What you need to know
- Gmail for Android is potentially getting a smart upgrade that uses AI to provide summaries of long emails.
- The feature is powered by Gemini and is already available in the web version of Gmail, primarily intended for Gemini for Workspace users.
- A dedicated option for Gemini has also been spotted inside the three-dot menu in email threads, although it doesn’t currently display any content.
Gmail on Android could soon get a smart upgrade to let you shorten long emails using artificial intelligence, saving you time digging through the important parts.
PiunikaWeb, in collaboration with AssembleDebug, discovered a Summarize this email button in the Gmail app for Android. Clues pointing to this feature were hidden in version 2024.03.31.621006929 of the app.
Gmail App Prepares ‘Summarize This Email’ Feature Powered by Gemini AI on AndroidRead – https://t.co/clWBLuQs1p#Gmail #Android pic.twitter.com/TVtylD37ZHApril 5, 2024
See the screenshot below where you can see the button, although it’s not active yet.
This summary button makes sense for long emails. It is powered by Gemini and is already present in the web version of Gmail, which is available to users of the Gemini for Workspace package. So it’s no big surprise that it’s making its way to an Android app.
But according to Google’s support page, this feature is only applicable to email threads with more than two replies. In addition, it is clear that the Workspace feature is primarily intended for business use.
On the other hand, it seems like this new button on the mobile app could be for everyone. As shown in the screenshot above, the button appears just below the subject line. However, since this feature is still in its infancy, tapping this button does not trigger any action at the moment.
However, the experience is likely to mirror the same feature found in the web version of Gmail, where users with access to Gemini for Workspace can click on Ask Gemini within an email thread. This opens a sidebar with suggestions for the next action.
Besides that Summarize this email AssembleDebug found a separate option specifically for Gemini within the three-dot menu within the email thread. However, tapping this button currently leads to a blank panel with no content.
Gemini has already shown its versatility and is continuously growing, especially within other Google services, especially the Workspace application. We recently felt the influence of Gemini on Gmail for Android with its reply suggestion feature. It’s just a waiting game before intelligent digests become part of the service as well.