Gemini is so much more powerful than a chatbot, and yet many people haven't even scratched the surface of what it can. Now that Google is offering Gemini Pro to students free for a year, it's time to see what it can do — and students of all ages can appreciate these features.

Gemini now works across Gmail, Meet, Slides and several other Google apps, so it can help with the work that usually eats up the most time. Think overloaded inboxes, sprawling research projects and meeting notes no one wants to write.

Some of these features require a Google AI subscription or an eligible Workspace plan, and availability can depend on your account. Still, there’s plenty here for free users too.

Here are seven Google AI features worth putting to work.

1. Create a Gem for work you repeat every week

If you regularly give Gemini the same instructions, you shouldn’t have to paste them into a new chat every time.

Gems are custom versions of Gemini that follow a set of instructions you write once. You could create one that checks a draft against your company’s style guide, turns rough meeting notes into a standard recap or reviews a proposal from the perspective of a skeptical customer.

The instructions can include the role you want the Gem to play, the format it should use and any rules it needs to follow. You can attach reference files as well, which is useful for brand guidelines, examples or background material it should consult.

A useful Gem needs more than a vague description such as “help with my writing.” Spell out what it should look for, what it should leave alone and how you want the answer presented. For example, you might tell it to flag repetition and unclear sentences without rewriting the entire piece.

Once it’s set up, you can open that Gem whenever the task comes up again. It’s a small change, but it removes the tedious setup that often comes with using AI for repeat work.

2. Turn a rough brief into a presentation or video

Starting a presentation from a blank slide is often harder than editing a rough version. Gemini can now create that first draft inside Google Slides.

Gemini in Slides can generate an editable presentation from a prompt, including text and images. You can provide Drive files as references, which means the presentation can be based on an existing report or set of meeting notes instead of a short prompt alone.

It can help after the deck is built too. Ask Gemini to rewrite a crowded slide, create a new slide using information from a document or generate an image that fits the presentation. The result will still need a human pass, particularly for visual consistency and factual accuracy, but it gives you something concrete to edit.

For projects that would work better as a video, Google Vids can turn a prompt and reference material into a draft with suggested scenes, scripts and voiceovers. You can use it for a training video, project update or internal walkthrough without recording yourself from the beginning.

Google’s AI tools are most useful when they work with information you already have. Connect Gemini to the email, document or meeting where the work is happening, give it a specific task and check the result before it goes anywhere important. That’s where the time savings begin to add up.

3. Make the most of research with Gemini Notebooks

Gemini Notebooks, formally NotebookLM, allows you to make the most of your research by keeping all of your sources in one place. From there, you can ask questions about them, turn them into quizzes, flash cards and more.

Since Notebooks bases its responses on the material you provide, it’s easier to check where an answer came from. Citations link back to the relevant passage, so you can verify a claim without searching through the entire original document. That doesn’t make it incapable of getting something wrong, but it gives you a much clearer path for checking its work.

The chat is only one part of it. The platform can turn your sources into study guides, FAQs, briefing documents and Audio Overviews. Those conversational audio summaries are especially handy when you need to absorb a long report but don’t have time to sit and read it.

The best way to use Notebooks is to give it a defined job. Ask it to identify where several sources disagree, build a timeline or pull out every unresolved question from a set of meeting documents. Those prompts produce much more useful results than simply asking for a summary.

4. Use Canvas when a chat becomes too messy

Regular chatbot conversations work well for short request but when there is a lot of back and forth, particuarly with edits, open Gemini Canvas for optimal productivity.

Gemini Canvas gives the project its own workspace beside the conversation. You can edit the output directly, then highlight a specific section and ask Gemini to change only that part. It works with text as well as code, making it a much safer space to select and make changes within your work.

If you’re planning a project, for example, you could ask Gemini to turn your notes into an interactive timeline or task tracker rather than settling for another block of text.

5. Let Google Meet handle the notes

There are a lot of AI notetakers, and I have tried a few, but if you want simplicity, let Gemini take the notes in Google Meet.

With Take notes for me, Gemini creates an organized Google Doc containing the meeting notes. The recap can be shared with selected participants after the call and linked from the Calendar event, making it easier to find later.

If you arrive late, you can request a “summary so far” rather than interrupting the meeting to ask what you missed. Google’s separate Ask Gemini feature also lets eligible users privately ask questions about an active meeting, including what decisions have been made or whether a particular topic has already come up.

There are limitations. Take notes for me requires an eligible Workspace edition or Google AI plan, supports one language at a time and shouldn’t be treated as a flawless record. Names, technical terms and fast-moving discussions still need to be checked.

It’s also worth deciding who should receive the notes before the meeting begins. Google lets organizers configure the recipients and the sections included in the recap, which is better than automatically sending every internal detail to the full invitation list.

6. Deep Research in Gemini Live

Whatever reason you're doing research, you can now hand the first stage of a big project to Deep Research in Gemini Live. Gemini’s Deep Research feature handles that initial digging for you. Give it a detailed question and it creates a research plan, searches the web and produces a report with links to the sources it used.

The quality of the result depends heavily on the assignment. “Research poisonous frog” will produce something broad and predictable. A request to compare the types, sizes and habitats of three specific amphibians gives Gemini a much clearer target.

Deep Research works well for building a starting brief, comparing products or getting familiar with a subject before you dig deeper. You can then question the report, ask it to expand one section or move the finished research into a Google Doc.

You still need to open the sources and check important claims. A citation proves that Gemini found a webpage; it doesn’t guarantee that the page is reliable or that Gemini interpreted it correctly. Used carefully, though, it can clear away much of the repetitive searching at the beginning of a project.

7. Get through your inbox faster with Gemini in Gmail

A long email thread can easily turn into a scavenger hunt. You scroll back through days of replies trying to find the final decision, only to realize it was buried somewhere around message 14.

Gemini in Gmail can summarize an entire conversation and pull out the main points without requiring you to read every response. You can then ask follow-up questions in the side panel, such as “What did we decide about the deadline?” or “Does anyone still need to approve this?”

It’s useful for finding information across your inbox too. Instead of trying to remember the exact subject line of an old email, ask Gemini to locate the message from a particular person or catch you up on emails about a project.

When it’s time to reply, Gmail’s Help me write feature can draft a response using the context of the conversation. Just give it a little direction and watch the magic happen.

More from Tom's Guide

• Google Gemini just made it easy to remove watermarks from AI images — here’s how to do it
• I don’t use AI to write my emails — here’s how I use it to manage my inbox instead
• 5 features that give Claude the edge over ChatGPT

Take a quick trip into Claude’s collection of connectors and you’ll instantly lock eyes with several recognizable tools catered to everyday use.

It’s no surprise that Google has the top three slots covered, as its Drive, Gmail and Calendar apps take top billing among its offering of Workspace connectors. At first, the Gmail connector was capable of searching for and finding important emails and summarizing long email threads. But thanks to a recent update, Claude’s Gmail connector can actually send, reply to, and forward emails from Gmail without having to leave the chatbot’s interface.

While this feature sounds like a great way to streamline your workflow, it may be worth testing first before you decide to make it a core part of your daily inbox interactions.

Here are more details about what Claude’s Gmail connector can do, as well as the many ways the chatbot’s Drive and Calendar connectors can assist you.

Claude’s Gmail connectors can do a whole lot more than before

The Gmail connector’s primary specialties include the following:

• Searching and reading emails by relying on natural language queries.
• Drafting emails with proper formatting and message context.
• Managing email organization with clear labels and specified message threads.
• Sending, replying to, and forwarding emails from Gmail. By default, Claude asks for a user’s approval before taking any of those actions. On Claude Team and Enterprise plans, owners decide whether members can allow these actions to run without asking every time.
• Listing all the saved drafts that exist in your Gmail account.
• Accessing email metadata, including attachment metadata (not actual attachment content).

Having Claude send a message via Gmail on your behalf certainly sounds intriguing.

But it’s certainly worth reminding everyone reading that the consequences that come with an AI making a mistake via hallucination when you permit it to send emails without you reviewing them could be severe. And after a recent report from researchers who found a flaw in Claude for Chrome that could allow rogue extensions to read your data and take actions in your accounts, it’s worrying that that sort of extension could potentially ask Claude to send emails without you even knowing. I'm curious if Claude watermarking every word it writes may show up in its Gmail responses as well.

It certainly makes all the sense in the world to always have Claude’s Gmail connector ask for your approval every time it’s ready to send out an email on your behalf.

As for what the Drive and Calendar Claude connectors can do, check out their respective official descriptions from the Claude Support page below:

• Search and retrieve Google Docs from your Drive.
• Share, move, and trash files in Google Drive. By default, Claude asks for your approval before each of these actions. On Team and Enterprise plans, owners decide whether members can allow these actions to run without asking each time.
• Look up file metadata and preview directly without searching first.
• Read Sheets, Slides, PDFs, images, and MS Office files.
• Upload any file type, with optional auto-convert to Google formats.
• Create folders.
• Add Google Docs directly to chats and projects by pasting URLs or selecting from recent documents.
• View file permissions and list recent changes to your Drive.
• Save Claude-generated files directly to your Drive (requires code execution and file creation to be enabled).

• View events and calendars, including shared calendars you have access to.
• Create, update, and delete events with full customization.
• Find mutual availability across attendees.
• Manage attendee lists and respond to invitations (accept, decline, or tentative).
• Set up recurring meetings.

Final thoughts

Even though I practically use AI for everything, I still haven’t gotten comfortable with the idea of copy/pasting an email into it and asking it to draft a reply.

I’m even more iffy about allowing a chatbot to have full access to my inbox and be able to send replies, with or without my approval. Claude’s Gmail connector is super useful, plus its latest ability to handle your replying, sending and forwarding needs is impressive. But give it a test run first to see if it's truly capable of generating a message that wouldn’t make the reader think a chatbot wrote it.

More from Tom’s Guide

• I connected Claude to my daily apps — here are the 5 that actually made it useful
• Claude is now watermarking every response — here's what that means if you use AI for writing
• Meta files patent for AI facial recognition glasses that identify people around you and record automatically

I've discovered that Claude Connectors can fill in some of the gaps in my workflow just by giving the assistant access to apps such as Gmail, Google Calendar and Notion. The good news is, you don’t have to paste in every email, meeting and project note before asking for help.

Of course, that convenience requires handing Claude access to parts of your digital life you may prefer to keep private. The setup entails permission screens, and you’ll need to decide how much access you’re willing to grant. An AI could still misunderstand a sensitive document or make a change you didn’t intend.

I tested five popular connectors to see which ones saved me time and which felt like one more thing to manage.

Asking Claude to manage my busy day

I started with this prompt: Look at my unread emails, check my recent project notes in Drive, cross-reference my calendar and build me a realistic schedule for today.

Claude found two unresolved PR questions in Gmail and pulled the background information from a Google Drive document. It then checked my calendar and found an uninterrupted two-hour window I could use for writing.

Normally, I would have opened several tabs and gathered all of that information myself. Claude did the searching and matched the work to the time I actually had available.

Here are 5 more ways Claude is worth using at work and the Connectors that make all the difference.

1. Gmail

Best for: Finding buried conversations and drafting replies.

Searching my inbox through Claude felt surprisingly natural. I asked, “What client questions am I still waiting on?” and received a short summary instead of having to work through 40 unread messages.

Claude drafted the replies without sending them, giving me a chance to check the wording first.

2. Google Drive

Best for: Finding information in long PDFs and buried Google Docs.

I often know I saved a document, but forgot where I put it. Claude searched Drive for the relevant feedback or research notes and brought the information into my current conversation.

I didn’t have to reorganize my folders or click through documents hoping to recognize the right one.

3. Google Calendar

Best for: Finding focus time and planning a workday I could follow.

I usually check my calendar to see where I need to be. Claude paid attention to the empty spaces.

It found time for work that required more concentration, including writing, before meetings and smaller jobs took over the day.

4. Notion or Slack

Best for: Recovering old research and decisions.

Old Notion pages and Slack threads can hold plenty of useful information, assuming you can find it again. Claude searched past research, conversations and team decisions without sending me scrolling through months of messages.

