Google announced in September that it would be shutting down Inbox in early 2019. The news was upsetting seeing as how Inbox was much better than Gmail in certain respects. It had a lot of smart features Gmail didn't have, and it integrated them into the experience so well.
While Inbox is going away for good this March, some of its best features might live on — in Gmail. Although Google has ported over much of Inbox's features to its main email service, the arguably most crucial ones — reminders, pinned messages, and category bundles — are still missing.
More Inbox Features Coming To Gmail
However, like smart replies and autofill sentences, they might be coming as well. A Reddit user has acquired alleged screenshots of what appears to be a test version of Gmail with those aforementioned features. Nothing is set in stone in the rumor mill, of course. The Reddit user stressed that this was "very early," and that there were "different design iterations" in progress. Below is the photo that he said he received "from a friend."
Again, this might not end up as the final version that users are going to get — and that's assuming that Google is indeed porting over the features in question. Even still, it's not unprecedented, and would be well-timed when the I/O developers conference hits this May. That said, Inbox holdouts should still refrain from celebrating early. After all, it's not unheard of for Google to axe features that it's working on.
Many features from Inbox have come to Gmail, that much is clear. Porting everything else before the app shuts down makes sense. Inbox really only served as Google's test bed for experimental email features.
In that regard, Inbox users were kind of beta testers, and Google probably used their feedback to determine whether a certain feature has been perfected and can move on to the main Gmail app. At least that's what it looks like now, with most of what made Inbox excellent now fully operational on Gmail.
Material Design
The app is scheduled to receive a major design overhaul in the coming weeks, which will finally bring Google's signature Material Design to Gmail. What would be better than a bunch of new features to complement its fresh new look, right?
Thoughts on more Inbox features coming over to Gmail? As always, feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
