16 ms·

The Gmail app for iPhone and iPad: version 2.0

137 points by Firehed 14y ago

paupino_masano 14y ago
I was kind of hoping they'd put some more effort into Sparrow after acquiring it. Even without push support: I still personally prefer that UI. I have noticed a few minor bug fixes it being released so it doesn't seem like it is completely forgotten. Still, I'll give Gmail 2.0 a go for a week to see how I like it. Who knows? I may change my mind.
einarlove 14y ago
Looks great! Hope the Sparrow team they acquired will put out a new OSX app for Gmail soon.
- moystard 14y ago
  I don't that will happen any time soon. If they do produce an app, they would cut revenues coming from advertising so I don't think it is in their interest. On mobile, the situation is different as mobile users expect to have features such as notifications, and offline browsing (I know the latter can be done using HTML 5 but users' mind is not yet at opening a browser when they know they are offline).
  - ceejayoz 14y ago
    Huh? Gmail has an app - you're commenting on a thread about its 2.0 release.
    - lotso 14y ago
      Read what s/he said. There is lost ad revenue on a desktop mail client, so the parent is saying that it makes sense for Google to push the user to the web client. This doesn't work on mobile because the user has certain expectations of how mail works on mobile.
      - moystard 14y ago
        You got my point, thank you.
- hcarvalhoalves 14y ago
  They just "acquired" Sparrow because it was an app that used their infra-structure, but bypassed Google Ads completely (showing their own ads in the free version instead).
  - DannyBee 14y ago
    Uh, no.
Osmium 14y ago
So is this the fruit of their Sparrow acquisition? Or is this unrelated?
- ryanglasgow 14y ago
  It appears to be unrelated. The lead Gmail iOS designer, Chanpory Rith, has been at Google working on this for most of the year. Not sure about the tech. http://dribbble.com/shots/843203-Gmail-2-0-Multi-login http://dribbble.com/shots/843203-Gmail-2-0-Multi-login
r27d 14y ago
I'm getting "The item you tried to buy is no longer available." when I try to update.
- D3nver 14y ago
  I'm getting the same thing.
- kylekrall 14y ago
  Workaround: delete the app from your iTunes library first, then download the 'clean' version of 2.0 rather than the update. [edit] Direct Link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480 https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480
  - jsanz 14y ago
    Thanks. This worked for me.
  - msluyter 14y ago
    How do you get to the 2.0 version? I'm not finding it via searching the app store. (I do however, find dozens of various gmail related crapware.) Edit: tried the link above and still get the same error (and I've never installed it before, so this should be a fresh install).
    - ujeezy 14y ago
      I had the same problem. I found it by searching for this string exactly: "Gmail email from Google"
      - Terretta 14y ago
        The built-in updates notification item didn't work, but searching your phrase, finding the item, and then trying "Update" did work.
  - excid3 14y ago
    This worked for me as well.
mulligan 14y ago
Nice, it finally has multi account support, which was the big reason I was still using the mobile web version.
jhaile 14y ago
Can't access the app in the app store.
marknutter 14y ago
Does anyone know if this is a native app, html5 app, or a hybrid of the two? I could have sworn that the previous version of this app was at least partially done in HTML5 because of the way the ui would re-render itself occasionally.
- dylanvee 14y ago
  I don't know, but either way it's much snappier.
- speg 14y ago
  Looks native to me, sort of similar to the Google+ app. No unified inbox though. And push notifications still don't work for me (what am I doing wrong?)
  - ahc 14y ago
    I had to go enable them in ios settings for them to show up
  - roryreiff 14y ago
    So there is definitely no unified inbox? That to me is a deal breaker. I couldn't tell from playing around with it if I was somehow missing a unified stream somewhere.
- rootinier 14y ago
  Pretty sure it's native, app size is too large to just be a viewer.
- Xuzz 14y ago
  Hybrid. You can select UI text everywhere from the message chrome to the settings page, so there's definitely HTML 5. But other parts are definitely native, like the label and account lists.
- jlu 14y ago
  I'm pretty sure it's still a hybrid app, native shell with HTML for the ui, at least the inbox and mail content area are full of HTML. The sliding out list, on the other hand, should be native code. But overall speaking its much nicer than previous version, good job !
AdamGibbins 14y ago
> You can now login to up to five Google Accounts Why a limit as low as 5?
- mikeevans 14y ago
  Do many people need more than that?
