Google drops Gmail app for BlackBerry

By Geoff Duncan November 9, 2011

Gmail BlackBerry App — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Although Google is working on launching a native Gmail application for iOS devices—an app got posted then pulled—now Google has announced its existing Gmail app for BlackBerry will be no more: Google will end support on November 22—and at that point the app will no longer be available for download. Folks who already have the app will be able to continue using it, but Google won’t offer any help or any way to obtain the app in the event a device gets wiped or lost.

Google Apps customers using the Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise service are unaffected.

Recommended Videos

Going forward, Google says it plans to focus on the “mobile browsing experience” for Gmail, meaning BlackBerry users will need to access Gmail accounts via their built-in Web browser rather than via a dedicated app.

Google offers a native Gmail client for its own Android mobile operating system, and puzzled industry watchers by rolling out a native Gmail client for Apple’s iOS—even though bugs made the company quickly withdraw the app. It seems clear that Google is not averse to developing native clients for mobile OS’s other than it’s own, but it is curious that it would decide to embrace iOS and abandon RIM’s BlackBerry platform in the space of a few days.

Topics

Apple
Google

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Mobile

Gmail app’s latest updates are all about reading less, doing more

Updated Summary Cards in Gmail.

The Gmail experience on mobile devices is about to get better for a lot of users. Remember Summary Cards, a feature that picks up useful information from an email and presents it in the form of a neat card atop an email?

So far, summary cards have provided details related to package tracking or viewing order details picked up from the information present in an email. Now, Google is adding contextual action buttons to these summary cards.

Mobile

The first iOS 18 update fixes a major bug with Apple’s Passwords app

An iPhone showing the Apple Password app.

Apple has finally introduced iOS 18.0.1 and iPadOS 18.0.1, the first software updates for iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. Although this iOS 18.1, which will brng the Apple Intelligence update that many have been waiting for, it’s important nonetheless.

The iOS 18.0.1 update fixes a pesky bug in Apple’s new Password app. As the iOS 18.0.1 change notes explain, there was an issue where the Password app could inadvertently use VoiceOver to read out passwords. No doubt, this is a bug no one wants to see, and now it’s squashed.

Mobile

Your Gmail app will soon help protect you from scams

Moto G 5G (2024) in Sage Green showing Gmail.

Email scams are nothing new. The old Nigerian prince con has been around long enough that it's become a meme, but more modern scams can be a lot harder to pick out. According to statistics, nearly 3.4 billion phishing emails are sent per day. Gmail will soon implement a feature on its mobile platform that puts a checkmark beside verified senders to help users tell what's legit — and what possibly isn't — at a glance.

The feature already exists on the Gmail desktop website, but with over half of all users accessing their Gmail accounts from a mobile app, it's a welcome addition. It utilizes a standard called Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) and a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC). If an email contains these marks, it's highly unlikely they come from a malicious source.