Yahoo Mail adds Gmail compatibility and more

12 Dec 2015

Yahoo Mail underwent a significant update a couple of months ago with an interface revamp to Material Design, (a design language developed by Google), Account Key to sign in on users' mobile device, eliminating the need for  password, and support for other mail providers like Outlook, Hotmail, and AOL. It could be seen that Gmail was not present in that list, but that changed yesterday.

Yahoo! version 5.1 of Mail is being updated to add Gmail support so users can start checking their Google inbox from Yahoo's app. According to commentators, Gmail's implementation appeared to be done well with archiving, gesture, and search support.

Other improvements to the app included the return of Select All to batch manage email, easier inbox switching from the side bar, and a number of other fixes. Some of the other changes are as follows:

  • Connect Gmail mailboxes for users to allow them to organise, search and respond to their Gmail messages within the Yahoo Mail app;
  • Select all messages in a specific folder on users' device they need to only tap on the select all icon in the upper-left corner when moving or deleting multiple messages; and
  • Interface improvements for account switching, settings, touch targets, and message list readability.

According to the company's official Tumblr page: ''All the features you need and love in Yahoo Mail - powerful search, smart contacts, rich compose features and Yahoo Account Key for password-free sign-in - are now available with Gmail. Here's your path to a more convenient, powerful and personal email experience.''

The latest upgrade is available on both Android and iOS based devices.

Even though it lacked compatibility with Gmail, Yahoo's native email application had still managed to gain significant popularity amongst Android users. This is supported by the latest Google Play statistics, which revealed that Yahoo Mail had witnessed an installation rate of 100 to 500 million. Due to this, Yahoo had forged ahead of Microsoft's native Outlook application and Inbox on Android-based operating system, with 10 million and 50 million installations, respectively. The leader of the pack, Gmail, boasts at least 1 billion installations.