The better choice will depend on where your team tends to leave that information behind.

5. Canva

Best for: Turning an outline into a presentation or visual asset.

After developing an article, pitch or story idea in Claude, I could send that work to Canva without opening a blank design and rebuilding it there.

I’d still review the finished design and make my own changes, but the connector cut down on the usual back-and-forth between writing and creating the visual.

What to know before connecting your accounts

The setup takes some patience. Expect OAuth screens, permission settings and account confirmations, especially when connecting email or personal files.

Each connector works a little differently. Some can only read information, while others can make changes. The available features may depend on your account, device or permissions set by your employer.

Anthropic says Claude follows the permissions attached to your account. It shouldn’t be able to open a file or Slack channel that you couldn’t access yourself. You should still check what you’re sharing and which actions the connector is allowed to take.

Bottom line

Should you connect your apps to Claude? I wouldn’t go through the setup just to summarize the occasional email. The time savings came from letting Claude check my email, calendar and project notes in the same conversation.

With that information available, the schedule reflected the work already waiting for me and the hours I had to get it done. I didn’t have to explain my day before Claude could help me plan it. And while this set up is similar to what Gemini and ChatGPT can do, it all comes down to perference. Give it a try and let me know what you think in the comments.

More from Tom's Guide

• I put ChatGPT on my Ray-Ban Meta glasses — and it completely changed how I used them
• Claude is now watermarking every response — here's what that means if you use AI for writing
• Gemini 3.7 Flash is here — and this prompt proves why it's known as Google's 'workhorse'

If there’s one thing Mac users are blessed with, it’s a variety of great email apps. In fact, depending on the day, I’ll often flit between the Gmail web app, Mimestream, Spark, and Outlook for work.

As we covered last year, Notion’s AI-adjacent Notion Mail tried to do some cool things. Sadly, it seemingly didn’t find an audience, with its developer deprecating the app soon because it believes more people use agentic AI to manage their inbox without opening the app.

And honestly? I was a little bummed. Notion Mail had a unique UI that felt right at home next to the company’s main app and Notion Calendar. And, while browsing my inbox, I spotted an email from the team at Slashy that might just fill the gap.

Slashy doesn’t want you to open your inbox

A quick glance at Slashy will show that it’s definitely cut from a similar cloth to Notion Mail. For one, its clean design makes it a looker — it’s easy to navigate, with options for highlighting important emails or everything.

What makes it unique is that Slashy will attempt to learn from a user’s emails and reply frequency to highlight what’s important, and use their voice to make responses feel more natural.

If that sounds dystopian, then yes, you’re not alone. I had the same thought, and we’ll touch on how successful it is in that regard in a moment. But, as someone swamped with press releases daily (not a complaint, keep ‘em coming!) I was impressed by how well Slashy categorises and labels my emails.

In many ways, it feels akin to Notion Mail’s labels, but Slashy wants you to handle your email from a distance, if at all. It automatically runs scheduling workflows to help identify meeting times, and can lean into Model Context Protocol (MCP) to tie in nicely with Claude, something I’m yet to fully get to grips with.

All of this is to say it’s an email app that looks great, and yet it wants you to leave its processes to handle your inbox - and it does so remarkably well.

With zero setup, it pulled through a bunch of handy contact info, complete with contextual history, for more than 20 people I’d emailed in recent weeks. It also highlighted my scheduling, including the days I work in a London office and when I’m home, and when my upcoming vacation is.

Put simply, it knows me better than I know myself.

“Your voice, not GPT slop”

I recently waxed lyrical about Cotypist, a Mac app that makes writing in certain situations simpler by using predictive text. I was impressed at the time by how much it’s attuned itself to my voice, to the point where, once again, it predicts my sentences (or maybe I’m very predictable).

I still use Cotypist across other apps, but when opening an email to reply, I genuinely thought I’d drafted something already in Slashy.

The use of humour, the tone, the friendly nature (if I do say so myself), it was all, well, me. Aside from the existential dread of being a writer who relies on personable copy to stand out from the AI content-absorbing machine, and who has now seemingly had my card numbered, I couldn’t quite believe it.

Every email I tried to reply to, Slashy had basically laid out exactly what I was going to say, albeit with a prompt to change it if I wanted to, like turning a positive response to a negative one, or amending the tone to be more professional.

There’s even a handy sidebar that allows you a sandbox to draft a reply, find specific emails related to the current thread, or just summarize the whole thing using Claude.

Add to that integrations with Notion so it can read and write to Notion databases, Slack, and even iMessage (albeit the last one isn’t working for me in macOS Golden Gate beta), and it can do a really great job at ensuring you barely ever need to look at your emails.

If you’re interested in Slashy, it’s available now for Gmail accounts, with Outlook coming soon. It’ll cost you $30 per month or $300 per year for unlimited inboxes and AI usage.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just learned your Claude AI chats could show up in Google — here's how to check yours
• I stopped using ChatGPT for everything — here are 5 prompts I only run in Claude
• I use Gemini Spark daily — here are 7 prompts that show what it can really do

Just when we finally got used to Netflix's password-sharing restrictions, the streaming giant is dropping yet another frustrating update on us. Netflix is rolling out a new policy that forces every single adult profile under your roof to have its own unique email login.

They're claiming this for easier sign in access, but all it actually does is force us to manage a completely unnecessary web of secondary logins. And, if you're like me, your first thought was probably: I am not creating five separate email accounts just so my family can watch TV. Plus, there is a major privacy catch.

Instead of giving in and cluttering my life with new passwords, I used a Gmail trick that fools Netflix into thinking I made brand-new accounts, while keeping all the control in my single inbox. It takes two seconds.

You’ve also just built a data trap

Beyond completely bypassing Netflix's annoying new restriction, this hack gives you total control over your family's data privacy.

Because you used a highly specific plus address like kaycee+netflix@gmail.com or kaycee+mom@gmail.com, you have created a digital tracker. If that specific email address ever starts receiving random spam, phishing emails, or marketing junk, you will know with 100% certainty that Netflix leaked or sold your data.

By using this simple alias trick, you satisfy Netflix’s new guardrails, avoid managing a dozen different passwords, and keep everyone's data secure. It’s the definition of a win-win.

More from Tom's Guide

• Netflix is sharing your watch history — take 60 seconds to stop it
• After two decades, Google finally rolls out a way to change your Gmail address — here's how
• Can't find anything good on Netflix? Try these secret codes for the perfect fall watchlist

I've tested just about every major AI chatbot over the last few years, and while most conversations around Gemini focus on how it compares to ChatGPT, there's no reason why you have to choose. One of the best ways to use AI assistants is to make the most of what each one can do. Unfortunately, there are so many features that users miss.

The truth is, there are many useful Gemini features hiding in plain sight. Some are built directly into Google's ecosystem and should be getting far more attention.

Here are the seven Gemini features I find myself coming back to again and again.

1. Deep Research can do hours of research in minutes

Whenever I talk about Deep Research with chatbots, I often hear, "I would have loved this in college." In other words, some users feel as though they have no use for it now. But Deep Research is arguably for so much more than studying. I use it all the time to gather sources before writing, learn a new topic quickly, compare products and prices.

Using Gemini in this way helps to create structured research reports that can save a significant amount of time compared to manually opening dozens of tabs and sifting through reports.

2. Gemini Live feels like having a 24/7 teammate

I've found that when I'm out for a run, sometimes I'll have an idea and want to spitball about it with someone. For me, that "someone" is often Gemini Live. As a voice AI, it responds like a human, can handle interruptions or thought pivots and can even "see" what you're seeing. I use it for talking through problems, brainstorming ideas, trouble shooting and planning projects.

What I like about Gemini Live is how the back-and-forth conversations feel so natural. Sometimes it's just easier to chat live rather than typing prompts.

3. Notebook-based projects help Gemini remember context

If you follow me, you already know I'm a huge NotebookLM fan and recently built a family "wiki" with it. But the notebook-based projects I'm talking about here are not related to NotebookLM. It can get confusing, which is why some people miss it.

But Gemini notebooks are available right in the chat and can be used to keep all of your Deep Research projects organized, help to compare notes and keep long-term projects seperate from others. Instead of constantly re-explaining a project, Gemini can work from a dedicated knowledge base, which is a huge time saver.

4. YouTube video analysis is surprisingly useful

Most people watch videos instead of studying them. And, for the most part, that's what I do, too. But occasionally, I want to find important timestamps and key takeaways if I don't have time to watch the full video. It's also useful if you want to compare expert opinions or reviews.

This is worth trying for so many reasons, but perhaps my favorite is that it can help you decide whether a 45-minute video is worth watching before committing.

5. Gems turn Gemini into a custom AI assistant

Everyone I know who has tried Gems always wonders why they didn't try them sooner. Similar to ChatGPT's custom GPTs, Gems are a feature that can help with writing assistance, idea generation, editing and research support.

What's great is that you can create specialized assistants that understand exactly how you like to work.

6. Gmail and Google Docs integration is a huge time saver

If you use Gmail or Google Docs, Gemini within either one is hard to avoid. I'll be honest, for a long time I did avoid it. I figured I didn't need it outside of the chatbot. But once I used it to clean up my inbox, format a Google Doc and find a photo I thought I had deleted, I quickly realized what I was missing.

If you use any aspect of Google Workspace, it's worth exploring Gemini for reviewing documents, pulling information from files, summarizing email threads or drafting responses. I've found that I respond more timely to emails thanks to Gmail's Gemini integration.

7. Scheduled actions are the closest thing to a personal assistant

If you turn on Personal Intelligence you'll get even more Gemini integration because it pulls from everything you use in Google Workplace (with your permission, of course). If you're not into Personal Intelligence, like me, give Gemini Spark, a try. I've found the memory aspect to be useful, without it feeling overly intrusive. You can adjust the amount of AI involvement you want, which I realy like.

Bottom line

There seems to be a growing number of people who consider themselves team ChatGPT or team Gemini, but the real win is using them both. If you've been ignoring these features because you aren't ready to give up ChatGPT, yet, start with number six on this list. When you see how much time you'll save with Gemini in Google Workspace, you might want to try number 3 or 4 next.

There's no right or wrong way to integrate these use cases into your daily workflow, but since Google has packed Gemini with tools that extend beyond conversations, they are worth trying.

If you've only been using Gemini to ask questions, these seven features are a good place to start. Chances are you'll find at least one that changes how you use AI every day. Let me know in the comments your favorite uses for Gemini.

More from Tom's Guide

• I use ChatGPT every day — but Gemini and Claude keep beating it in these key areas
• Claude Opus 4.8 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro: I ran 7 brutal tests to find the smarter AI
• I used ChatGPT to adopt a ‘Million Dollar’ mindset — now I'm rewriting my career goals

I used to love watching my inbox automate itself. A flight confirmation would hit my inbox, and instantly, my calendar was updated, my hotel was mapped and a perfectly polite "Thanks, see you Tuesday!" was sitting in the smart reply box. The futuristic productivity felt good.

But over the past few months, something started to shift. As AI became deeply integrated into nearly every app and service I use, I realized just how much personal information these systems were quietly processing in the background.

Not in a dramatic “someone is spying on me” kind of way. More in a constant, low-level realization that my inbox, schedule, purchases, conversations and habits were all being analyzed somewhere on a remote server to make these features work. I already moved away from Personal Intelligence.

Because it just started feeling like too much. So I tried something completely different. I kept my same Gmail address, but ditched cloud-based AI tools and switched to a local AI email client instead.

The AI still helped filter spam, detect phishing attempts and organize my inbox, but it processed everything directly on my device instead of sending my data to external servers. I expected the experience to feel slower and less convenient.

What I didn’t expect was how much more secure it made me feel.

What my old inbox actually knew

Before making the switch, I did a deep dive into my data dashboard on my old provider. It was a sobering experience. To make its cloud-based AI function, the system wasn't just "glancing" at my emails; it was building a comprehensive profile of my entire life.

Here is a snapshot of what was being actively processed:

• Every purchase I made: From my morning coffee receipts to a prescription refill, categorized and logged.
• My exact travel history: Not just flights, but Uber receipts mapping out my routes recently and foreign cities years ago.
• Relationship dynamics: The AI knew who I emailed most frequently, what tone I used with them and how quickly I typically responded to specific people.

