Gmail for iOS finally gets customizable swipe actions

Google is making yet another prominent change to Gmail — one that will make it easier to get work done in a hurry.

The search giant announced on Thursday that its Gmail for iOS app will be updated to add several new customizable swipe actions: archive, trash, mark as read, mark as unread, snooze, and move to [a different folder].

The feature is basically an extension of what’s been available for Android since June 2018. Swipe actions, of course, have been available on iOS for a long time, but haven’t been customizable until today. Google says the feature will rollout to all iOS users over the next 15 days — so don’t stress if you don’t see the new feature right away.

This update is part of a larger productivity push for Gmail that Google announced earlier this year. Google has been gradually sprinkling in new features and small fixes to make the Gmail experience less cluttered and tedious, but it has seemingly come at the expense of some of the email service’s more dedicated users. 

Google is shutting down its Inbox by Gmail app at the end of March, which left its loyal fans fairly upset earlier this month. Inbox was designed with productivity in mind and was already a cleaner Gmail experience than the default app. 

Some of Inbox’s key features, like auto-generated replies to simple messages, have already made it into Gmail proper; however, Google has yet to put every Inbox feature into Gmail, so the perfect official Gmail app doesn’t quite exist yet. 

With Google’s stated commitment to making the regular Gmail app better on the productivity front, here’s to hoping the app can please everyone in the near future.