Inbox by Gmail, Google’s experimental email client, has only 6 months to live

The launch of the new Gmail in April was surely a sign that Inbox, Google’s productivity-focused mail app, would soon meet its demise.

Now we have an official date for the app’s end: Inbox by Gmail will be permanently out of office by the end of March 2019, the tech giant announced on Wednesday.

Google said it wants to focus solely on Gmail, which has recently adopted a number of Inbox’s features like smart replies and snoozing emails.

Launched back in 2014, Inbox by Gmail was initially invite-only and sought to compete with innovative email apps like Boxer and the now-defunct Mailbox. 

Inbox eventually opened up to the public in 2015, steadily picking up experimental, new features like gathering emails from an event, newsletter previewing, and an unsubscribe card which would appear when you didn’t click on emails for a while. 

But progress on Inbox noticeably slowed, and we can’t help but think many users preferred the comfort of Gmail rather than the flashy, if unfamiliar Inbox.

As the curtain falls, Google has prepared a guide for users transitioning from Inbox to Gmail, despite complaints from devoted Inbox users on Twitter.

They’ve complained that Inbox’s handy features, like bundling of trip-related emails and GitHub/Trello notifications, haven’t quite made their way to Gmail yet, and who knows if they will.