This was such a reality check. It gave me that feeling when you are thinking of something and then suddenly see an ad for it. Having this much AI intertwined in my life felt like AI was inside my brain, not just my inbox.

It was sobering to realize you aren't just giving up your data to get a quick summary of a long email thread. You are training a corporate AI model on the intimate details of your life. Whether that "training" is used anywhere is besides the point. I just didn't want it anymore.

Moving to 'zero-knowledge'

Setting up a zero-knowledge, on-device AI inbox was surprisingly easy and honestly quite eye-opening.

I decided to try Canary Mail, a privacy-focused email client that’s built around the idea that your AI tools shouldn’t require handing over your entire digital life to the cloud.

Unlike traditional AI-powered inboxes that process your emails on remote servers, Canary Mail leans heavily on local processing and encryption. That means many AI-powered actions happen directly on your device instead of being constantly analyzed in a company’s data center.

Importantly, I didn’t need to abandon my Gmail address or create a new email account. I simply swapped the app handling my inbox. My email stayed the same but the way the AI processed it changed completely.

The setup process felt a lot like adding any normal email app:

• I downloaded Canary Mail on my laptop
• Connected my Gmail account through secure authentication
• Let the app locally index my inbox
• Enabled AI features directly inside the client

What surprised me most was how normal everything felt afterward. I still had the smart summaries and writing assistance, plus inbox organization and spam filtering. But Canary Mail's underlying system worked very differently.

With traditional cloud AI inboxes, your emails are often sent to external servers where large AI models process the content remotely. That’s how features like summaries, suggested replies and “smart organization” typically work.

With a local-first setup, your device itself becomes the processor. Our laptops and phones now include dedicated neural processing units (NPUs), which are specifically designed to handle AI tasks directly on-device. Instead of constantly uploading sensitive data to the cloud, the AI can perform many actions locally. And why this sounds like a minor difference, it significantly changes how privacy works entirely.

For example, when a suspicious email lands in my inbox, the local AI model running on my machine can analyze the message and flag it as spam without needing to transmit the entire email to a remote server first.

But the email provider never sees the AI analysis or the contents of the message.
That’s the core idea behind “zero-knowledge” systems: the service itself has as little knowledge of your data as possible.

Of course, no system is perfectly private. If you use cloud-based features, sync across devices or connect external AI services, some information may still leave your device. But compared to the default “everything gets uploaded” model most people unknowingly use today, the difference felt significant.

What I lost

I won't lie to you and tell you that I fell in love with Canary Mail right away. Detoxing from cloud-based AI comes with some serious growing pains. If you rely on your email to act as your personal assistant, a local client is going to feel like a downgrade. I really missed having the AI pull out information from my inbox easily, especially while working within the Google Workspace.

Here are a few things I lost in this process:

• Goodbye, seamless ecosystem. Because the data lives on my device, not in the cloud, my phone didn't magically know about a calendar event that arrived via email on my laptop. I had to manually sync them.
• Slower search. Cloud servers can search a decade of emails in milliseconds. My local computer took a noticeable few seconds to churn through my massive archives.
• Dumbed-down drafting. My old AI could draft a highly contextual reply based on emails from three years ago. The local AI is much more limited, offering generic phrasing rather than writing the entire email in my exact voice. I didn't rely on it much at all for drafting emails, which took more time than simply hitting send.

Despite losing a little bit of productivity and dealing with a small learning curve, the psychological relief was immediate. I no longer felt the creeping dread of knowing an algorithm was reading an email from my doctor or a sensitive financial document.

Without my inbox feeding the ad-targeting beast, the bizarrely specific ads following me around the web notably decreased. And, because zero-knowledge clients block tracking by default, senders couldn't tell when (or if) I opened their emails, cutting down on the aggressive follow-up spam from marketers.

The takeaway

It's only been a week, but I don't miss the "convenience" of AI knowing every detail of my life. Even though it takes me more time (roughly five minutes more, nothing drastic), I really enjoy the trade off.

After a week of remembering life without AI in my inbox, I’ve realized that I don't need an AI to write a three-sentence email for me, especially not if the cost is letting a corporate algorithm rummage through my digital life. Reclaiming my privacy took a little bit of work, but buying back my peace of mind was entirely worth it.

What do you think of the "zero-knowledge" inbox? Is it worth leaving AI behind? Let me know in the comments.

More from Tom’s Guide

• NVIDIA wants to turn your home into a mini AI data center — and it’s already being tested
• 'No clear consent flow for this download': Google Chrome is silently stashing a 4GB AI model on your device — and Google just responded
• I finally fixed ChatGPT’s bad habits with the ‘Echo Prompt’ — here’s how

After 22 years, Google will finally let you change your Gmail address, which is incredibly useful if you made yours back in 2007 when the service first became available to the general public.

First spotted in a Google support page last year, the search giant is now rolling out this new feature to Gmail users in the U.S. While the company has always allowed users to change aliases in their emails, up until now, they weren’t able to change the name that appears before @gmail.com in their email address.

If you’re tired of having to use a different email address than your Gmail one for whatever reason — maybe it was inappropriate or just feels outdated now — here’s how you can swap that old Gmail address for a brand new one without losing your emails and everything else tied to your Google Account.

How to change your Gmail address and username

To let Gmail users know that they can now change their Google Account username or the name before @gmail.com, Google put out a blog post which includes a YouTube short. However, the video is only 30 seconds long and the steps to change your Gmail address are a bit hard to follow, especially if you don’t want to have to pause it and press play multiple times.

For that reason, I went through the process myself and took screenshots along the way to make things easier for you.

Changing your Gmail address on mobile

Changing your Gmail address on desktop

If you’d rather use your laptop or desktop to change your Gmail address, you can do that too and the process is quite similar to how you do so on mobile. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do just that.

More from Tom's Guide

• Gmail’s biggest update in 20 years: 5 AI features that could change email forever
• How to create a new Gmail account
• 5 hidden Gmail features everyone needs to know to work smarter — including 'Auto-advance'

If your inbox feels like a second full-time job, a new wave of AI-powered email tools promises to change that.

One of the most talked-about options right now is Superhuman Mail — an app designed to help users move through messages faster, automate replies and even see when emails are opened. Its makers claim it can save up to four hours each week.

I’m usually skeptical of anything labeled “the most productive email app ever,” but after exploring its latest features, it’s easy to see why the tool is gaining traction among professionals overwhelmed by cluttered inboxes.

Following major AI upgrades in 2025 and an acquisition by Grammarly — which has since rebranded under the Superhuman name — the platform has expanded its AI capabilities and integrated new productivity tools across its ecosystem.

If you’re wondering what Superhuman Mail actually does and whether it’s worth trying, here’s what you need to know before signing up.

Superhuman Mail can sort your inbox and remind you to follow up

Superhuman AI powers nearly everything the app does for Gmail and Outlook users.

One standout feature, Split Inbox, lets you organize messages into custom categories. You can separate important emails, highlight VIPs and teammates, surface calendar invites and group updates from tools like Slack, Asana, Google Docs and Notion.

When you send an important message, Superhuman can remind you to follow up if no one replies by a time you set. Instead of forwarding emails or CC’ing teammates, you can also share a live view of a message and let others comment on it — even if they don’t use Superhuman.

For faster writing, the app uses Snippets, prewritten templates that insert phrases, full emails, attachments or CC recipients as you compose messages. Snippets can also be shared across teams.

Superhuman can notify you when someone opens your email, what device they used and whether a teammate is already drafting a reply — helping avoid duplicate responses and confusion during urgent conversations.

When you view a contact, Superhuman shows their full name, location and links to social profiles or personal websites, giving you quick context before responding.

Superhuman Mail is also capable of performing the following functions:

• It can dive into your calendar for free time blocks whenever you suggest a date and use a shortcut to check your calendar for whatever activities you’re tending to the next day
• It will create events right from your email
• It can fix grammatical and spelling errors at a self-professed faster rate than Gmail and Outlook’s autocorrect features
• Instantly unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters and quickly clear out spam
• Create and use keyboard shortcuts with a feature called “Inbox Zero”
• Create a reminder for when to send a message via “Send Later”
• Generate faster replies with the “Instant Reply” feature

Here’s everything you need to know to sign up for it

All you need to do to sign up for Superhuman AI is simply link your Google account, link your Microsoft account or create a Superhuman AI account with another email.

Bottom line

Among the flood of other AI email assistants out there (Notion, MailMaestro, SmartWriter, and Shortwave come to mind), Superhuman Mail’s attributes make it stand out as one of the finest on the market.

With these features in mind — and the quick sign-up process — it doesn’t take long to see what the hype around Superhuman Mail is about and whether it deserves a place in your AI toolkit.

More from Tom’s Guide

• I ditched ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude for NotebookLM — and didn't expect these results
• I tried Norton’s AI-powered Neo browser and it finally made sense out of my dozens of open tabs
• I found the invisible syndrome killing my AI productivity — here is the 10-second fix

Even with Gmail's category tabs sorting my emails, my inbox still felt chaotic. The real problem wasn't the number of messages but the repetitive process of managing them. I'd open an email, read it, archive or delete it, then click back to my inbox to decide which message to tackle next.

This constant back-and-forth happened dozens of times a day and made checking email feel exhausting. Then I discovered Gmail's Auto-advance feature buried in settings, and it completely changed how I process my inbox. Here's how to enable it and why it makes such a dramatic difference.

More from Tom's Guide

• Gmail lets you unsubscribe from spam emails with a single tap — here's how
• How to stop your personal data from appearing in Google searches
• Tired of Google's AI Overviews? Here's how to bring back traditional search

Windows 11 has been going strong for five years now, yet I still meet people who use it like Windows 10. And while it works just fine for them, I feel bad when I hear them complaining about it because Windows 11 doesn't work the way they want it to.

I totally understand, because I too miss the good old days of Windows before it started advertising Microsoft services to you and pushing all your data into Microsoft servers. But the fact is that Windows 11 is here to stay, and now that Windows 10 is officially dead you'd be wise to update to Windows 11 and get comfortable using it.

To help you I figured I'd quickly share my favorite hidden and hard-to-find features in Windows 11 that make it a lot easier and more efficient for me to use during my workday. I wrote our Windows 11 review so I've been using it since launch and had a front-row seat as Microsoft steadily added new features over the years.

With that in mind, I wanted to quickly run down my five favorite Windows 11 features that I rarely see people taking advantage of. This is what I use to make Windows 11 more comfortable and more efficient to use. I hope you find something here that works for you! And if you have any favorite Windows 11 tips let us know in the comments.

Focus modes

If you're not using Windows 11's focus sessions feature when you're working, you're missing out on a very useful tool for staying productive during the day.

I know because I use it myself as basically a Pomodoro timer, replacing the old browser extensions and apps I used to use to keep myself on task for focused 45-minute work sessions.

But with focus modes in Windows 11 you can just tell Windows how long you want to work without distraction. Here's how it works: you can configure a custom focus session from 5 - 240 minutes long, and configure which notifications (if any) you want to see during your session. You can also choose to hide badges on apps, flashing icons on the taskbar and more. You will then see a timer appear on your screen counting down how much time remains in your focus session, with built-in 5 minute breaks.

The fastest way to set up focus sessions is to open the Start menu and type Focus to bring up the application’s menu. You can set how long you want a focus session to last, whether you want do not disturb mode to turn on and what notifications will break into your focus session. You might turn off notifications from distracting social meda apps and your web browser when doing deep work, for example, or have an R&R focus session that ignores all your work-related notifications so you can focus on gaming or watching something.

I really love using this feature to stay productive when working from home, and I can't believe more people don't know about this super-useful feature buried in Windows 11.

Shake to minimize

One of my favorite hidden features of Windows 11 gives you a faster, funnier way to minimize windows so you can focus on the one you care about. It's a silly, easy way to close distractions when you're working: you just grab the window you want to focus on by the title bar and shake it around a bit.

