Google has been making revisions for its Gmail iOS app, which has failed to get into the Apple App Store without bugs. Last time it had trumpeted an app, it was pulled out in no time by the search engine giant itself. A real embarrassment as many iOS users had their minds set on enjoying the email notifications on their iPhones. However, that was in the past as yet again a native iOS app for Gmail is returned to Apple’s iTunes App Store by Google.
The last attempt was made on November 2, which was withdrawn as they discovered that a bug was found in the software, which had escaped the notice of both Google’s programmers and Apple’s app reviewers. The noticeable bug played on the notification system on iOS devices, leading to the display of an error message.
Matthew Izatt, Google product manager had then suggested in a blog post that the release and withdrawal of the app proved helpful because it prompted users to provide feedback about desired features, including support for multiple accounts, improved notifications, and other mobile-specific additions. He even noted that Google on its part has already got one of the said features resolved and in the near future, plans to add more in time. He said, “Based on your comments we have already improved our handling of image HTML messages–they are now sized to fit to the screen and you can pinch to zoom in.”
Google had announced the reintroduction of the Gmail app to the App Store as it noted:
Two weeks ago, we introduced our Gmail app for iOS. Unfortunately it contained a bug which broke notifications and displayed an error message, so we removed it from the App Store. We’ve fixed the bug and notifications are now working, and the app is back in the App Store.
Previously, iOS device users have used Apple’s Mail app to access Gmail. However, the app usage comes at the expense of Gmail-specific features. Till now, the search engine giant has been working on encouraging the use of Gmail Web app, for them to make use of the said service of Google. It notes that at the end what matters is that Web is a platform. The belief has grown, but still a number of iOS users feel handicapped when they turn up for instant use of a specific Gmail feature.
Whatever may be the case, but Google with its number of service like Google+, Google Search, Google Earth, Google Translate, Google Voice, Google Books, Google Places, Google Latitude, Google Shopper, Google Authenticator, Google TV Remote, Blogger and Panoramio has established its essence over the native iOS apps of the said services. Google, with the native Gmail iOS app, plans to extend the list, which would make a significant impact over its count.
There was even a small note for those users which have the buggy version on their devices. It said that users of the buggy version of the app must log out or uninstall it before installing the new version.
The iOS 5 has been inspirational as well as full of failures for Google apps, as earlier even the Google+ app had merely failed to work at its best. Gmail has never been attempted and revised for the iPhone earlier, as we have seen of late.
Hopefully this new app would have the iOS device owners smiling and using the advantages to the Gmail app.