Gmail iOS app gets push notification, finally
At long last, Google has delivered push notification to its iOS app, addressing one major gripe among its users.
After a rough start, Google's Gmail app is finally trying to improve itself.
The latest update out yesterday adds long-awaited support for push notifications. That means iPhone and iPad users can receive a notice each time a new message hits their Gmail inbox.
Like other apps with Notification Center support, a new message can trigger an alert or a banner and also appear even if the screen is locked.
A couple of other enhancements grace the latest version, according to a Google blog post.
Users can configure Gmail to use an alternate send-as address instead of their Gmail address. And the app now offers a persistent login, meaning sessions don't expire unless you manually log out.
The Gmail iOS app landed in the App Store last November in a less than stellar debut. User reaction was decidedly negative. And Google had to quickly pull the app due to a technical bug. Even after the bug was squashed, users dinged the app for its lack of notification support and other limitations.
I still question the need for a dedicated Gmail app since users can easily set up their Gmail access as a regular iOS mail account. That's how I use the Gmail service on my iOS devices, and it's worked fine all these years.
But the latest changes show that Google is striving to enhance the app. So I may give it more of a shot at this point.
Google promises that it will continue to improve the app, with support for multiple accounts among the features slated for a future update.