  - kyberneticka 14y ago
    Do people need less than that? Do people need exactly five? I don't think there's anything they could do to make anyone happy. People who want more than five will complain. People who have one wonder why they need up to five.
    - AdamGibbins 14y ago
      You don't know, so why create something so low? I've got 4, I'm sure theres people with 5+, so why not give the ability to have 200? It was a serious question, not a dig. Is there some iOS API restriction on the amount of "pollers" per app you can have some something?
      - heartbreak 14y ago
        Why a limit as low as 200?
- ComputerGuru 14y ago
  I think the real question is, why a limit at all? I can understand a limit of 1: it means the software was not designed to handle more than one account. State gets conflated, the software goes awry, and all hell breaks loose. But as soon as you support more than one, I can't see any reason to cap that at 5 - or any other number, for that matter.
  - mronge 14y ago
    Probably performance reasons on mobile. Past 5 large accounts the app probably starts to get slow
ommunist 14y ago
Where is "Press for human support" button?
- TylerE 14y ago
  Right below the Buy Subscription button.
ldn_tech_exec1 14y ago
After swiping right for hours, I have found that this is sadly only available in the US. What I really liked about Sparrow was the "hold to mark as read/unread", tap title to see all emails in convo, swipe up/down for next/prev, and the unified inbox. If it has all those, I would consider it.
- SimonRain 14y ago
  I couldn't find it in the app store but I did find it by click ing on one of the apps made by Google, then scrolled at the bottom and clicked on > Developer info and it was down the list. It might be because it's not yet available to all in the App Store yet. It happens to me some times when I submit an update of an app to the App Store. I get the update a few moments after receiving the "Ready for Sale" status from iTunes Connect but then my partner only got the update in the App Store a few hours later.
brianlovin 14y ago
I finally reinstalled now that they support multiple accounts - but really? No unified inbox? Sparrow still has a leg-up, in my opinion, despite being out of the dev cycle for a few months now.
- untog 14y ago
  I wonder what the usage figures are on a unified inbox by Gmail users. I have multiple accounts, which I suspect puts me in a minority, and don't even want to use unified inbox.
- swampthing 14y ago
  They don't even have that for their web or Android clients - I doubt you'll see the iPhone client ever surpass those.
- hnriot 14y ago
  I specifically don't want a unified inbox. For that you can simply use the regular iOS mail app. What I use gmail for is accounts that I want to keep separate, for consulting business and not get that intertwined with my personal email. What you see as a shortcoming is for me a feature. someone always complains, but really, this is a great app. Google had a bit of a shake start with their gmail app, but now the suite of google apps, Drive, Gmail, Search, Voice Search, Goggles, YouTube, Chrome etc are all world-class. When Google Maps comes out I am sure that will be too.
  - Firehed 14y ago
    It's not like you have to pick between the two even with the default Mail.app - you can browse one inbox at a time or select "all inboxes". I happen to like unified view 90% of the time, but for that other 10% it's literally two taps to view a single inbox at a time (back, select specific inbox).
  - brianlovin 14y ago
    Don't get me wrong - v2.0 is vastly better than the last version. I guess I just check multiple accounts frequently enough that the three taps it takes to switch inboxes is a bit of a drag.
MrDrone 14y ago
I really wish it had a "Mark all as read" button. Until then, I'll stick with Sparrow.
kamakazizuru 14y ago
cant seem to update or re-download it!
rootinier 14y ago
It's much nicer than the previous version. But still, why would you use it? The standard mail client along with Google Sync (Exchange) does the job quite good. I don't like having two apps for mailing and I'm sure many of you have a second mail account that is not Gmail (for Google Apps).
- 2arrs2ells 14y ago
  The lack of server-side search when using a Gmail account with iOS mail is a huge problem for me.
  - dteoh 14y ago
    I set up Gmail on iOS as an Exchange account and server side searching works for me.
- ahc 14y ago
  search and labels for me
- mootothemax 14y ago
  But still, why would you use it? The standard mail client along with Google Sync (Exchange) does the job quite good. I still can't find a way to have at the same time both push support and the ability to star/flag messages on the phone and have them starred in the browser. Now they have support for multiple accounts, I'll be giving the Gmail app an in-depth try. Edit: that said, if anyone does know how to set up starring and push support at the same time, I'm all ears!