I say it's hidden because it's not enabled by default and you'd never know it existed if you didn't know to look for it. So I'm telling you how to find it: navigate to Settings -> System -> Multitasking and click the radio button to toggle Title bar windows shake on.

Once that's done you should be able to grab your window of choice and shake to close everything else. However, don't close that Multitasking menu just yet — there are settings in there which affect the little-known Windows 11 feature I'm going to tell you about next.

Clipboard history

This feature isn't unique to Windows 11 since it's also on Windows 10 as well as macOS, but for some reason it's often disabled by default. I'm talking of course about clipboard history, which when enabled allows you to view a list of things you've copied to your clipboard.

This is super useful for me because I work with text and images for a living, so I'm regularly copying and pasting sentences, strings of passwords and images between apps. By default we all tend to assume you can only copy and paste one thing at a time, and when you copy something new it removes the last thing you copied from the clipboard.

But Windows 11 can remember, and if you turn on clipboard history you'll be able to copy and paste multiple things and then open the clipboard history to access and re-copy multiple things. It's super useful and easy to use once you know how.

The first step is to enable clipboard history by navigating to Settings > System > Clipboard. From that menu make sure the radio button next to Clipboard History is set to on.

Once you've turned clipboard history on, you can view your clipboard history by hitting Windows key + K. This will pop up a small window with multiple tabs, one of which lets you view recent things you copied to the clipboard.

But there's extra fun features built into the clipboard history menu if you explore the tabs at the top. One lets you copy and paste special characters and punctuation quickly, another lets you copy and paste GIFs and another lists emoji you can use. It's a super useful little feature that's hidden in Windows 11, and I wish more people knew about it!

Dynamic lock

Windows 11 has a built-in feature that lets it intelligently lock your PC when you walk away, but it's hidden away in a submenu by default. Here's how to turn it on for more peace of mind when you need to leave your PC unattended in a public space.

While you can automatically lock your Windows 11 PC with the Windows key + L keyboard shortcut, you can also set up your PC to do it automatically based on either your phone's movements or (if supported) sensing cameras built into your PC.

To turn on dynamic lock, navigate to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options and make sure the dynamic lock feature is enabled.

However, it won't do much unless you have a means by which Windows can tell when you walk away. Many modern laptops from the likes of Lenovo and HP, for example, come with IR cameras and software you can use to have your laptop intelligently lock itself when it detects you've walked away.

If you don't have something like that on your PC, you'll want to connect your phone to your PC using the Microsoft Phone Link app. Once you do have your phone connected (I have my Motorola Razr 2025 paired in the screenshot above) you should see it appaer in the dynamic lock section and you're good to go!

Control your PC with your voice

There are some awfully robust voice command and control systems built into Windows 11, but you have to know they exist and how to access them before you can ever make use of them.

I've been using these tools for years, and I wish more people knew about them because they aren't just accessibility aids for folks who have trouble controlling PCs with their hands—they're also productivity enhancers and ergonomic creation tools that make it easier to write and control your PC with just your voice.

First, you need to know about voice typing in Windows 11. To enable it, simply hit the Windows key + H shortcut to pop open a small window with a microphone button. Hit the mic and start talking; Windows will automatically transcribe your words to text and write them in whatever text box you have selected on-screen.

The other, more powerful voice command feature is called Voice Assist, and it lets you not just type with your voice but actually move your mouse around on the desktop, so you can point and click (sort of) with voice commands.

To turn on voice assist, navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Voice and make sure the Voice access feature is turned on. You will likely need to wait for the PC to download some additional data to make this work, and then you'll be able to summon or dismiss the voice access menu by hitting Windows key + Ctrl + S.

I love voice assist because you can open and close programs, transcribe text and click on things with commands like "left click", "go back" and "open [app]". Personally I love it because I have RSI and it lets me give my hands a break in long work sessions, but it's also useful if you like to walk around your office while dictating a memo or if you want to control a PC from across the room.

Admittedly, while Windows 11 voice access is the most useful voice control tool I've ever used it can be frustrating and tricky to master. Sometimes commands aren't recognized and editing text can be especially tricky (try telling a PC to fix a comma splice, I dare you), but overall I think it's a great feature that's worth using—and I wish more people knew about it!

Have any favorite Windows 11 tips of your own? Let us know in the comments!

More from Tom's Guide

• 15 top Windows 11 tips everyone needs to know
• 5 things I wish I knew about Windows 11 when I upgraded from Windows 10
• Don't buy a new PC for Windows 11 just yet — this lightweight version can save your old Windows 10 PC

The "Gemini era" of Gmail has officially arrived. In its biggest update since 2004, Google is rolling out a sweeping suite of AI tools designed to transform Gmail from a static list of messages into an active personal assistant.

Whether you’re a power user or just trying to clear out a cluttered inbox, these 2026 updates — powered by the new Gemini 3 model—are designed to do the heavy lifting for you.

Here’s what’s new, what’s free and when it's all coming to you.

1. You can now ask Gmail questions — and get instant answers

The days of digging through 2023 archives for a single PDF are over. With AI Overviews in Gmail Search, you can now ask questions like:

"What was the quote from the plumber last July?"

"Find my flight confirmation number for Tokyo."

"What did we decide on for the renovation budget?"

Gemini scans your history and provides a concise answer immediately, so you never have to open a dozen threads to find one detail.

Availability: AI Overview thread summaries are rolling out to all users at no cost. AI Overview search answers are available to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.

2. Meet AI Inbox — Gmail’s biggest interface change in years

The most visual change coming to Gmail is AI Inbox, a new and completely separate inbox view that looks to prioritize what matters most. Instead of showing emails chronologically, the AI inbox delivers a personalized briefing that highlights:

• Priorities: What needs attention and when for urgent messages, action items and to-dos.
• Catch me up: A snapshot of recent activity, including items such as purchases, upcoming deliveries, rescheduled appointments and reservations.

The AI view is designed to reduce inbox clutter and help important emails — like bills or reminders — rise to the top.

Availability: AI Inbox will roll out first to trusted testers first, with a wider global launch later this year.

3. Instant TL;DR for long threads

We've all played catch up with work and personal emails, scrolling through dozens of "reply all" messages, but those days are gone. Gmail now automatically generates AI Overview Conversation Summaries at the top of long threads. These summaries highlight key decisions, next steps and who said what — giving you time back instead of reading through every thread.

4. Smarter, more personalized replies

Google has evolved "Smart Replies" into Suggested Replies with Personalization. Rather than generic "Thanks!" or "Received," the AI now understands your specific writing tone; context of the relationship with the sender; and even the actual content of the question (e.g., suggesting "Cake" or "Pie" based on your actual preference).

5. Pro-level writing with AI proofread

This feature is pretty exciting, especially for users who occassionally stumble over grammar or spelling. So much more than spell check, AI Proofread will make necessary changes if you use the wrong word (e.g., suggesting "weather" instead of "whether" or "affect" instead of "effect").

The new AI Proofread tool helps refine your tone and clarity. It’s a game-changer for mobile users who need to send polished, professional emails on the go without the risk of "fat-finger" typos or awkward phrasing.

The takeaway

While many features are coming to all 3 billion Gmail users, some of the more "power features" remain behind the subscription curtain.

As of today (January 8), AI Thread Summaries and Personalized Suggested Replies are free to everyone, while AI Search Answers and AI Proofread Tool and are only available with Google AI Pro / Ultra. AI Inbox View is currently for certain testers only. These new capabilities are only available to Gmail users in the U.S. at the moment.

By weaving Gemini 3 directly into the interface, this update is Google’s clearest attempt yet to make your inbox work for you — not the other way around.

More from Tom's Guide

• Is your job AI-proof? 10 skills becoming more valuable in 2026
• 9 signs Google’s Gemini just ended ChatGPT’s dominance
• Would you give up TikTok or ChatGPT first? New study reveals what Gen Z prefers

Google rolled out a bunch of new Gmail features in 2025, including an AI-powered Add to Calendar button and a handy new Purchases tab. However, one change users have long asked for is the ability to change their email address without creating a new account. It's frustrating, but also understandable when you consider what would need to happen on the backend for it to happen.

However, it appears the hopes and dreams of Gmail users might come true, as a Hindi version of Google’s support page indicates that users will be able to change their Gmail address while keeping the old one alive as an alias.

As someone who's used the same email address since Gmail was in beta, I would love to change my main address to something a little more professional while still letting people who know the original address contact me. And I'm sure there are tons of other users who feel the same way.

Changing Gmail address — what you need to know

As far as how the feature works, emails sent to the old address will arrive in the inbox as they always would. This is key, as important people might email your old address before they discover you've swapped. Additionally, the original address will still work for signing in to Google services like Drive, Maps and YouTube.

Everything will remain with the account, including photos, messages and emails, after an address update, which is a big deal compared to making a new account.

According to the documentation, users won't be able to change their Gmail address for 12 months after a switch. Additionally, Google will limit users to three changes over the life of an account.

Since the language about changing a Gmail address appears only in the Hindi version of Google's support site, it's possible Google plans to roll out the feature in India and other Hindi-speaking regions first.

However, we have to assume that Google wouldn't roll this feature out in one part of the world and not the rest, so hopefully, we'll learn more regarding the change.

More from Tom's Guide

• More than 4 million people exposed in TransUnion data breach – what you need to know
• Over half a million hit in major healthcare data breach with SSNs, financial info and more exposed — what to do now
• Google wants to fight Android malware by making sideloading more difficult — here's how

If you're like me, you are probably subscribed to more mailing lists than you realize. Fortunately, the mobile version of Gmail gives you an easy way to do something about it.

Earlier this summer, Google announced a new Manage Subscriptions feature that would put all those mailing lists you've subscribed to — unwittingly or otherwise — in one place. You can then scroll down the list and tap which newsletters, promotional emails and other communiques you wish to kick to the curb.

At the time of the Manage Subscriptions announcement, Google said that the feature would roll out on the web, Android and iOS to select countries. I'm not sure exactly when it landed on my phone, but I noticed it around Black Friday — about the same time that every retailer I've done business with decided to send me an email imploring me to drop some more cash. Instead, I've been using Manage Subscriptions in Gmail to drop them from my inbox.

Manage Subscriptions is very easy to use, once you've tracked down in the feature. The steps below show the process in Gmail running on a Galaxy S25 Plus, but I've confirmed that it's also available in the iOS version of the email software running on my iPhone 17. In other words, iOS and Android users alike will be able to free themselves from the tyranny of unsolicited emails.

Here's how Manage Subscriptions works.

Once you've confirmed you're unsubscribing from the list, you'll be whisked back to the Manage Subscriptions page, which will be updated to no longer display the list you've dropped. You'll also get a confirmation alert at the bottom of the screen.

For the most part, unsubscribing from a mailing list takes place entirely inside of Gmail. In a few instances, however, you may be required to go directly to the sender's website to unsubscribe. You can also block messages from that sender if you prefer.

Near as I can tell, there's no batch unsubscribe feature in Manage Subscriptions; instead, you've got to go through each subscription individually. That's probably just as well, as newsletters I actually subscribe to — and in some cases, pay for — are listed among mailing lists I have no idea how I landed on. A batch unsubscribe command would make it too easy to include those welcome mailing lists from the ones I want to rid myself of.

If you're looking for more tips on how to use Gmail, we can walk you through how to transfer emails between Gmail accounts as well as how to schedule an email. Incidentally, scheduling messages isn't just for email clients — you can schedule texts in iOS Messages, too.

We've all been there before, desperately searching for the right documentation or gift card, as the rest of the line becomes more and more impatient. However, a recent update for Google Wallet could help to make this experience a little less stressful.

The new features announced by Google as part of the update include allowing users to add a nickname to their digital passes, with a limit of 25 characters. All users need to do is tap the three-dot button in the top right corner of the screen, then select the "Add a nickname" option on the subsequent page.

Once added, the nickname will appear as part of the smaller text on the digital pass. While it is a shame it isn't more front and center, it will still be a help when trying to organize numerous passes on one device.

What else has been added to Google Wallet?

Google's update also highlights the Nearby Passes feature that was revealed during the 2025 Google I/O. This feature will allow loyalty cards, event tickets and boarding passes to alert you when you are near specific locations. This makes it much easier to obtain the relevant digital pass in seconds and reminds you of any you might have forgotten.

