The Gmail app gains a new inbox widget on iPhone and iPad

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Gmail On Iphone
Gmail On Iphone (Image credit: Charles Deluvio / iMore)

What you need to know

  • The Gmail app for iPhone and iPad has been updated to add a new inbox widget.
  • Gmail users can see the three most recent messages in their inbox without opening the app.
  • The app's release notes make no mention of the change.

Users of iPhones and iPads can now take advantage of a new Gmail widget that shows the three most recent messages that are in your inbox. The App Store release notes don't mention the change, but the new widget can be added via the usual iOS 15 mechanism.

The new widget only displays the last three messages but it does show when they arrived as well as the subject line. The same widget also has a button that can be tapped to create a new email from scratch, too. The widget itself can live either on your Home screen or on the Today screen, whichever works best for you.

Gmail Widget Example Screenshots

Gmail Widget Example Screenshots (Image credit: MacRumors)

While the Gmail app is perhaps not the best iPhone app for reading email, it's the app that a ton of Gmail users will be reading email with and this widget is most welcome. As MacRumors point out, It joins the existing widget that shows a compose button and search option, building that into something that is much more useful.

The updated Gmail app can be downloaded from the App Store while those new to the app can also grab it now, too.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.