Google recently flipped over the counter on Gmail’s iOS app to version 4.0, an update that includes a number of helpful new features designed to take advantage of iOS 8.
The biggest productivity booster is the addition of quick actions on notifications. Now, when you get a new message, you can choose to reply to it or archive it directly from your device’s notifications at the top of the screen or from the lock screen.
Gmail is also joining the iOS 8 share sheet, allowing you to quickly add documents and images from other apps to a Gmail message. Finally, Google added a new “attachment viewer” that lets you open file attachments in Gmail and then send them to any other app on your device.
The impact on you at home: The new Gmail features will be a welcome addition for iOS 8 users. It’s about time that Google added these features to Gmail—especially quick actions—as many other mail apps jumped on the advantages of iOS 8 long ago.
Trying out the app
Using the new features in Gmail is very straightforward. Swipe from right-to-left to reveal the new reply and archive options. Swipe the other way from the lock screen to open the message directly.
To see the attachment viewer, just tap on any attachment in your message and then you’ll have the option to open the file in another app via a share sheet. Similarly, Gmail appears in the share sheet on other apps.
The new Gmail for iOS is available now from the App Store for both iPhone and iPad.
Author: Ian Paul, Contributor
Ian is an independent writer based in Israel who has never met a tech subject he didn't like. He primarily covers Windows, PC and gaming hardware, video and music streaming services, social networks, and browsers. When he's not covering the news he's working on how-to tips for PC users, or tuning his eGPU setup.