  - EdJiang 14y ago
    Using the flag feature on my iPhone stars the email. I'm using the Exchange method of connecting to email.
    - mootothemax 14y ago
      Do you have push notifications turned on as well? For some reason it seems that I can't have both at the same time.
capo 14y ago
If the update hasn't propagated your way still and you're getting an error try deleting it then reinstall using this link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480?mt=8
- xbryanx 14y ago
  I am still getting a "The item you tried to buy is no longer available." error with this link. I've never installed the GMail app before.
ChuckMcM 14y ago
Wow, I like Google, I worked there for a while, sadly this is not a shining example of "Googliness". Let's count the challenges shall we? 1) If you happen to click the link for Version 2.0 in the Chrome browser running on an iPad it gives you a blank screen. 2) If you happen to click on the link in the Safari browser it gives you the download page but the App store says "This App is no longer available" 3) If you read the announcement all you see are iPhone screen shots, which makes me wonder if "iPad support" consists of a "2X" in the corner of the screen like it does on the Google Voice app. Gee, That lets me use 16 pixels on my retina display to show one pixel in your App, I'm so thrilled. Ok that last bit was a pretty snarky, the snark comes from my massive disappointment at how unbelievably bad Google has been at dealing with the existence of tablets. Have you tried to use Google Docs on a tablet? Gmail? Reader? Every product they own has the "mobile" version which assumes you can hit every button with your thumb, or the "desktop" version which assumes you've got a keyboard and 5 button mouse under your fingers. Hello, its been years. Here is hoping that when they actually put Gmail 2.0 back into the App store it is useful on iPads. I've got $10 - $20 for the right email client for the iPad, anyone want that money?
- hnriot 14y ago
  How are these Google's problems? These are all Apple screwing up the update. The direct link provided in many of the comments still works https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480?mt=8 click this and don't worry, the iPad app isn't an iPhone app with 2X.
  - ChuckMcM 14y ago
    Ok, just clicked that exact link with my iPad and once I authenticate with Apple it says "the item you tried to buy is no longer available" My rant however is that Google, in general, hasn't made strong product offerings out of their core products for the tablet experience. I could see not investing initially when it was unclear if tablets were a fad or not but it is now well past the point where people should be arguing that they are 'just a fad' (I don't know that anyone does any more, just saying that if they did, it would be silly) and Google can (and has) executed really well in the past in response to things that could be solved by pushing out more ECMAscript code to the web site. I really wish that selector at the bottom of the web interface to gmail was "Mobile * Tablet * Desktop" not just "Mobile * Desktop"
g-garron 14y ago
Now with this and Chrome for iPad. I think I prefer an ipad over an Android Tablet ;)
hcarvalhoalves 14y ago
Dear Google, That's what you bought Sparrow for?
twodayslate 14y ago
Now I just have to wait for a jailbreak tweak so I can make this my default mail app on iPhone...
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
blario 14y ago
Still can't mark emails important or not important. Disappointed...
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
adnans 14y ago
Disappointed that Google's own application doesn't support 2-step authentication and application specific password.
- natrius 14y ago
  Don't all Google products support application specific passwords? Without built-in support for two-factor auth, it's cumbersome since you have to generate a password on your own, but anything with a password box works.
- ropiku 14y ago
  What do you mean ? I seemed like web login to me. I got asked for my username and password then my token.
  - adnans 14y ago
    I was asked for my normal password and not an application specific password.
    - antoncohen 14y ago
      That's the way 2-step auth works. If you have 2-step auth enabled, and the application supports 2-step it will prompt for your username, normal password, and a one-time token. If the application doesn't support 2-step you have to generate an application specific password (which is a random string). The application specific passwords are only for clients that don't support 2-step (like IMAP and XMPP clients).
- timothya 14y ago
