After integrating Meet within Gmail, Google has decided to include Chat and Rooms within its email application (which, by the way, renewed its icon a few months ago). This new feature, which initially only reached G Suite customers (now Google Workspace), has now started to reach users of personal Google accounts.
Although it is not the final version, Google has enabled early access to test it, so it is already possible to activate it in the Gmail app for Android quickly and easily. Below, we explain how to do it step by step.
Gmail’s feature available in early access
In August last year, Google introduced the new Google Meet, Chat, and Rooms tabs in Gmail for G Suite customers. The Meet tab ended up landing early in the app for personal account users, but we have had to wait until now to have the Chat and Rooms tabs available as well.
This new feature, which arrives in version 2021.03.07.364486182 of the Gmail app for Android, is hidden in the Settings and is still in the testing phase, but it is already possible to enable it simply:
- Open the Gmail app and enter the menu by clicking on the icon in the upper left corner.
- Click on ‘Settings’.
- Tap on the account you want to integrate Chat and Rooms.
- Under the ‘General’ section, check the ‘Chat (early access)’ box.
Instantly, Google will show you a pop-up window warning that by enabling Google Chat in Gmail, you will be able to try additional features, but “bugs and other issues” may occur. It also reminds you that you can revert to the previous settings at any time. To do so, simply repeat the process and uncheck the box.
Once the feature is enabled, when we return to the home screen, several pop-up windows will highlight the changes and the possibilities of the new Gmail interface (such as reactions and smart replies). From this moment on, therefore, we will be able to access emails, chat, rooms, and video calls without leaving the Gmail app.
The possibility of activating these tabs, as we said, is in the testing phase for Gmail users on Android, but will soon arrive in a stable version and will also be extended to the iOS app.
