Gmail for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch hits the App Store

Baby, it's been a long time coming

Gmail for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch hits the App Store. Apps, Gmail, iPhone apps, iPad apps, Google 1

2 November 2011 16:52 GMT / By Paul Lamkin

It's been a busy couple of days for the Gmail team. First up, the Gmail desktop version gets a major overhaul and now, as has been rumoured for some time, the official Gmail app for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch has finally hit the App Store.

The free app is, as described by product manager Matthew Izatt, "your favourite features from the Gmail mobile web app and iOS into one app so you can be more productive on the go".

So what exactly has it got that Uncle Goog will hope makes you stop using the native iOS email client?

For starters there's push notifications and sounds. There's also a better search function, autocompletion of addresses, easy photo uploading and a spilt view on the iPad version.

Hmmmm - we're sure we can do all this already with Apple's offering. However, the Gmail app also throws in Priority inbox, threaded conversations and archiving and labelling. It's hardly a revolution, we know.

So the burning questions remain; Why and why now? It seems that Gmail could have made this move onto the iPhone for a while.

Maybe the Gmail app may also bring better Google+ integration down the line. Who knows?

What we do know is that the iOS Gmail app is available in the App Store now and works on all devices running iOS 4+

Update: The app has been pulled just hours after release.

Full tags

Apps, Gmail, iPhone apps, iPad apps, Google