6 ms·

To add some context, Gmail also includes a lot of the core workspace apps(chat, meetings, etc) if you do have a workspace account, which most users will likely

by meibo 5y ago

To add some context, Gmail also includes a lot of the core workspace apps(chat, meetings, etc) if you do have a workspace account, which most users will likely never see. All of that isn't needed on regular accounts, I guess, but it's probably easier for them to ship it as one app because people might get confused/are able to switch between their workspace and regular accounts in the app. Gmail is also supposed to be the "hub" to workspace on their new Desktop UI.

tempnow987 5y ago
They also have an authentication option they are building in (ie, sign in with the app to web properties). I've noticed a bunch of stuff seems to be migrating into gmail. My own view is they burnt people out install allo, hangouts etc, and people DO install gmail / have gmail accounts -> so they are going to try to leverage that for distribution a bit more.
- jamra 5y ago
  That sounds like a reasonable point of view. But it could be that they are just trying to up sale their other services and can more easily do so if it’s bundled in an already used app.
  - lupire 5y ago
    That's what parent said.
alberth 5y ago
Isn't chat, meeting, etc all separate apps from Google (and not included in the core Gmail app). https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-chat/id1163852619 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-chat/id1163852619 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-meet/id1013231476 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-meet/id1013231476
- meibo 5y ago
  These are "standalone" versions, but they are also all built into Gmail if you have an account that has access to them. They do exactly the same thing on Android - Gmail has it all by default, if you want them separate, you can get them from the play store.
- munk-a 5y ago
  Drive, at least, is both a separate app and integrated - if you try and open a docx file in GMail it will invoke some of the drive code to render it.
- squeaky-clean 5y ago
  They've shoved all that functionality into the Gmail app. I actually uninstalled Gmail because it became the default app to open Google Meet video calls, even with Google Meet installed. I don't need my email app asking me for video and microphone permissions...
  - lupire 5y ago
    > I don't need my email app asking me for video and microphone permissions... You do if it is also your video chat app. If not, decline permissions.
    - squeaky-clean 5y ago
      ....which I said I did but still could not opens video chat links in their dedicated video chat app because it open Gmail anyways, which then just crashes with an error that it doesn't have permissions
  - lxgr 5y ago
    This specific case is more of an artifact of iOS's inability to handle multiple apps declaring the same URI launch scheme cleanly than a problem with Gmail on iOS, in my opinion. Picking a default handler for a given scheme seems like a problem best solved at the OS level, and I don't even know how an app developer would be able to fix that.
lxgr 5y ago
Gmail being a "hub app" makes some sense, actually (unless you're not using Chat or Meet, of course). What annoys me much more than that is that Docs, Sheets and Presentations all are multi-hundred megabyte standalone apps, of which I'm guessing 80%-90% of the code is identical/pulled in from some non-shared library.
- Melatonic 5y ago
  Yea I am definitely one of those people who hates all that crap in my email app - I have workspace at work and normal gmail for home use and even on desktop it just annoys me. I like having a big fat separate chat window for all the people I'm annoying
- acchow 5y ago
  I wonder when iOS will allow for dynamically linked shared libraries from the same Developer account.
  - hirako2000 5y ago
    And introduce a well known problem, not so well solved by OS makers and their developers outside Linux (somewhat). Windows and its developer community kept failing, it has improved in the recent years though, Apple decided long ago they would rather sacrifice space to guarantee a package will execute as intended. (even so, sometimes still fails as native libraries do change and aren't packaged). And upsell larger storage as highly profitable addons.
    - Dylan16807 5y ago
      You don't need to introduce any problems. Splitting a package and deduplicating the downloads doesn't imply mixing versions.
      - hirako2000 5y ago
        Maybe there is a dep linking pattern I'm unfamiliar with then. Afaik static linking, or packaging dependencies along with the main binary and dynamic linking or depending on libraries present on the system (with or without the integrated feature of conditionally fetching those prior to install/execution of that main binary) are the two battle tested approaches to distribute apps. The first duplicates stuff, the second leads to compatibility surprises when developers think version 12.1.6 of one of the hundreds of dependencies is compatible but in fact only tested with 12.1.3 and assumes semver is always honored, then poor user user on that just one dependency update is left with an app that crashes. If you don't mind explaining what splitting a package and de duplicating the download is, and how it prevents the issue I mention that would make me learn something :)