This feature is currently only available in the U.S., but we hope to see increased availability soon.

More from Tom's Guide

• This upcoming 'Robot Phone' with a fold-out gimbal is an absurd look at what's next for smartphones
• Samsung reportedly canceling Galaxy S26 Edge — poor sales of S25 Edge lead to last-minute change
• Here's the one big mistake I've seen dozens of Samsung Galaxy users make with their cameras — and how to fix it

I’m not proud to admit how much time I’ve lost to email ping-pong. Maybe you're familiar with it, too. The dance goes something like, "Does Tuesday at 3 work?" But then I quickly write back with something like, "Actually, I'm double booked then, how does Thursday look for you?" Then, nine replies deep, I still haven't locked down a 30-minute chat.

As someone who juggles a lot of internal syncs, interviews, AI demos and last minute pitch meetings, my calendar gets chaotic. I know I'm not alone; we are all busier than ever while doing our best to stay productive when things pop up.

Luckily, Google just rolled out a new feature from Gemini with a “Help me schedule” button in Gmail. In short, it helps to eliminate the back-and-forth (and brain fog) that comes with setting meetings. It's the scheduling sidekick we didn't know we needed.

How it works

The feature works almost invisibly. When someone emails you with a meeting request such as, "Can we meet next week for 30 minutes?” Like magic, a “Help me schedule” button appears in the toolbar.

Once clicked, Gemini instantly scans your Google Calendar and proposes ideal meeting slots that match the request. So, even if you can't remember your schedule, Gemini jumps in no sweat.

Because the AI tool has context awareness, it will suggst blocks that may not even be technically open, but realisitically useful. For example, it may skip over my chaotic Monday mornings and avoid sandiching back-to-back meetings. The AI even understands the "next week" part and will pull up dates within range.

Smart suggestions you can actually tweak

Rest assured that Gemini lets you edit the suggestions it makes before you insert them into the email. For example, I could delete the 8 a.m. slot if it suggests it because I know I'm getting the kiddos to school even though I don't add that to my calendar. I could add an extra afternoon option, then click “Insert” to drop them all into my reply.

From there, the recipient just picks a time that works, and just like that, the meeting is booked.

The takeaway

More from Tom's Guide

• The internet’s obsession with the same AI prompts is backfiring — here’s why
• How I save money effortlessly with ChatGPT Agent: 5 clever tips to try
• This hidden ChatGPT site has 100 genius prompts — and it’s free to use

Two major updates are rolling out to Gmail that could save you serious time, especially if you shop online often. Starting today (September 11), Google is introducing a new Purchase tab to help you stay on top of all your purchases while also making it easier to track deliveries.

At the same time, Gmail’s Promotions category is getting a long-overdue upgrade. Instead of a cluttered mix of random ads, you’ll see more relevant discounts, deals and offers tailored to your preferences and activity interacting with your favorite companies. This means less noise from the companies you don't want to hear from, while keeping better tabs on the sales you truly care about.

Together, these updates tackle two of the most annoying parts of online shopping. Here’s a closer look at how they work and what they mean for every Gmail user.

New Purchases tab puts all shopping receipts in one place

If you do a lot of online shopping and find yourself digging through your inbox for tracking numbers or order confirmations, the new Purchase tab could be the organizational feature you’re looking for.

Starting today, personal Gmail users will see a new view that sorts all of your recent and upcoming purchases in one place. The interface shows upcoming package deliveries, past orders, and any purchase-related emails in a single, streamlined list, which removes the need to do any extra hunting for receipts and shipment updates.

Within this tab you’ll still see important delivery updates, like packages arriving within 24 hours, at the top of your inbox and within summary cards when you open purchase emails. But, what’s different about this new view is that you’ll now see everything categorized together for a centralized dashboard view of all your online shopping activity.

This feature is rolling out globally across mobile and web for users with personal Google accounts.

Gmail Promotions tab is getting even more personal (and useful)

In addition to the Purchases view, Google is also updating the Promotions tab in Gmail to help users find the most relevant deals faster. Soon, you’ll be able to sort promotions by “most relevant” instead of just “most recent,” making it easier to discover sales from the brands you prefer and interact with most.

The update includes highlights to upcoming deals and time sensitive offers and even smart nudges to make sure you don’t miss out. This could be a real game changer for the holiday season as more brands send promotional emails with deals and offers.

The takeaway

More from Tom's Guide

• I found ChatGPT-5's biggest blind spot (Memory is broken) — my workaround is shockingly simple
• Nano Banana just broke the internet with these viral trends — I tried these 5 prompts and I'm blown away
• Gemini is quietly crushing it — 7 prompts that show off what it can do

More from Tom's Guide

• What to do if your email has been hacked
• More than 4 million people exposed in TransUnion data breach – what you need to know
• Over Half a Million Hit in Major Healthcare Data Breach With SSNs, Financial Info and More Exposed — What to Do Now

Millions of Gmail users are being warned to change their passwords after the ShinyHunters attack struck Google's Salesforce database in June. Though that breach did not expose user information – only basic and largely publicly available business information, according to Google – it still leaves regular Gmail customers open to phishing and social engineering attacks. ShinyHunters has been particularly successful in vishing attacks where it makes a phone call impersonating IT staff in order to deceive a caller into revealing their login credentials.

Google has advised Gmail users to be on alert as it feels that the hacking group may be preparing to escalate their efforts to launch a data leak site (DLS). Those who may have been affected by the incident should have received an email. According to a Reddit post, Gmail users are now being targeted in vishing attacks coming from phone numbers with a 650 area code.

The calls themselves are from scammers that claim to be Google employees contacting victims to alert them about a security breach that affects their accounts. During these scam phone calls, the attackers attempt to take over the victims Gmail accounts by getting users to reset their password and provide this information to them. This locks the user out of their own account and hands the password over to the scammer.

How to stay safe from phishing attacks

More from Tom's Guide

• More than 4 million people exposed in TransUnion data breach – what you need to know
• Over half a million hit in major healthcare data breach with SSNs, financial info and more exposed — what to do now
• Google wants to fight Android malware by making sideloading more difficult — here's how

Your Gmail inbox is probably drowning in subscription emails right now. Shopping deals, newsletters, app notifications, and promotional messages pile up faster than you can delete them.

Gmail's subscription management tool changes that by giving you a central hub to see exactly which senders are flooding your inbox and how often they're doing it.

Instead of hunting through individual emails looking for tiny unsubscribe links, you can now view all your recurring senders in one place and unsubscribe with just a couple of clicks.

Whether you're dealing with overzealous retailers or newsletters you forgot you signed up for, Gmail's updated features make it easier than ever to reclaim control of your inbox.

Now you've learned how to manage your subscriptions in Gmail, why not take a look at some other inbox tips and tricks?

Check out One inbox to rule them all — how to transfer emails between Gmail accounts and I used Google Gemini to declutter my Gmail account — here's how you can do it too.

And to ensure your emails are safe from prying eyes, don't miss this little-known Gmail feature lets you encrypt sensitive emails.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple is working on a ChatGPT alternative — what we know about the 'Answers Engine'
• Google is tracking you right now — change these 3 settings to stop it
• You can speed up your Wi-Fi by moving your mesh router to these spots

My Google Drive is full, and I keep getting that annoying "storage full" notification. Before paying for a Google One subscription, I decided to see what I could do with my free 15GB.

Turns out, I had tons of unnecessary files taking up space that I didn't even know about. Between forgotten email attachments, duplicate photos, and cached data I never use, I was wasting gigabytes of storage.

I found several ways to free up space without spending anything. Some methods were obvious once I discovered them, others took some digging around Google's settings, but they all helped me reclaim some serious storage space.

Here's exactly what I did to clear out my Google account and extend my free storage life without paying a penny.

The truth about Google storage limits

Google gives you 15GB of free storage shared across Drive, Gmail, and Photos. This means a single large video file or years of accumulated email attachments can quickly consume your entire allowance.

The key to maximizing free storage lies in understanding that not all files are created equal. A few large files often take up more space than hundreds of smaller documents, making strategic deletion more effective than random cleanup efforts.

Now you've learned how you can increase your Google Drive storage space, why not take a look at some other useful guides?

Check out Google is tracking you right now — change these 3 settings to stop it and how to replace your PC GPU — 16 easy steps to upgrade your desktop quickly and easily.

I open my inbox every morning with the best of intentions. But somewhere between looking for my kid’s camp emails and checking a shipping confirmation, I get buried under a mountain of unread newsletters, product promos and half-forgotten subscriptions.

That is, until today.

Gmail just rolled out a new feature called Manage Subscriptions, and it’s the inbox detox tool we all need.

In just seconds, I unsubscribed from over 100 email lists; all without digging through old threads or searching for microscopic "unsubscribe" links.

Here’s how it works, why it matters and how to try it yourself.

Gmail’s new feature, explained

Google’s Manage Subscriptions is a brand-new tab rolling out now in Gmail. It lives in your sidebar (under the “More” section) and automatically pulls in every sender you’re subscribed to; from your favorite retailers to those random newsletters you don’t remember signing up for.

Even better, it shows you how often you’ve heard from each sender lately. For example: "Disney+ – 22 emails in the past few weeks” or “That random app I downloaded once – 14 emails this month.”

With just one tap, you can effortlessly unsubscribe.

Why this is a big deal

Before this, managing email clutter meant either mass-deleting, filtering messages into oblivion, or tediously unsubscribing one by one. Now it’s all in one place, which is a game-changer and time saver for busy people.

The inbox peace alone gave me that Friday feeling on a Tuesday afternoon.

For marketers and email senders, it’s a wake-up call that content has to earn a spot in someone's inbox.

How to try it

The feature is gradually rolling out across Gmail, but you may not see it yet. For example, it's available in one of my email accounts but not the other.

However, keep an eye out, as this experience is rolling out now to users on the web, Android, and iOS in the United States and select countries.

• On desktop: You’ll find it in the left-hand sidebar under “Manage subscriptions.”
• On Android: Rolling out mid-July.
• On iOS: Coming later this month.

If the feature is already there, you'll see it in the left sidebar when you click "More." Once you click Manage Subscriptions, you can review senders and see how frequently they email you.

Then, click unsubscribe next to anything you no longer want.

Gmail will process the request and handle the rest. (It may take a few days for the changes to reflect.)

I also filtered my Gmail by “Promotions” and “Social” tabs before jumping in, which is a great way to quickly identify the noisiest senders.

Final thoughts

After using the new Manage Subscriptions tab, my inbox finally feels manageable. It’s not perfect, and I have no doubt that some senders will still slip through the cracks, as many companies have several newsletters, but it’s the most efficient unsubscribe tool I’ve seen from any platform.

If your inbox feels like a cluttered junk drawer, this feature is your reset button.

More from Tom's Guide

• Google search results feel worse lately? Here’s why — and what you can do about it
• 5 hidden ChatGPT tricks most people don’t use — but they’re actually game changers
• This ChatGPT prompt changed how I work — and I use it every Monday morning

Gmail users should be paying attention to two security upgrades they can – and should – be making to their accounts in order to protect themselves.

According to The Daily Mail, Google will soon require Gmail users to activate 2-step verification (2SV) and has already begun sending out emails to alert users that haven't done so yet to take action. Those who still need to enable the feature have been given a deadline between 15 and 30 days. After that time, they could potentially lose access to their accounts.

It’s one of a few security measures the search giant is making as part of an update to curtail the flood of (very) realistic looking phishing and spam emails that have been on the rise lately. Though Google has AI filters that will remove most of these unwanted emails, requiring users to enable 2SV is another step to protect them and their accounts from the threats that do manage to get through.

Time to replace your Google password with a Passkey

However, according to Forbes, Google’s VP of privacy Evan Kotsovinos says another good step to make your account even more secure if to replace your password entirely. The logic behind this recommendation being that passwords are difficult to maintain and easy to crack – which is why so many people rely on one of the best password managers to generate and securely store them instead.

Kotsovinos' recommendation is to trade your password in for a passkey, which involves using your biometric information like your fingerprint or facial recognition alongside a trusted device like your smartphone.

