Google further improves Gmail UI for tablets

Gmail for Android has had a navigation rail for months now, but the same cannot be said for tablets. Well, Google has now decided to improve Gmail UI for tablets as well, as expected.

Google is further improving Gmail UI for tablets, by adding a new navigation bar

The change has started popping up on Pixel Tablets, it seems. If you check out the image below, you’ll see what’s going on. You’ll notice that bar on the left side of the screen, before anything else, really.

There is a hamburger button there, as it was before, but there are now a number of options below it. You’ll see the compose button, inbox button, and up to three other tabs (Chat, Spaces, and Meet).

You can tap either of those options to jump into a different section, and yet stay within Gmail. Once you’re in a specific section, a circular semi-transparent indicator is used, that aligns with your currently-assigned theme. A different indicator is used for the compose button, even while it’s just sitting idle.

This navigation bar/rail is of a persistent variety

This new navigation bar or rail is persistent, it doesn’t move out of the way. It doesn’t move when you’re scrolling, which is the opposite of what the horizontal navigation bar on the bottom does.

The rest of the UI seems to be unchanged. When you’re holding a tablet in landscape, all of your emails are on the left, while on the right you can see a specific mail, if you choose to tap on it (from the left side of the screen).

We like this change, to be quite honest, and would be great if Google allowed us to make more customization to it down the road. For example, place other elements from within Gmail here, the ones that we use frequently. Such as Drafts, Starred emails, and even labels. That may just be wishful thinking, but it would be great to have.

9to5Google notes that this change to the UI is visible in version 2023.11.12.x, and that it’s rolling out widely. The source also notes that “there is a server-side component” to it all, so you may not have it just because you have a specific app version installed.