Last year, I wished that Google iterated more on the personal side of Gmail, Calendar, and other Workspace apps. In 2024, Google made a number of updates to the suite of productivity apps that I benefit from and appreciate on a daily basis.
9to5Google has a rebooted newsletter that highlights the biggest Google stories with added commentary and other tidbits. Sign up here!
Gmail for Android this year redesigned how you reply to emails with a chat-style interface. Since this revamp lets you “Quick Reply” without opening an entirely new screen, the body of the message can be referenced as you write. (Google has yet to roll this out for Workspace Labs or iOS.)
The other big change I’m benefiting from daily, especially over the holidays, are the more glanceable and actionable summary cards. This new design does a better job of highlighting key information at the top, starting with Purchases, without needing to read the entire email. There will also be cards for Events, Bills, and Travel-related emails, while these cards will be surfaced in a new “Happening soon” section above your inbox and search results in the future.
On the Gemini front, there’s the “Summarize” button and Contextual Smart Replies, as well as Gmail Q&A, which brings the Gemini side panel on desktop to mobile in a familiar interface.
Other notable updates this year include Google Calendar integration in the Gmail’s Gemini side panel, the blue verified sender checkmarks on mobile, and the tweaks to how the Updates inbox works.
In Google Calendar, the biggest upgrade in 2024 was a dark theme for the web app that came with Material You, while in second place is the fast month switcher.
The updated illustrations and backgrounds also help refresh the app. I’ve come to really like the full Google Tasks experience in Calendar for Android. I’m using the integrated experience to access my work reminders, while the standalone client is for my personal stuff.
Also of note is how Google Calendar remains the best Android tablet/foldable app. This dual pane layout for Tasks and Calendar is truly desktop-class:
I’m enjoying the Material You redesign that Google Tasks got, but the homescreen widget now needs to be modernized to look like Calendar’s. Similarly, the “Reschedule” button in Tasks notifications has been a quality-of-life improvement and a solid timesaver. We’re still waiting for Keep reminders to appear in Google Tasks, which was announced in April.
The Google Keep redesign is more of a mixed bag. I do like the consistency of the FAB, but the two-step note creation process took a while to get used to. I still occasionally double-tap the floating action button, thus closing the new menu, thinking I missed the first time. The Keep update I’m using a lot is the adjustable dual-pane layout on tablets and foldables. It’s handy when I need to reference several other ideas in the homepage for the note I’m working on.
Other Google Workspace updates that have been nice this year include the dark time for Google Drive’s web app, while I would use Google Chat’s voice memos if more people I knew used the app.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
