Google introduced ‘Inbox by Gmail” back in 2014 as a lighter, gesture-driven email client that lets users prioritize emails and treat them like tasks. The app that has since been available on iOS, Android and the web, provided features like Reminder, Assist, and Snooze, helping alleviate the need to use multiple apps for managing emails as well as tasks that are linked to it. However, as Gmail and Android advanced, many of those features made it to the OS either through the full-blown email client or Google Assistant, making Inbox redundant.
With Gmail itself receiving a major material design update on the web last year, Google deemed it necessary to shift users’ attention to the mainstream service and announced the retirement of Inbox. Though not all features made it out of the beloved service into Gmail, popular features such as the ability to snooze emails, smart replies and follow-ups were present. However, it looks like more of Inbox’s features are slated to make it to Gmail if an image of a leaked internal build of the Android app is to be believed.
The leaked image that comes from a Reddit user shows off what looks like an updated Gmail app containing features that Inbox users would be familiar with. The most prominent of them all is the email bundle named “Tech News”. Bundles in Inbox let users categorize and group emails of a particular type to be able to view those emails instantly. In addition to bundles, there seems to be a reminder at the top of the email list. However, it isn’t clear if these reminders would be served from the Google Assistant back-end, through the Google Tasks or both. The ability to view only pinned items might also be an addition, as the pin toggle is present at the top right.
The source adds that “there"s still plenty of work to be done before all of Inbox"s features get transferred over to Gmail”. The updated Gmail app with the refreshed design began rolling out to users a few days ago. With Inbox being discontinued entirely by March 2019, it wouldn’t be surprising to begin seeing the deprecated features in Gmail sooner than later. Google has provided a guide that details the features that one can use in Gmail in place of the ones that existed in Inbox.
Via: XDA Developers