Steve Won from 1Password told Forbes that passkeys are preferable because each is made up of two components: a unique public key created and stored on the company’s server, and a private key stored on the user’s device.

“As with all dual systems, the public key is used to create a challenge that can then only be solved if you have access to the private key which is secret and known only to you," said Won. "Because of this, passkeys are nearly impossible for hackers to guess or intercept because the keys are randomly generated and never shared during the sign in process.”

That means the passkeys cannot be guessed, or compromised by weak credentials, they cannot be stolen in a data breach and there’s no chance of them being broken into by a brute force attack or picked apart during password spraying.

Additionally, because a passkey gets tied to your account, and not your devices, if your phone is lost or stolen you can still access your account and recover your passkey on another device by signing in.

How to turn on two-step verification

If you haven’t already enabled two step verification, you absolutely should. It’s a smart way to protect your account and something that we recommend alongside two-factor authentication for all your accounts.

Simply go to myaccount.google.com/security and turn on 2-step verification, you will be offered a choice between text, an authenticator app or a physical security key. From there you can updated saved log-in methods and update your back up email and phone number just in case.

How to switch to a passkey

To sign up for a passkey, go to the Security Settings section of your Google Account and select the passkey option for “How you sign into Google.”

From there, click on Create a passkey, and then follow the prompts given to verify your identity using either your fingerprint or facial recognition on your device. That's it.

More from Tom's Guide

• These three TP-Link routers are being targeted by hackers – here’s what to know
• Going on vacation? Secure your smartphone with these 7 tips
• I fell for the biggest security mistake and let hackers into my accounts — here's how I stopped them

Google’s Gemini AI just got a major upgrade — and it’s about to know you better than ever. Gemini can tap into your Gmail, Google Docs, Drive, Calendar and more, transforming it from a chatbot into a true personal assistant.

The promise? Smarter help that understands your day, documents and travel plans. The risk? That all this personal data flowing through Google’s AI could come at a cost to your privacy.

Here’s what’s happening — and how to take control

Gemini just got way more powerful and can now connect directly with your Google apps to offer more tailored assistance. This includes:

• Gmail: Summarizing messages or helping you write replies
• Google Docs & Drive: Pulling insights from files or suggesting edits
• Calendar: Checking availability and scheduling meetings
• Maps & Travel: Surfacing trip itineraries, flight info, and recommended routes

If you’ve ever wanted an assistant that "just knows" what you need, this might be the closest thing yet.

What you gain (and what you risk)

This deeper integration gives Gemini the potential to save you serious time. But letting an AI crawl through your private documents and inbox doesn’t come without trade-offs.

While Google says Gemini won’t use this data to train its public models, and that human reviewers may access your interactions only in limited circumstances, some concerns remain:

Short-term storage: Even if you disable Gemini’s activity tracking, your interactions may be stored for up to 72 hours for processing.

Security and sharing: There’s no guarantee sensitive details won’t accidentally resurface in an AI-generated summary.

Scope creep: As AI gets more embedded into devices, will opting out become harder over time?

Google encourages users not to input confidential data into Gemini — but that can be easier said than done if the assistant is plugged into your entire Google life.

Bottom line

Gemini’s app-level access is part of a bigger shift in tech. As AI assistants become more helpful and hyper-personal, it’s now more than answering your questions, because it is so integrated into your life and data.

This new way of working can be a game changer for productivity. But it also means we’ll all need to make more deliberate choices about how much access we’re willing to give.

At the end of the day, it’s your data. And now more than ever, it’s worth thinking twice before handing over the keys.

More from Tom's Guide

• Google Veo 3 and Flow: The future of AI filmmaking is here — here’s how it works
• Google AI Ultra: Everything in the $250/month subscription — and why it might be worth it
• New to Google Gemini? Try these prompts to get started

Google is integrating Gemini into Gmail to help keep it as one of the best email services on the market.

Google I/O has announced many significant changes for Android users, including new ways to use Google Workspace, Google Docs, and even Google Vids. However, one of the most significant announcements was the addition of several new Gemini features for Gmail, including new means to better manage your inboxes and meetings.

Now, it should be mentioned that using AI in Gmail isn't strictly new, after all, Gemini can already declutter your inbox with ease. However, these new additions are built into Gmail and are all designed to work in concert with other Google programs to offer the best results.

Gmail can use Gemini to offer personalized fast responses

One of the more annoying parts of having an overactive Gmail account is finding the time to quickly respond to the influx of different messages. One solution offered by many companies, such as Apple, is smart replies. However, these tend to be pretty mechanical sounding and don't read as though the user sent them. However, Gmail will soon have access to Gemini-generated smart replies that are designed to sound as though they came from you.

Gemini can do this by pulling from your past emails and your Google Drive to craft a response that matches how you usually write. Additionally, the response will take details relevant to the conversation by analyzing the email thread and ensuring essential details are included. If you happen to be part of several long message chains, then this is a godsend and will undoubtedly help you save time.

It will be even easier to organize your inbox

While having access to smart replies might save you some time, it doesn’t do anything to help keep your actual inbox organized. However, Google has the solution, as Gemini will also be able to help you keep your emails organized better.

If you’re like me, then you likely have far too many emails to keep track of, and just don't have the time or energy to archive or delete them. You could, in theory, just search for a user in the search bar and then select all and delete, but that isn't as precise as you might like and can lead to the wrong messages being moved. However, Gemini will soon be making this process much smoother.

Google is rolling out a new feature where users can ask Gemini to quickly action emails with a simple message. For instance, say you’ve been booking a lot of meetings in the last month, then you’ll be able to ask Gemini to archive all of your email confirmations within the last month, rather than needing to do it yourself. This is not only much faster, but also a lot more precise than doing it yourself.

Gemini will streamline organizing a meeting our appointment

The final addition is aimed towards making it that much easier to organize a meeting or appointment and help to cut down on the tedious back and forth. To accomplish this, Google has fully integrated fast appointment scheduling into Gmail, which allows users to quickly offer times and bookings to other Gmail accounts without ever needing to leave their inbox.

When Gemini detects that users are attempting to organize a meeting, it will offer users the chance to share their booking page right in Gmail. This process is quick and seamless, and no doubt, making sure everyone is going where they need to be has never been easier.

All of these additions are expected to be released within the next quarter, which means we should have access between July and September. This isn’t the only announcement made during Google I/O, so keep an eye on our live blog for all the releases as we hear them, as well as any other news or rumors.

More from Tom's Guide

• Google Gemini's biggest UI issue could be getting fixed — here's how
• Google's best-kept secret needs to be a standard Android 16 feature — and it could be game changing
• I shot over 200 photos with the Razr Ultra 2025 vs Razr Plus 2024 — here’s the winner

I receive a lot of emails, some of which are solicited, but most are not. A lot of it is absolute trash that I could do without. There’s a reason my inbox has accumulated over 16,000 unread messages in the past nine years — and no, that's not a typo.

Inbox Zero is not an attainable goal for me right now, but Gmail’s new “Manage Subscriptions” feature sounds like it could help make it more achievable.

Regular Gmail users may be aware that a prominent “Unsubscribe” button was released last year, making it a bit easier to get your email address off various automated lists. However, according to a report from 9to5Google, the Manage Subscriptions page will take it a step further.

The new page still seems to be rolling out, and hasn’t appeared on either my work or personal Gmail accounts yet, on both Android and the Gmail website. However, 9to5Google has been able to check it out for themselves, helping us determine where the page is located and how it functions.

How it works

Accessing the Manage Subscriptions page can be done from Gmail’s sidebar, right below the trash folder. This new page will display all your email subscriptions in one place and show you how many emails have been sent recently.

A button on the right allows you to send an unsubscribe request. Apparently, this usually works with a single click, but sometimes you will get a pop-up asking you to confirm you want to unsubscribe.

It’s unclear whether you can unsubscribe en masse at this time. But the fact that you have all your newsletters and mailing lists on a single page should make the process of opting out a bit easier.

However, Google does mention that it “can take senders a few days to stop sending messages.” If you’re as familiar with the various unsubscribe forms as I am, you’ll know that this is a pretty standard message when you request to stop receiving certain emails.

I still don’t understand why we don’t have systems to make it an instantaneous change; it is 2025, after all, but that's the way things are.

What happens next?

9to5Google noted that this feature is only available on Android for now, but Google has confirmed that it is “gradually” rolling out, and both web and iOS clients will be included. Here’s hoping it happens sooner rather than later.

I may be a loyal Android user, but I typically prefer to handle emails and email admin on my laptop. It’s just easier to do it with an actual keyboard and mouse, rather than a touchscreen.

But I certainly welcome this change. I’ll be the first to admit that my email inbox is out of control, and it’s a real hassle to try to manage the sheer amount of stuff I get sent daily.

If Gmail can make it a bit easier to opt out of the content I don’t need, then I'm more than happy about that.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple Intelligence page no longer says 'available now' — here's why
• Motorola Razr 2025 design and colors just leaked ahead of launch tomorrow
• Samsung’s One UI 8 could be followed by One UI 8.5 — but when will it arrive?

Phishing scams are always trying to trick users into forking over their important information, and while many have telltale signs that give away that its from scammers, a new phishing email going around appears to be from Google itself.

Developer Nick Johnson (via X) was the target of a complex phishing attack that sees scammers send real-looking emails from Google, slipping past Gmail security and appearing to be a signed email from Google. As noted by Johnson, it even appears as a legitimate security alert.

The email was sent from "no-reply@accounts.google.com," the usual address of Google, and is also signed by "accounts.google.com." However, the email was actually sent from "privateemail.com," with the attackers leading users to an also-legitimate-looking support page under "sites.google.com."

If users click on the link in the phishing email, they will be directed to a fake "Google Support" page that asks to either "upload additional documents" or "view case." According to Johnson, clicking either link leads to a fake sign-in page (also via sites.google.com), asking users to put in their account credentials.

From here, scammers are likely to steal login credentials and take over a user's account. Since the pages use sites.google.com and are made to look identical to official Google pages, it becomes easier for scammers to dupe potential victims into thinking these are real websites — as seeing the domain "google.com" can make it appear legitimate.

How did scammers fake a real Google email?

So, how was this phishing email able to get signed off by Google and use its official email? Johnson notes two vulnerabilities, with the first being Google allowing users to host a website with the "google.com" subdomain via "sites.google.com."

The developer states that Google should "disable scripts and arbitrary embeds in Sites," and it is "too powerful a phishing vector."

Another outlier is the email from the sender, which was signed by "accounts.google.com." To get it signed, the attackers appeared to have registered a domain and linked a Google account to it, then made a Google OAuth app and entered the "entire text of the phishing message."

The attackers then grant the OAuth app access to the Google account, which is signed by Google itself. From there, the phishing message is forwarded to victims, tricking anyone into thinking it's really from Google.

After sending a report to Google (which it initially claimed was intended behaviour), Google is working on a fix for the vulnerability that allows the attackers to form an authenticated phishing email, according to Johnson.

How to stay safe from phishing

Attackers are constantly finding new ways to trick users into falling for phishing scams, and this latest phishing attempt shows that fake emails can be harder to spot. However, there are always methods to avoid malicious emails.

First and foremost, if a company contacts you about an urgent matter, it's best to avoid clicking any links within the email. Check the company's website for any recent alerts, and login to websites by typing in the URL yourself rather than clicking on any links.

Another sign is spotting any misspellings of names in email addresses or website links. In this particular case, this can be harder to spot since the attackers matched the Google's domain names. However, something was slightly off seeing as the "mailed-by" field was forwarded by "privateemail.com."

If an email seems suspicious, always look for inconsistencies. Of course, some can be hard to find, but using the best antivirus software programs can help stop any malicious activity from slipping through the cracks, and it's always best to use two-factor authentication as an extra safeguard.

So, if you see a real-looking email from Google with similar qualities, it's best to avoid it at all costs. If you're wondering how to keep on top of your PC security, check out these 12 computer mistakes you should stop making.