  I don't know what you're talking about, I logged in using my password and OTP without any problems.
gte910h 14y ago
I wonder if they fixed the constant notification spam on this one.
- acdha 14y ago
  Nope - it's still all or nothing. Hope you don't get much mail…
  - gte910h 14y ago
    Well thanks for saving me time from installing this POS They even send LOCAL notifications to override my notifications preferences for no notifications.
gsharma 14y ago
Way better than the first version. Still missing things Sparrow is good at: 1. Send & Archive button/setting 2. Option for 'Delete' and 'Archive' on swiping an email in the inbox. 3. Hold to mark as read/unread for an email.
- BryanB55 14y ago
  Agree. I havent been able to download the Gmail app yet but I always thought the swipe to be able to archive or delete was really useful. Send & Archive was great as well. I've been slowly looking for a new mail client on iphone lately because it seems like Sparrow is much slower to receive mail than the standard mail app.
malyk 14y ago
Of course, the blog post seriously breaks when viewed on an iPhone (and rotated from landscape to portrait) and breaks the back button. Lame. Otherwise the app update looks pretty good.
ZoFreX 14y ago
As an Android user it's disheartening to see that the best mobile GMail app is available for iOS only. As an Android user that recently downgraded from 4.0 to 2.3, it is frankly infuriating: you can only get the latest GMail app for Android if you are on 3.0+, which leaves the vast majority of Android users stuck with what is now a 4th rate app.
- pablasso 14y ago
  That's a huge plus of iOS being a developer, you can safely target year old releases without a problem.
  - chimeracoder 14y ago
    > That's a huge plus of iOS being a developer, you can safely target year old releases without a problem. I'd say the big plus is that you can safely target only the newer releases without a problem, because power users just rush out and buy the newest iPhone when it comes out. I got an iPhone 4S in June, and I'm already getting told that I can't upgrade certain applications because I'm not running iOS6 on an iPhone 5.
    - deveac 14y ago
      >I'd say the big plus is that you can safely target only the newer releases without a problem, because power users just rush out and buy the newest iPhone when it comes out. Even more than that, the adoption rate for users on existing devices is just incredible. So new devices with the newest version of the OS sell like hotcakes, existing users upgrade like crazy, and Apple pushes new version quite far backwards across those existing devices to boot.
    - gurkendoktor 14y ago
      > I got an iPhone 4S in June, and I'm already getting told that I can't upgrade certain applications because I'm not running iOS6 on an iPhone 5. Which apps require an iPhone 5? I think this is technically possible by submitting an armv7s-only binary, but I don't see why anyone would do that. Except maybe to sell "I am rich 2". Requiring iOS6 I can understand, because for phone-only apps, you can target almost the same devices as with iOS5 (minus iPod 3G and people who do not want to update, for e.g. performance reasons).
CoachRufus87 14y ago
this app looks great, but there could be fewer clicks when it comes to account switching
dinedal 14y ago
Why oh why must blogspot.com break the _back_ button, of all things?
evo_9 14y ago
So did they just buy Sparrow to shutter it? Or for a talent grab? Why wouldn't they rebrand a full native app (that kicks ass too) and run with that? Not taking anything from this, it's very nice too, but I would have preferred they left Sparrow alone if they didn't intend on using it at all going forward.
jaytaylor 14y ago
FWIW the last time I used Gmail from a webkit-based mobile browser it worked very nicely.
gfodor 14y ago
Welp, two showstoppers for me over the native iOS mail. First, it looks like to check my mail I need to toggle between all my accounts. There is no unified inbox. Second, Priority Inbox is not supported beyond having a separate folder for "Important and Unread." On GMail proper, priority items go to the top and are marked accordingly, the Inbox unread count is the priority unread count, and hence I tend to leave non-priority items unread to get to inbox zero. So, iOS experience if you are a priority inbox user is completely broken unless I am missing something.
micah63 14y ago
Pretty good update, 3 gripes: 1 - No contacts, I know you can use native app, but I want them in gmail 2 - No groups, can't send a message to a group 3 - Autocapitalization turned on, overrides iOS settings Conclusion, no better than native app.
andrewkkirk 14y ago
Is the Google+ integration as evident as the web client? I really don't want the distraction of G+ inside my mobile clients.
aaung368 14y ago
Kyawkyawlwin11
- aaung368 14y ago
  Kyawkyawlwin11

