Fans of Google’s innovative email app Inbox will have to look elsewhere in the coming months. The good news is, you have until March 2019 before you have to switch to Gmail or another app. Just another case of Google killing off an app or service, Google giveth and Google taketh.
Inbox began as an email experiment nearly four years ago for Google. It was created to test out innovative features and give users a new way to interact with their emails. At the time when it launched Gmail lacked many of the features it has today. However, with the launch of the redesign of Gmail Google has brought most of Inbox’s most popular features to their main email app.
Over the years features from Inbox have migrated over to Gmail including smart reply and most recently snoozing. Even tasks have made there way over from Inbox with the recent redesign. Currently, one absent feature is bundles which groups similar emails into a single block.
Never fear, as Google says that bundles are in the works for Gmail. Yet, at this time there is still no word on when we can expect that feature to roll out to Gmail. Hopefully, we see it before the March 2019 retirement date for Inbox.
No one likes losing their favorite app or service and being forced to transition to another. Luckily fans of Inbox still have Gmail to fall back on and won’t have to lose many of the features that made them love Inbox. In fact, Google has even thrown together a support guide for Inbox users who are switching over to Gmail to make it easier.
Google informed The Verge that none of the Inbox team had been let go which is good news for the future of Gmail. Without splitting focus between Inbox and Gmail, it’s most likely we’ll see Gmail continue to evolve and be a worthy successor and alternative to Inbox.