More from Tom's Guide

• 1.6 million hit in massive insurance data breach — full names, addresses, SSNs and more exposed
• Google will finally stop this 20-year Chrome bug from leaking your browsing history to other websites — here’s how
• Hackers are impersonating banks to infect your Android phone with credit card-stealing malware

Google has brought Gemini AI assistant to Gmail, allowing users to add events from their emails directly to Google calendar.

This development aims to streamline tasks and boost user productivity by utilizing AI to interpret email content.

How Gemini works in Gmail

Gemini AI analyzes the email content and identifies potential events. When Gemini detects event-related information within an email, it introduces an "Add to Calendar" button accompanied by Gemini's star icon.

After clicking the button, users are presented with a sidebar where they can confirm the event details and make necessary edits before adding it to their Google Calendar.

It's a process that should be significantly faster than manually extracting event information from emails and inputting it into the calendar.

While the button is new, the actual activity is not. Google’s Gemini integrates seamlessly within Google Workspace to help users stay organized and increase productivity.

Potential errors

There are few things more embarrassing than missing a meeting or arriving late. Putting you scheduling in the hands of AI is a bit risky, especially if you're relying on the assistant to get the information autonomously.

While the addition of the “Add to Calendar” option in Gmail seems positive, it’s important to remember that its effectiveness lies within the AI accurately identifying events and scheduling them. Users turning to this feature should still double-check the AI's work to make sure information gets entered correctly.

For instance, instead of automatically adding events, the feature may prompt users to confirm details before the addition. A user unaware of this might assume the event has been scheduled only to discover it actually was not because the AI was waiting for confirmation of information .

Despite these minor prospects for inconsistencies, the ability to access events directly via Google Calendar is sure to be a convenient aspect of the integration.

Availability and future prospects

Currently, this feature is being rolled out to various user groups, including Workspace for business, enterprise, and education users, as well as Google One AI Premium subscribers.

This phased rollout indicates that Google is looking to gather user feedback and make iterative improvements before a broader release.

The integration of Gemini into event scheduling features shows how Google is looking to leveraging AI to simplify and enhance user experiences within its products.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tested Gemini 2.0 Flash vs Gemini 2.0 Pro — here's the winner
• I test AI chatbots for a living — 7 common glitches and what to do when they happen
• I used ChatGPT Voice and Vision to spring clean — and it even told me how much some of my 'junk' was worth

Getting a security code sent via text to gain access to your Gmail account will soon be a thing of the past as Google will reportedly stop using SMS codes in favor of another form of two-factor authentication (2FA).

As reported by Forbes, the search giant is preparing to “move away from sending SMS messages for authentication” and plans to replace them with QR codes instead. The reason here is twofold: not only are SMS codes less secure but they also make it easier for cybercriminals to abuse Google’s services.

The move makes a great deal of sense overall and Gmail spokesperson Ross Richendrfer compared it to moving beyond passwords in favor of passkeys in a statement to Forbes.

We don’t have a set date for when this change will go into effect yet but Richendrfer confirmed that it will be rolling out over the next few months. Like with all big changes though, this one will likely arrive for some Gmail users for testing first before it becomes generally available.

Here’s everything you need to know about this major Gmail change and how QR code authentication will work when it becomes available.

The problems with SMS authentication

If you’ve been following our security coverage here at Tom’s Guide, then you’re likely aware of the dangers posed by SMS authentication. If not, here’s a brief rundown.

Whether it’s Android malware or even iPhone malware, hackers will often use malicious software installed on your smartphone to intercept SMS codes. With these codes and your passwords in hand, they can then take over your online accounts.

At the same time, just like with your other sensitive data, SMS codes can be stolen in phishing attacks.

Hackers have another clever way to get their hands on your SMS codes, too. Through a process known as SIM swapping, they can trick your cellphone provider into transferring your phone number onto their SIM card. This allows them to intercept your SMS codes and once again, use them to take over your online accounts.

Finally, there’s one other big downside to using SMS codes for authentication: you might no longer have access to the device or the phone number they’re being sent to. This makes it impossible to log into your accounts

How QR codes will work in Gmail

Once this change does roll out, you’ll no longer be able to use an SMS code to gain access to your Gmail account. Instead, a QR code will be displayed on your computer or laptop which you will then need to scan with your smartphone’s camera app to access your Gmail account.

In the past, we’ve seen malicious QR codes used in cyberattacks but this implementation of them will work more like how they’re used with passkeys.

In Google’s eyes, this change will help keep Gmail users safer from phishing attacks where a hacker tricks someone into sharing their security codes. Even if you were tricked into sharing the QR code displayed by your Gmail account (and I don’t even think you’d be able to), a new code will be generated for each device and login attempt.

Switching to QR codes will also make Gmail users less reliant on their cellphone providers for anti-abuse protections.

This major Gmail change will certainly take some getting used to if you rely on SMS codes for authentication. It’s worth noting that you can already use a trusted device like your phone or tablet to log into your account so that you don’t have to be bothered with entering an authentication code each time you log into your account.

As a Gmail user myself, I plan on keeping a close eye on Google’s rollout of QR codes for authentication and I’ll update this story if and when we find out more on when this new security feature will become available.

More from Tom's Guide

• Hackers are posing as Apple and Google to infect Macs with malware
• Macs under attack from dangerous malware targeting digital wallets and Apple’s Notes app
• Don't click this — malicious ads impersonating Google Chrome spreading dangerous malware

The holiday season means a lot of things: pumpkin spice, mall Santas, Mariah Carey singing, porch pirates and, of course, a surge in scams, spam, phishing and malware. Just as you get busy buying stocking stuffers and tinsel, threat actors get busy trying to break into your email inbox with scam emails, phishing attacks and spam intended to trick you into releasing personal information.

Google has just released details on the features it deployed this year, which resulted in 35% fewer scams being reported from its 2.5 billion users. That means fewer phishing and malware scams are hitting inboxes.

Millions of potentially dangerous messages are blocked because of Google’s use of AI, which has been using a new large language model to spot patterns and block 20% more spam than before. Here are the three scams that Google highlighted as being in use most heavily this holiday season:

Types of email scams

Invoice scams: In these, scammers send victims fake invoices to prompt them to call to dispute the counterfeit charges and try to trick them into paying the fees. Though not new, this method has sprung back into popularity this season.

Celebrity scams: Anything tied to a celebrity name will grab attention, and a scam is no different. These scams often pretend to come from a celeb themselves or claim that a famous person is endorsing a product. This is a classic example of a “too good to be true” scenario, wherein the victim is offered a celeb’s name or association to build trust.

Extortion scams: The most aggressive method on the list, the extortion scam, involves sending a victim an email with personal details, often their home address or pictures of their personal life, like their location, and will sometimes even include threats of harm or of releasing personal data.

How to stay safe

Google offers four good advice points: slow down and ignore any sense of urgency the scammers are trying to create, check the details of suspicious emails, and don't send any payment or personal information. No legitimate agency or company will ever demand your personal information or payment on the spot. Lastly, Google encourages users to mark anything they see as suspicious as spam — this helps other users, too.

Additionally, there are more ways to keep your inbox and your computer safe. You can start by making sure you know how to spot a spam or scam email: Is the sender a person known to you? Does their email address match up with their name? Is there a blank subject line or an unexpected attachment or link? Is the grammar stilted and poor, or is the spelling bad or off?

While you are the first line of defense, you’re not the only line of defense — ensure you have one of the best antivirus software programs set up, updated and running on your PC so that you’re protected in case anything gets by you. You can also add one of the best identity theft protection plans to boost security. There’s nothing like knowing you’re well-informed and well-protected against potential threats and bad actors.

More from Tom's Guide

• 5 Million Americans just had their credit card details leaked online — what to do now
• Millions stolen from LastPass users in massive attack — what you need to know
• New Google Calendar notification attack could be hiding in your inbox — here's how to protect yourself

Google is finally bringing one of its most popular Workspace Gmail app features to desktop users, alongside a new shortcut to help you improve your writing.

Google has been working to improve how we write emails, with a specific focus on mobile users. One of the better features released for the Gmail app recently was Help me write, which uses AI to write an email. Recently, Help me write saw an improvement thanks to improved shortcuts. However, the app's desktop version was curiously missing these features, but that looks to be changing.

Google recently announced in its Workspace Update Blog (via Android Police), that it would be bringing the Help me write shortcut to its web browser. Google also announced that it is bringing a new "Polish" option for both web and mobile. On inspection, Polish appears to simply be a new name for Refine my draft and will appear on any draft with 12+ words. When the option's available press the shortcut keys (CTRL+H) to see the polished version of your email.

The new Polish feature is also coming to the mobile app alongside Help me write, replacing the Refine my draft feature. For now, on drafts with more than 12 words, the Polish shortcut will appear just below the text, allowing you swipe to quickly see a more refined version of the email. From there users can tap a refinement chip to edit the draft, as well as make it more formal, elaborate on a point or shorten it.

Google has been working to improve all elements of its user experience with Gmail, including on the iPhone. It was recently reported that the iOS Gmail app would get Gemini support before Apple Intelligence, which recently launched its first set of features in iOS 18.1. While the Gemini features were locked behind workspace accounts, it was still a surprising reveal at the time.

Gmail is arguably one of the best email services currently available and used by millions of people around the world. Anything Google can do to improve the service is a win for the user, but it should be noted that you will require the Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on, Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on or Google One AI Premium to make use of the new features.

More from Tom's Guide

• iMac M4 vs iMac M3 — biggest upgrades explained
• I wish I’d known about these Google Translate features before I went on vacation
• Billions of Gmail users at risk from sophisticated new AI hack — how to stay safe

Hackers are now targeting Gmail account holders with a “super realistic AI scam call” that can trick even the most experienced users. Given that there are more than 2.5 billion Gmail users based on Google's figures, it's little wonder that hackers are targeting Google's message platform in increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks.

Sam Mitrovic, a Microsoft solutions consultant, flagged the scam in a recent blog post detailing what happened to him. It started when he received a notification asking him to approve a Gmail account recovery attempt, a pretty common phishing technique intended to send the user to a fake login portal to quietly harvest their credentials. Mitrovic didn't fall for it and denied the request. About 40 minutes later, he received a notification that he'd missed a call claiming to be from Google Sydney.

Then, a week later, he got another notification request for account recovery approval. Just as before, about 40 minutes after he denied it, he got another call. This time he picked it up, and an American man claiming to be from Google Support was on the line. The man confirmed there was suspicious activity on his Gmail account and claimed an attacker had access to his account for a week and downloaded the account data. Mitrovic said that triggered alarm bells as he remembered the notification from a week prior.

While on the call, Mitrovic looked into the phone number that the call came from, and a quick Google search showed it was a legitimate number from Google's business page. Still, knowing that a common tactic used by scammers can mask where a call is really coming from, he remained skeptical and asked for an email to be sent to him to confirm whether the supposed representative was the real deal. When the message arrived in his inbox, it looked genuine except that one of the addresses in the "to" field was a cleverly disguised non-Google domain. But the biggest giveaway would come next:

"The caller said Hello, I ignored it then about 10 seconds later, then said Hello again," Mitrovic wrote. "At this point I released it as an AI voice as the pronunciation and spacing were too perfect."

At that point, realizing it was a scam, Mitrovic hung up. But it's scary to think about what might have happened if he'd approved the account recovery notification or given his credentials to the caller, allowing scammers to seize control of his account.

"The scams are getting increasingly sophisticated, more convincing and are deployed at ever larger scale," Mitrovic explained. "People are busy and this scam sounded and looked legitimate enough that I would give them an A for their effort. Many people are likely to fall for it. There are many tools to fight the scammers, however, at an individual level the best tool is still vigilance, doing the basic checks as above or seeking assistance from someone you trust."

Google launches Global Signal Exchange to tackle online scams

Earlier this week, Google announced it's teaming up with the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) and DNS Research Federation (DNS RF) to combat online scams. It's called the initiative the Global Signal Exchange, and it's designed as an intelligence-sharing platform to generate real-time insights into scams, fraud, and other forms of cybercrime to shine a light on the facilitators of cybercrime.