137 points by Firehed 14y ago

I was kind of hoping they'd put some more effort into Sparrow after acquiring it. Even without push support: I still personally prefer that UI. I have noticed a few minor bug fixes it being released so it doesn't seem like it is completely forgotten. Still, I'll give Gmail 2.0 a go for a week to see how I like it. Who knows? I may change my mind.

einarlove 14y ago

Looks great! Hope the Sparrow team they acquired will put out a new OSX app for Gmail soon.

moystard 14y ago
I don't that will happen any time soon. If they do produce an app, they would cut revenues coming from advertising so I don't think it is in their interest. On mobile, the situation is different as mobile users expect to have features such as notifications, and offline browsing (I know the latter can be done using HTML 5 but users' mind is not yet at opening a browser when they know they are offline).
- ceejayoz 14y ago
  Huh? Gmail has an app - you're commenting on a thread about its 2.0 release.
  - lotso 14y ago
    Read what s/he said. There is lost ad revenue on a desktop mail client, so the parent is saying that it makes sense for Google to push the user to the web client. This doesn't work on mobile because the user has certain expectations of how mail works on mobile.
    - moystard 14y ago
      You got my point, thank you.
hcarvalhoalves 14y ago
They just "acquired" Sparrow because it was an app that used their infra-structure, but bypassed Google Ads completely (showing their own ads in the free version instead).
- DannyBee 14y ago
  Uh, no.

Osmium 14y ago

So is this the fruit of their Sparrow acquisition? Or is this unrelated?

ryanglasgow 14y ago
It appears to be unrelated. The lead Gmail iOS designer, Chanpory Rith, has been at Google working on this for most of the year. Not sure about the tech. http://dribbble.com/shots/843203-Gmail-2-0-Multi-login http://dribbble.com/shots/843203-Gmail-2-0-Multi-login

r27d 14y ago

I'm getting "The item you tried to buy is no longer available." when I try to update.

D3nver 14y ago
I'm getting the same thing.
kylekrall 14y ago
Workaround: delete the app from your iTunes library first, then download the 'clean' version of 2.0 rather than the update. [edit] Direct Link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480 https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480
- jsanz 14y ago
  Thanks. This worked for me.
- msluyter 14y ago
  How do you get to the 2.0 version? I'm not finding it via searching the app store. (I do however, find dozens of various gmail related crapware.) Edit: tried the link above and still get the same error (and I've never installed it before, so this should be a fresh install).
  - ujeezy 14y ago
    I had the same problem. I found it by searching for this string exactly: "Gmail email from Google"
    - Terretta 14y ago
      The built-in updates notification item didn't work, but searching your phrase, finding the item, and then trying "Update" did work.
- excid3 14y ago
  This worked for me as well.

mulligan 14y ago

Nice, it finally has multi account support, which was the big reason I was still using the mobile web version.

jhaile 14y ago

Can't access the app in the app store.

marknutter 14y ago

Does anyone know if this is a native app, html5 app, or a hybrid of the two? I could have sworn that the previous version of this app was at least partially done in HTML5 because of the way the ui would re-render itself occasionally.

dylanvee 14y ago
I don't know, but either way it's much snappier.
speg 14y ago
Looks native to me, sort of similar to the Google+ app. No unified inbox though. And push notifications still don't work for me (what am I doing wrong?)
- ahc 14y ago
  I had to go enable them in ios settings for them to show up
- roryreiff 14y ago
  So there is definitely no unified inbox? That to me is a deal breaker. I couldn't tell from playing around with it if I was somehow missing a unified stream somewhere.
rootinier 14y ago
Pretty sure it's native, app size is too large to just be a viewer.
Xuzz 14y ago
Hybrid. You can select UI text everywhere from the message chrome to the settings page, so there's definitely HTML 5. But other parts are definitely native, like the label and account lists.
jlu 14y ago
I'm pretty sure it's still a hybrid app, native shell with HTML for the ui, at least the inbox and mail content area are full of HTML. The sliding out list, on the other hand, should be native code. But overall speaking its much nicer than previous version, good job !