by meibo 5y ago

tempnow987 5y ago

They also have an authentication option they are building in (ie, sign in with the app to web properties). I've noticed a bunch of stuff seems to be migrating into gmail. My own view is they burnt people out install allo, hangouts etc, and people DO install gmail / have gmail accounts -> so they are going to try to leverage that for distribution a bit more.

jamra 5y ago
That sounds like a reasonable point of view. But it could be that they are just trying to up sale their other services and can more easily do so if it’s bundled in an already used app.
- lupire 5y ago
  That's what parent said.

alberth 5y ago

Isn't chat, meeting, etc all separate apps from Google (and not included in the core Gmail app). https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-chat/id1163852619 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-chat/id1163852619 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-meet/id1013231476 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-meet/id1013231476

meibo 5y ago
These are "standalone" versions, but they are also all built into Gmail if you have an account that has access to them. They do exactly the same thing on Android - Gmail has it all by default, if you want them separate, you can get them from the play store.
munk-a 5y ago
Drive, at least, is both a separate app and integrated - if you try and open a docx file in GMail it will invoke some of the drive code to render it.
squeaky-clean 5y ago
They've shoved all that functionality into the Gmail app. I actually uninstalled Gmail because it became the default app to open Google Meet video calls, even with Google Meet installed. I don't need my email app asking me for video and microphone permissions...
- lupire 5y ago
  > I don't need my email app asking me for video and microphone permissions... You do if it is also your video chat app. If not, decline permissions.
  - squeaky-clean 5y ago
    ....which I said I did but still could not opens video chat links in their dedicated video chat app because it open Gmail anyways, which then just crashes with an error that it doesn't have permissions
- lxgr 5y ago
  This specific case is more of an artifact of iOS's inability to handle multiple apps declaring the same URI launch scheme cleanly than a problem with Gmail on iOS, in my opinion. Picking a default handler for a given scheme seems like a problem best solved at the OS level, and I don't even know how an app developer would be able to fix that.

lxgr 5y ago

Gmail being a "hub app" makes some sense, actually (unless you're not using Chat or Meet, of course). What annoys me much more than that is that Docs, Sheets and Presentations all are multi-hundred megabyte standalone apps, of which I'm guessing 80%-90% of the code is identical/pulled in from some non-shared library.

Melatonic 5y ago
Yea I am definitely one of those people who hates all that crap in my email app - I have workspace at work and normal gmail for home use and even on desktop it just annoys me. I like having a big fat separate chat window for all the people I'm annoying
acchow 5y ago
I wonder when iOS will allow for dynamically linked shared libraries from the same Developer account.
- hirako2000 5y ago
  And introduce a well known problem, not so well solved by OS makers and their developers outside Linux (somewhat). Windows and its developer community kept failing, it has improved in the recent years though, Apple decided long ago they would rather sacrifice space to guarantee a package will execute as intended. (even so, sometimes still fails as native libraries do change and aren't packaged). And upsell larger storage as highly profitable addons.
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    You don't need to introduce any problems. Splitting a package and deduplicating the downloads doesn't imply mixing versions.
    - hirako2000 5y ago
      Maybe there is a dep linking pattern I'm unfamiliar with then. Afaik static linking, or packaging dependencies along with the main binary and dynamic linking or depending on libraries present on the system (with or without the integrated feature of conditionally fetching those prior to install/execution of that main binary) are the two battle tested approaches to distribute apps. The first duplicates stuff, the second leads to compatibility surprises when developers think version 12.1.6 of one of the hundreds of dependencies is compatible but in fact only tested with 12.1.3 and assumes semver is always honored, then poor user user on that just one dependency update is left with an app that crashes. If you don't mind explaining what splitting a package and de duplicating the download is, and how it prevents the issue I mention that would make me learn something :)