Google pledged to improve its apps for large-screen devices like foldable phones and tablets with the release of Android 12L. Over the past two years, the company has introduced better app designs. While Google introduced a dual-pane design for big-screen devices, it has now added even more improvements.
The Gmail app for Android has received a design change that makes it easier to use on foldable phones. The folks over 9To5Google have discovered that the Gmail app now has a navigation rail to the left side of the screen. This rail was at the bottom earlier, and the new placement makes better use of the bigger screen, allowing more emails and email content to appear.
The navigation rail features the Compose button, which was a floating button for a few years. The navigation rail also shows the Chat, Email, and Meet buttons, making switching between them easier. This new design appeared a couple of months ago to some beta users. However, it appears to be rolling out more widely now.
Interestingly, it is noted that the new Gmail app design appears to be active only on foldable phones. It isn't available for tablets right now, but we expect it to come to tablets as well in the future.
