Google’s obsession with launching countless messaging apps has been well documented in recent years, but in recent years the company has actually solidified its confusing range of apps. We got a glimpse of this last summer when Google revealed a redesigned Gmail app with four separate components: Mail, Chat, Rooms, and Meet. At first, the app was only available to Workspace (formerly G Suite) customers, but now anyone can try it.

As spotted by 9to5Google, the new features of the Gmail app are now available to most users on iOS and Android, but simply downloading the latest version of the app is not enough to activate the feature. As they are still technically in the testing phase, you will have to manually activate the chat and rooms to see them.

By default, you’ll only see the Mail and Meet tabs at the bottom of the Gmail app, but if you want to enable chat and rooms, here are the steps you need to take from the iOS or Android app:

1. Tap the menu icon in the top left corner of the app

2. Tap on Settings at the bottom of the menu

3. Choose a personal Gmail account

4. Under General, press the button next to Chat (early access)

5. Tap Give it a try on the pop-up window that appears

6. Tap Close Gmail to restart the application and activate the functionality

At this point, the Gmail app will close on its own, but when reopening the app you should see the Chat and Rooms tabs in the bottom bar next to Mail and Meet. You will get a short tutorial that will explain how to use the new tabs, and after that you are good to go. If the standalone Google Chat app is also installed on your device, you’ll see a prompt asking if you want to turn off notifications so that you don’t have two each time.

The feature is also available on the web and you can activate it by following these steps:

1. Go to https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/chat in your browser.

2. Under Discuss, click on the bubble next to Google Chat instead of Classic Hangouts

3. Click on Okay on the pop-up window that appears, and then click Save changes

You should now see the new Chat and Rooms sections on the left side of the page.

The story continues

It’s somewhat inexplicable that it took Google so long to merge a set of services that probably should never have been separated in the first place, but if you frequently use Google’s messaging toolset, have them all in the same app should be a welcome change. . Writers at The edge said they couldn’t enable chat on their work email accounts, but it worked for both my personal and work accounts. Your mileage may vary.

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See the original version of this article on BGR.com