent mail, drafts, trash -- all you see on the left-hand side in Gmail on your browser. Everything moves and flows smoothly. We're not sure whether or not the former employees of the beloved iOS email app startup Sparrow, which was purchased by Google back in July, had anything to do with the new Gmail iOS app. But, if you're one of the many who liked Sparrow on the desktop or on iOS, you’ll like the new Gmail app on iOS.
Now, while Gmail on iOS is finally an app we can confidently describe as great, it’s certainly still not perfect. There's still no unified inbox option, and switching between messages requires going back out to your mailbox. But the biggest problem we see is the exclusion of offline email viewing, though you can see messages you checked that made it into the apps cache. Not helping things is the fact that there's no way to quickly glance and figure out which messages were cached and which ones weren’t. Still, if you’re a big-time Gmail user who has an iOS device, Gmail 2.0 is worth the download.
