Google has been silently rolling out new features and design changes to its Gmail app on both iOS and Android devices. The design changes have been rolling out since April of this year, and we also got several new features such as smart reply, offline mode, and more. Now, the latest update brings another useful…
Google has been silently rolling out new features and design changes to its Gmail app on both iOS and Android devices. The design changes have been rolling out since April of this year, and we also got several new features such as smart reply, offline mode, and more. Now, the latest update brings another useful feature called ‘ Confidential Mode ‘.
The new feature is available with the latest update of Gmail on both Android and iOS. It was already available on the web version of Gmail, but not a lot of users knew about it. The feature was hidden, and not something that was advertised openly.
Basically, with the Confidential Mode feature, you can send an email that will disappear after a while. The email is also secured by a 2FA passcode that will be sent to the recipients phone number for further security. The self-destruct timer for the email is available for up to 5 years. The least available time is 1 day, so if you choose that, your email will disappear in 24 hours. In this mode, the recipient will not be able to forward the email to anyone else, copy the body of the email, or download the attachments.
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Unfortunately, there’s no option for 5 seconds, or you could send the email to a friend and say ‘This email will self-destruct in 5 seconds’. Mission Impossible fans will get that! Anyway, you could use the 1 day timer and still feel important about sending a top secret recipe to a friend.
Alright, so Google hasn’t really highlighted this feature on the app or even on the web. It is there, but you will have to know where to look, if you want to use it. The feature, as we said earlier, is available both on the web and on iOS and Android apps.
Make sure you are on the latest version of the Gmail app on iOS and Android. If not, update and then launch the app on your device. Now create a new email by tapping on the red icon available at the bottom.
In the composer, tap on the three dots button at the top right corner. You will see the new ‘ Confidential Mode ‘ option. Tap on that and set your desired expiration time and the security method. You get two options for securing the email, the first one is the standard option which will not require any authentication. If the recipient is a non-gmail user, then they will get a passcode to their email for authentication.
The second option involves sending a passcode to the recipients linked mobile number. Therefore, to open the email, the recipient will have to enter the passcode sent to their mobile. That is a very secure way to view an email, and you can definitely send sensitive and confidential material to others.
There is another option that allows you to make the email disappear even before they read it. But this is only available after you send the email. Head to the Sent folder on your Gmail app, open the confidential email, and you should see a Remove Access button. Tapping on this option will now say that content is expired, and the recipient will see the same. You can also Renew Access if you want them to see the message.
The expiration time for the email ranges from 1 day to 5 years, so you can choose whichever you like. There are a total of 5 options available, but there is no custom timer as of now. Hopefully, Google will add that option in the future. The company will also be bringing a new and updated design to the Gmail apps very soon.
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