Gmail for Android should be one of the best email apps on the platform. However, I tried using it in 2024, and it is actually terrible.

Gmail for Android should be one of the best email apps on the platform. However, I tried using it in 2024, and it is actually terrible.

  • @[email protected]English
    44•1 day ago

    It’s actually better on iOS, like every other Google app, which should embarrass them. But forget the app, GMail in general is fundamentally broken and hasn’t improved in any way that I can ever recall.

    But yeah, just off the top of my head:

    • The search function is completely broken. Like, I type in the exact name of the subject and it’s nowhere to be found. And it doesn’t search the trash or spam folders either.
    • There’s no way to block senders! It just sends them to the spam folder instead! Why would anyone think that’s a good idea with the modern state of spam/scam emails!? I have to create a new filter for every spam sender…
    • “All mail” does not show you all mail. What in the actual fuck?
    • It hides the fucking sender’s email address! Like WTFBBQ!? How is this not a GIANT security vulnerability!?
    • If I click on an email, it won’t show up as read unless I sit there and stare at it for 5 seconds.

    How is any of this acceptable from the most prolific email platform on the planet!?

    My company insists on sending all communications through email, and also insists on using Gmail, which means shit just gets buried and impossible to find all the damn time.

    • @[email protected]English
      8•21 hours ago

      I cannot reproduce any of these, though I haven’t tried to block any senders.

      I’ve never seen messages not show up in a search or in all mail. It doesn’t search spam or trash by default, but you can override that by adding e.g. “in:trash” if for some reason you needed to include those. It shows me the sender email address just fine when I tap on the header. It also marks a message as read immediately on opening it. I don’t see an option to change this on Android, maybe it’s a per-account setting you can change from desktop.

      • @[email protected]English
        5•21 hours ago

        I’ve never seen messages not show up in a search or in all mail.

        Oh well if you’ve never noticed it must be a figment of my imagination…?

        It doesn’t search spam or trash by default

        Yes that’s the problem.

        It shows me the sender email address just fine when I tap on the header.

        Once again, yes, that’s the problem. Most people are not going to do that.

    • @TriflingToadEnglish
      3•21 hours ago

      when was the last time you used it on Android, and was it on a modern device? about half of those don’t really apply/happen to me

      1: yeah search sucks sometimes, wish they’d fix it.

      2: you can block people, you just have to select the lower … icon

      3: it says ‘primary mail’ for me, but it is kinda annoying sometimes

      4: are you talking about how it shortens ‘[email protected]’ to just ‘Steam’? because on a phone there isn’t much horizontal room and they have a verified system for businesses but I can kinda see what you mean

      5: It marked read nearly instantly for me. If it can load the text then it’ll mark as read which only takes like half a second for me.

      • @[email protected]English
        8•21 hours ago

        when was the last time you used it on Android

        Literally several times/day, every day?

        and was it on a modern device?

        Pixel 7

        you can block people, you just have to select the lower icon

        No you can’t. Much like “all mail” it simply doesn’t do what it says. As I said, it just moves them into the spam folder.

        are you talking about how it shortens '[email protected]

        In your own screenshot it just says “Discord”. There is no email address to be found. This makes it stupidly easy to dupe vulnerable people. You can enter any name in that field and any photo in your profile, making it stupidly easy to impersonate, for instance, PayPal or USPS, which I get all the time.