Gmail is at the center of all Google Workspace utilities, and Google is always striving to make the service better. Sometimes, that means merging services with similar or overlapping functions like we saw whenGoogle Meet and Duo were fusedtogether. Google also integratedChat within Gmail, but now, we are seeing a rather Chat-like UI make its way to regular emails in the Gmail app on Android.
Replying to emails is a rather ceremonious process — you tap the Reply or Reply All button, enter a subject line, and then type out a response which usually includes a salutation and a signature. However, email can use a touch of modernization and Gmail is finally borrowing a trick from some of thebest chat-style email apps on Android. Most of them allow viewing email threads like back-and-forth conversations on an instant messaging app, and Gmail could benefit from a similar approach.
Current UI at the bottom of received emails in Gmail for Android
We recently saw Gmail for Android take a similar approach with a new message box at the bottom of emails, replacing the three large buttons forReply,Reply All, andForwardthe email you received. This new message box appears persistently at the bottom of the screen, and you don’t need to scroll to the bottom of an email to see it. Much like a message composition field in an instant messaging (IM) app like Telegram or WhatsApp, you see a paperclip icon on the far left-hand-side, which brings up the file attachment UI.
New UI with a message composition box
By default, the message box is where you may start composing a reply. However, you can use the drop-down on the left-hand-side in the message box to change toReply All, or edit the list of recipients. On the right side, you get an expand button which brings up the full-screen message composition window you may be accustomed to. It can be useful if you’re typing out a long message or replying in great detail. Outside the text field to the right, Google has placed the emoji button to quickly launch the emoji picker.
Buttons in the text field make way for more text when you start typing
If you don’t expand the text field, tapping it brings up your keyboard app of choice and moves the text field close to the middle of your screen, just like a messaging app would. The reply setting drop-down and window expansion buttons also moves out of the way to maximize the room available for your text. As a benefit to this approach, you don’t lose sight of the content you’re replying to, so composing short responses should be a breeze. Once you have some content in the message box, the emoji key may be replaced by aSendbutton on the right.
You may see this message box appear on Gmail for Android, but it seems to be a limited server-side test from Google, because we aren’t seeing it on most of our devices, even though they are on the latest beta version of the app. We still await official clarification on the reasoning behind this UI change, but having a persistent message bar gives us the same sense of comfort and ease associated with IM apps. It is also handier than picking from one of thethree Quick Reply promptsgenerated using machine learning — a feature Google introduced close to a decade ago.