AdamGibbins 14y ago

> You can now login to up to five Google Accounts Why a limit as low as 5?

mikeevans 14y ago
Do many people need more than that?
- kyberneticka 14y ago
  Do people need less than that? Do people need exactly five? I don't think there's anything they could do to make anyone happy. People who want more than five will complain. People who have one wonder why they need up to five.
  - AdamGibbins 14y ago
    You don't know, so why create something so low? I've got 4, I'm sure theres people with 5+, so why not give the ability to have 200? It was a serious question, not a dig. Is there some iOS API restriction on the amount of "pollers" per app you can have some something?
    - heartbreak 14y ago
      Why a limit as low as 200?
ComputerGuru 14y ago
I think the real question is, why a limit at all? I can understand a limit of 1: it means the software was not designed to handle more than one account. State gets conflated, the software goes awry, and all hell breaks loose. But as soon as you support more than one, I can't see any reason to cap that at 5 - or any other number, for that matter.
- mronge 14y ago
  Probably performance reasons on mobile. Past 5 large accounts the app probably starts to get slow

ommunist 14y ago

Where is "Press for human support" button?

TylerE 14y ago
Right below the Buy Subscription button.

ldn_tech_exec1 14y ago

After swiping right for hours, I have found that this is sadly only available in the US. What I really liked about Sparrow was the "hold to mark as read/unread", tap title to see all emails in convo, swipe up/down for next/prev, and the unified inbox. If it has all those, I would consider it.

SimonRain 14y ago
I couldn't find it in the app store but I did find it by click ing on one of the apps made by Google, then scrolled at the bottom and clicked on > Developer info and it was down the list. It might be because it's not yet available to all in the App Store yet. It happens to me some times when I submit an update of an app to the App Store. I get the update a few moments after receiving the "Ready for Sale" status from iTunes Connect but then my partner only got the update in the App Store a few hours later.

brianlovin 14y ago

I finally reinstalled now that they support multiple accounts - but really? No unified inbox? Sparrow still has a leg-up, in my opinion, despite being out of the dev cycle for a few months now.

untog 14y ago
I wonder what the usage figures are on a unified inbox by Gmail users. I have multiple accounts, which I suspect puts me in a minority, and don't even want to use unified inbox.
swampthing 14y ago
They don't even have that for their web or Android clients - I doubt you'll see the iPhone client ever surpass those.
hnriot 14y ago
I specifically don't want a unified inbox. For that you can simply use the regular iOS mail app. What I use gmail for is accounts that I want to keep separate, for consulting business and not get that intertwined with my personal email. What you see as a shortcoming is for me a feature. someone always complains, but really, this is a great app. Google had a bit of a shake start with their gmail app, but now the suite of google apps, Drive, Gmail, Search, Voice Search, Goggles, YouTube, Chrome etc are all world-class. When Google Maps comes out I am sure that will be too.
- Firehed 14y ago
  It's not like you have to pick between the two even with the default Mail.app - you can browse one inbox at a time or select "all inboxes". I happen to like unified view 90% of the time, but for that other 10% it's literally two taps to view a single inbox at a time (back, select specific inbox).
- brianlovin 14y ago
  Don't get me wrong - v2.0 is vastly better than the last version. I guess I just check multiple accounts frequently enough that the three taps it takes to switch inboxes is a bit of a drag.

MrDrone 14y ago

I really wish it had a "Mark all as read" button. Until then, I'll stick with Sparrow.

kamakazizuru 14y ago

cant seem to update or re-download it!

rootinier 14y ago

It's much nicer than the previous version. But still, why would you use it? The standard mail client along with Google Sync (Exchange) does the job quite good. I don't like having two apps for mailing and I'm sure many of you have a second mail account that is not Gmail (for Google Apps).

