Key Takeaways
- New evidence sheds light on the Google Workspace personalization options in the Gmail app for Android.
- This menu contains checkboxes that will let users enable or disable data sharing for personalization across Workspace and other Google products.
- The contents of this menu are not yet functional, suggesting that it’s still some distance away from rolling out.
The Gmail app for Android has seen multiple feature additions this month. While most of them were Gemini-related, the team is also working on additional features for the email client. Earlier this month, the folks at Android Authority uncovered a new option within the Gmail app’s settings page to let users control Workspace personalization options. While the page was non-functional at the time, the site has now managed to access the page, revealing what it can do.
Despite failing to open the new Google Workspace smart features option within Gmail settings during their initial attempt, Android Authority managed to get it working with version 2024.08.25.668103139.Release) of the app. Tapping this option takes users to the Google Workspace personalization page containing two checkboxes — Personalize across Google Workspace and Personalize other Google products.
The first checkbox pertains to using your Workspace content for personalization “across all Workspace products,” with examples of what this entails, like showing events in Gmail from Calendar, smart search results, etc. Meanwhile, the second checkbox seeks permission to use your Workspace data for personalization across other Google products like Maps, Wallet, Travel, etc.
Still not ready for primetime
Although this new settings menu has been in development since at least early August, it doesn’t appear any closer to launch. Android Authority reports that these controls aren’t functional, adding that interacting with any of the options crashes the app. It’s unclear if this menu has any other modifications the Gmail team is working on, but that would partially explain the erratic behavior.
Privacy is a big part of all modern-day apps, and these new options will go a long way in letting Workspace users control what data goes to Google, even if it’s only for personalization. It’s hard to put a timeline for this new menu’s arrival on the Gmail app, but we suspect it’s a few weeks or a month away at the very least.
In the meantime, Gmail users have another inclusion to look forward to. Google recently announced the rollout of Gmail Q&A for the Android app, a feature previously limited to Gmail on the web. It leverages the capabilities of Gemini and enables users to ask questions about whatever’s in their inbox. While this feature’s scope is currently limited to the inbox, the company will soon enable support for Google Drive. However, there’s no release date for this upcoming integration yet.