2arrs2ells 14y ago
The lack of server-side search when using a Gmail account with iOS mail is a huge problem for me.
- dteoh 14y ago
  I set up Gmail on iOS as an Exchange account and server side searching works for me.
ahc 14y ago
search and labels for me
mootothemax 14y ago
But still, why would you use it? The standard mail client along with Google Sync (Exchange) does the job quite good. I still can't find a way to have at the same time both push support and the ability to star/flag messages on the phone and have them starred in the browser. Now they have support for multiple accounts, I'll be giving the Gmail app an in-depth try. Edit: that said, if anyone does know how to set up starring and push support at the same time, I'm all ears!
- EdJiang 14y ago
  Using the flag feature on my iPhone stars the email. I'm using the Exchange method of connecting to email.
  - mootothemax 14y ago
    Do you have push notifications turned on as well? For some reason it seems that I can't have both at the same time.

capo 14y ago

If the update hasn't propagated your way still and you're getting an error try deleting it then reinstall using this link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480?mt=8

xbryanx 14y ago
I am still getting a "The item you tried to buy is no longer available." error with this link. I've never installed the GMail app before.

ChuckMcM 14y ago

Wow, I like Google, I worked there for a while, sadly this is not a shining example of "Googliness". Let's count the challenges shall we? 1) If you happen to click the link for Version 2.0 in the Chrome browser running on an iPad it gives you a blank screen. 2) If you happen to click on the link in the Safari browser it gives you the download page but the App store says "This App is no longer available" 3) If you read the announcement all you see are iPhone screen shots, which makes me wonder if "iPad support" consists of a "2X" in the corner of the screen like it does on the Google Voice app. Gee, That lets me use 16 pixels on my retina display to show one pixel in your App, I'm so thrilled. Ok that last bit was a pretty snarky, the snark comes from my massive disappointment at how unbelievably bad Google has been at dealing with the existence of tablets. Have you tried to use Google Docs on a tablet? Gmail? Reader? Every product they own has the "mobile" version which assumes you can hit every button with your thumb, or the "desktop" version which assumes you've got a keyboard and 5 button mouse under your fingers. Hello, its been years. Here is hoping that when they actually put Gmail 2.0 back into the App store it is useful on iPads. I've got $10 - $20 for the right email client for the iPad, anyone want that money?

hnriot 14y ago
How are these Google's problems? These are all Apple screwing up the update. The direct link provided in many of the comments still works https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/app/gmail/id422689480?mt=8 click this and don't worry, the iPad app isn't an iPhone app with 2X.
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  Ok, just clicked that exact link with my iPad and once I authenticate with Apple it says "the item you tried to buy is no longer available" My rant however is that Google, in general, hasn't made strong product offerings out of their core products for the tablet experience. I could see not investing initially when it was unclear if tablets were a fad or not but it is now well past the point where people should be arguing that they are 'just a fad' (I don't know that anyone does any more, just saying that if they did, it would be silly) and Google can (and has) executed really well in the past in response to things that could be solved by pushing out more ECMAscript code to the web site. I really wish that selector at the bottom of the web interface to gmail was "Mobile * Tablet * Desktop" not just "Mobile * Desktop"

g-garron 14y ago

Now with this and Chrome for iPad. I think I prefer an ipad over an Android Tablet ;)

hcarvalhoalves 14y ago

Dear Google, That's what you bought Sparrow for?

twodayslate 14y ago

Now I just have to wait for a jailbreak tweak so I can make this my default mail app on iPhone...

deleted 14y ago

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blario 14y ago

Still can't mark emails important or not important. Disappointed...

deleted 14y ago

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adnans 14y ago

Disappointed that Google's own application doesn't support 2-step authentication and application specific password.

natrius 14y ago
Don't all Google products support application specific passwords? Without built-in support for two-factor auth, it's cumbersome since you have to generate a password on your own, but anything with a password box works.
ropiku 14y ago
What do you mean ? I seemed like web login to me. I got asked for my username and password then my token.
- adnans 14y ago
  I was asked for my normal password and not an application specific password.
  - antoncohen 14y ago
    That's the way 2-step auth works. If you have 2-step auth enabled, and the application supports 2-step it will prompt for your username, normal password, and a one-time token. If the application doesn't support 2-step you have to generate an application specific password (which is a random string). The application specific passwords are only for clients that don't support 2-step (like IMAP and XMPP clients).
timothya 14y ago
I don't know what you're talking about, I logged in using my password and OTP without any problems.

gte910h 14y ago

I wonder if they fixed the constant notification spam on this one.

acdha 14y ago
Nope - it's still all or nothing. Hope you don't get much mail…
- gte910h 14y ago
  Well thanks for saving me time from installing this POS They even send LOCAL notifications to override my notifications preferences for no notifications.

gsharma 14y ago

Way better than the first version. Still missing things Sparrow is good at: 1. Send & Archive button/setting 2. Option for 'Delete' and 'Archive' on swiping an email in the inbox. 3. Hold to mark as read/unread for an email.

BryanB55 14y ago
Agree. I havent been able to download the Gmail app yet but I always thought the swipe to be able to archive or delete was really useful. Send & Archive was great as well. I've been slowly looking for a new mail client on iphone lately because it seems like Sparrow is much slower to receive mail than the standard mail app.

malyk 14y ago

Of course, the blog post seriously breaks when viewed on an iPhone (and rotated from landscape to portrait) and breaks the back button. Lame. Otherwise the app update looks pretty good.

ZoFreX 14y ago

As an Android user it's disheartening to see that the best mobile GMail app is available for iOS only. As an Android user that recently downgraded from 4.0 to 2.3, it is frankly infuriating: you can only get the latest GMail app for Android if you are on 3.0+, which leaves the vast majority of Android users stuck with what is now a 4th rate app.

pablasso 14y ago
That's a huge plus of iOS being a developer, you can safely target year old releases without a problem.
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  > That's a huge plus of iOS being a developer, you can safely target year old releases without a problem. I'd say the big plus is that you can safely target only the newer releases without a problem, because power users just rush out and buy the newest iPhone when it comes out. I got an iPhone 4S in June, and I'm already getting told that I can't upgrade certain applications because I'm not running iOS6 on an iPhone 5.
  - deveac 14y ago
    >I'd say the big plus is that you can safely target only the newer releases without a problem, because power users just rush out and buy the newest iPhone when it comes out. Even more than that, the adoption rate for users on existing devices is just incredible. So new devices with the newest version of the OS sell like hotcakes, existing users upgrade like crazy, and Apple pushes new version quite far backwards across those existing devices to boot.
  - gurkendoktor 14y ago
    > I got an iPhone 4S in June, and I'm already getting told that I can't upgrade certain applications because I'm not running iOS6 on an iPhone 5. Which apps require an iPhone 5? I think this is technically possible by submitting an armv7s-only binary, but I don't see why anyone would do that. Except maybe to sell "I am rich 2". Requiring iOS6 I can understand, because for phone-only apps, you can target almost the same devices as with iOS5 (minus iPod 3G and people who do not want to update, for e.g. performance reasons).

CoachRufus87 14y ago

this app looks great, but there could be fewer clicks when it comes to account switching

dinedal 14y ago

Why oh why must blogspot.com break the _back_ button, of all things?

evo_9 14y ago

So did they just buy Sparrow to shutter it? Or for a talent grab? Why wouldn't they rebrand a full native app (that kicks ass too) and run with that? Not taking anything from this, it's very nice too, but I would have preferred they left Sparrow alone if they didn't intend on using it at all going forward.

jaytaylor 14y ago

FWIW the last time I used Gmail from a webkit-based mobile browser it worked very nicely.

gfodor 14y ago

Welp, two showstoppers for me over the native iOS mail. First, it looks like to check my mail I need to toggle between all my accounts. There is no unified inbox. Second, Priority Inbox is not supported beyond having a separate folder for "Important and Unread." On GMail proper, priority items go to the top and are marked accordingly, the Inbox unread count is the priority unread count, and hence I tend to leave non-priority items unread to get to inbox zero. So, iOS experience if you are a priority inbox user is completely broken unless I am missing something.

micah63 14y ago

Pretty good update, 3 gripes: 1 - No contacts, I know you can use native app, but I want them in gmail 2 - No groups, can't send a message to a group 3 - Autocapitalization turned on, overrides iOS settings Conclusion, no better than native app.

andrewkkirk 14y ago

Is the Google+ integration as evident as the web client? I really don't want the distraction of G+ inside my mobile clients.

aaung368 14y ago

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aaung368 14y ago
Kyawkyawlwin11