Google's Senior Director of Trust and Safety Amanda Storey explained in a blog post that the joint venture “leverages the strengths" of GASA's network of stakeholders and DNS RF's data platform with more than 40 million signals "to improve the exchange of abuse signals, enabling faster identification and disruption of fraudulent activities across various sectors, platforms and services.”

The engine powering the Global Signal Exchange runs on Google Cloud, enabling "participants to both share and consume signals gathered by others while benefiting from Google Cloud Platform’s AI capabilities to find patterns and match signals smartly," Storey said.

How to stay safe from phishing scams

Phishing scams are one of the most common ways hackers try to steal your personal and financial information. Unlike with malware or malicious apps, these scams don’t require any software installs or other actions that may raise red flags. Instead, hackers trick you into clicking on links or downloading attachments.

That’s why it’s important not to rush when checking your inbox. Scammers often instill a sense of urgency, hoping to make you anxious or stressed enough that you’ll follow along with their instructions before you think too hard about it. Staying calm and cautious is key when handling phishing emails to avoid falling for their tricks.

Hackers frequently disguise themselves as popular brands in their phishing attempts by faking a company’s email address. Keep an eye out for clear red flags like misspelled words or poor grammar and double-check the sender's email address or phone number to make sure it's correct. If you're not 100% convinced whether the correspondence you receive from any company is real or not, it is always best to err on the side of caution.

To keep your computer safe from malware and other viruses that could come from opening a phishing email, it's important to install the best antivirus software on your PC, the best Mac antivirus software on your Mac and one of the best Android antivirus apps on your Android smartphone.

More from Tom's Guide

• This nasty Android adware is making phones unusable — how to stay safe
• Massive data breach hits 230,000 Comcast customers — names, addresses and social security numbers exposed
• 31 million users impacted by Internet Archive data breach — what we know

Apple has been caught on the backfoot again as Google has brought a popular Gemini-based feature to the iOS Gmail app. 

Google introduced Google Q&A for Google Workspace accounts back in August. This feature lets users ask questions about their inbox that Google Gemini will then answer for them. For instance, Gemini will be able to show you unread emails or present messages from a specific sender. The Google Q&A feature can also summarize emails about a certain topic, all without having to leave the app. 

It seems that Google isn't content to leave this feature on the best Android phones, as a recent blog post (via Apple Insider) has revealed that Googe Q&A is coming to iOS devices. Not only that, but it seems that Google intends to expand Gemini's functionality and have it be capable of answering questions about Google Drive in the future. All of this will be rolling out in the next few days to Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, Education Premium or Google One AI Premium add-ons.

This move by Google now puts Gemini in direct competition with Apple Intelligence, which isn't even out yet. However, Apple Intelligence has a built-in advantage in that it can prioritize onboard processing, rather than having to use the cloud like Google. This means that Apple's AI would be faster, and arguably safer for users. 

While Apple Intelligence seems to be in a perpetual state of "coming soon" there is plenty to look forward to. If you have had the chance to try out the iOS 18.1 public beta then you would have had a chance to use some of the new features for any compatible iPhone. For instance, there's a Photo Clean Up tool and a much improved Siri. The new Beta also gives you summaries in the Mail app, including its own version of Smart Replies, a feature that Google recently improved thanks to Gemini. 

Apple Intelligence vs Google Gemini is a conflict that was always going to happen. And Google just put even more pressure on its main rival. 

More from Tom's Guide

• I let ChatGPT profile me – here’s what it got right (and wrong)
• Google Lens just got a huge upgrade - now you can search with video and voice
• Google expands Gemini Live to 40+ languages — here’s what you need to know

Google is working to make things easier to find in your inbox with a huge Gmail update. Specifically, the company is upgrading the Summary Cards feature that attempts to summarize emails with information at the top of the email

Up until now, you've probably seen summary cards in regards to shipping information for items you've purchased. This usually shows up on order confirmation emails where you might get a box at the top of the email with the tracking link.

After the latest Gmail update, that box will expand to other subjects and should be more useful and timely. “The action will be relevant to the stage that you are in,” says Maria Fernandez Guajardo, senior director of product for Gmail, in a blog post.

Shopping is already covered by summary cards but three other email types are getting the cards, including events, travel and bills. 

The idea behind the four verticals is that in general emails related to those areas contain a lot of information, with links and other key points that can be difficult to surface. Now, Gmail will shift through those emails and put the information at the top.

Along with the new areas, the cards are also getting new features, including "offer[ing] new action buttons, like adding an event to your Calendar and inviting others or setting a bill payment reminder."

It doesn't appear that the cards will clog up your inbox,  but instead be relegated to the relevant emails. That said, Google is also adding a new "Happening soon" section at the top of your inbox. 

"To start, purchase summary cards will appear here, and this section will only show up when it’s relevant," Guajardo writes. "For example, once the estimated delivery date of a purchase is two days away, “Happening soon” will show the purchase summary card, allowing you to see when your package is arriving at a glance."

The cards will update based on the date and stack if you have multiple purchases on the way. From there you can dismiss the card or click into the related email. 

The new cards will be available on Android and iOS Gmail apps starting today. As with most Google updates, it is a rollout. We tested it on our personal and work emails and the updated summary cards showed up in our personal email. However, it wasn't available for our work Gmail account as of this writing.

The blog post noted that some of the features will come out in the "coming months."

More from Tom's Guide

• Google is slowly killing Fitbit — should you still buy one?
• iPhone SE 4 price — why I don't like what I'm hearing
• Tired of hard-to-hear dialogue on your TV? Here's how to fix it once and for all

Google is going to start using Gemini to improve the smart reply experience for the Gmail smartphone app.

Originally released in 2017, Smart Reply is a system that allows for quick responses to emails without needing to type anything out. While the feature worked, it was limited to simple variations of yes, no or maybe responses. It was fine for day-to-day use, but can't offer anything more detailed. That appears to be changing, however, as Google has decided to make use of its Gemini AI to offer much better options.  

Google went into detail in a recent statement about how Gemini would improve the feature and offered a GIF showing it in action. The Gemini-generated responses will appear at the bottom of a reply and users will be able to hover over them to get a preview of the response. Users can select one of these options, then quickly edit it to purpose. The big difference from the current model is that Gemini will scan through the email and craft the responses to better match the context of the original message. 

Based on the above demo, the new responses look much better than what Smart Reply offered in the past. While it should save you more time in the long run, it is always worth double-checking everything before you send it to be safe. After all, we don't want our emails to tell people to eat rocks in the same manner as Google's AI overviews when they first launched.

This isn't the only news about Google adding Gemini-backed features to their apps. For instance, it was recently reported that Google would allow Gemini to narrate our memories in Google Photos, making it all feel much more personal. Added to this is the recent news that we will have more control over who we see in our memories. We have also heard that Google is changing how we see emails, with the app taking a new design that is reminiscent of a WhatsApp conversation, which makes it easier to see responses and message chains. 

Google has stated that it expects to see a rapid release for this new feature, with the release starting on September 26. It will be available for all Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, Education Premium and Google One AI Premium add-ons.

More from Tom's Guide

• You can create custom iPhone ringtones using this default app — here's how
• iOS 18 Memory Movie is one of Apple Intelligence’s best features — here’s how to use it
• Motorola tipped to launch new foldable this week — here's the leaked specs

If you haven’t checked your Gmail account in a while, it might not be there much longer. With billions of Gmail accounts in use, Google is tightening the reins on inactive users. Yes, Google will delete your long-forgotten inbox gathering dusty digital cobwebs — but don't worry, there are a few precautions you can take to save it. 

Earlier this year, Google notified users via email about the Inactive Account Policy targeting accounts inactive for over two years. If your account has been idle, it could be permanently deleted along with all the data in Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.  

With it's recent upgrades and the introduction of AI features, Google is clearly prioritizing Gmail efficiency. Given that Gmail's been getting a big boost from Gemini, ensuring your account remains active is crucial. Let's walk you through how to preserve your Gmail account in three easy steps.

By following these steps, you can keep your Gmail account safe from deletion. While you're at it, check out how to bring back Google’s old-school search results with this one simple hack, use the best Google Assistant commands in 2024, and even outsmart airline pricing with Google Gemini to get the most from your Google features. 

One of the most remarkable new features for email is Gmail Q&A. It recently made its way to the web version of Gmail, and now Google is rolling it out to users of the best Android phones. For those with iOS devices, the company says it's "coming soon," so you may not have to wait too long to dig through those old emails more quickly.

In a blog post, Google broke down what the new feature is capable of, and it sounds pretty promising. "You can ask Gemini questions about your inbox or to do things like find specific details in your emails, show you unread messages, view messages from a specific sender, or summarize emails about a topic in your inbox," said Google in the post.

As far as why the feature is cool, Google also explained: "We are excited to help users supercharge their productivity with the help of Gemini in Gmail. Users now have even more capabilities from Gemini to help users get more done during their day at their desks and now, on the go."

How Q&A can make your life easier

Google provided several examples of how you can use the Q&A feature to find the emails you need. "What was the PO number for my agency?" or "How much did the company spend on the last marketing event?" were some examples Google cited, keeping it focused on work. 

Not all Gmail users will have access to Q&A. Google Workspace customers under the Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, Education Premium and Google One AI Premium will be able to use it. If you're under one of those plans, you must have smart features and personalization turned on. 

If you have all those caveats locked down, you'll need to open Gemini in the Gmail app via the black Gemini star at the top right. 

The feature is slated to expand to Google Drive, making finding files more manageable. 

More from Tom's Guide

• Pixel Screenshots is one of the Pixel 9's best AI features — here’s how it works
• I used my Pixel 9 Pro XL to create the ultimate EV savings cheat sheet — here’s what I learned
• Android 15 delayed for Pixel phones — what you need to know

Google is releasing a new feature on Gmail apps for Google Workspace users that will make answering emails faster than ever.

The Gmail app on iPhone and Android is a bit clunky when replying to emails. The issue is that, when selecting reply, the app will open up a new window. It is still possible to see the original email, but it's located at the bottom of the screen and is formatted so that it's quite hard to read. However, Google has announced changes coming to Gmail for Workspace and personal users that will change the layout significantly.

The new format looks more like a text message, or WhatsApp conversation, with your reply appearing at the bottom of the screen above the keyboard. Meanwhile, the initial email will appear above the message, making it much easier to reference while composing the response. Google also made it possible to expand the reply window and access formatting options. 

As stated, the smaller reply window is available to individual Workspace users and users with a personal Google account on Android starting today. However, there will be a 15-day gradual rollout for Google Workspace customers. iPhone users, meanwhile, will have to wait until later this year to see the same update.

This isn't the only new feature for Google Workspace users, as another update revealed how Google Gemini could help you write better responses. Google recently released a feature called "Help Me Write," which is designed to offer suggestions on how to finish sentences. however, an upcoming update will allow Google Gemini to refine emails with three possible options: Formalize, Elaborate and Shorten. The new update also adds new shortcuts that make it easier to alongside improved shortcuts for Help Me Write and Refine My Draft. 

This change to the layout, and the improved Gemini integration, means now is a great time to invest in Google Workspace. However, the lack of any solid information about an iOS release will be disappointing for some users. 

For more information about other features and devices coming from Google, including the Pixel 9, then please check out our breakdown of the recent Made By Google event. 

More from Tom's Guide

• Pixel Screenshots is one of the Pixel 9's best AI features — here’s how it works
• I used my Pixel 9 Pro XL to create the ultimate EV savings cheat sheet — here’s what I learned
• Android 15 delayed for Pixel phones — what you need to know

Google's Help Me Write has two new features that will make refining emails faster than ever.

Help Me Write is an AI feature powered by Google Gemini that originally appeared on Gmail and offered suggestions on how to complete sentences. It was then expanded to Chrome earlier this year and includes writing suggestions and rewrites. It appears that more updates are coming for certain Gmail users.

In a new Workspace Updates Blog post, Google announced two new features, the first is a new option for Help Me Write that polishes email drafts on web and mobile devices. When using Gemini to refine emails, users pick from three options: Formalize, Elaborate and Shorten. These new options can be added to drafts to help perfect your email and save you time. For instance, you could enter a rough draft of what you want to say, and then Gemini can turn it into a formal draft with a single click.

The second new feature focuses on two new shortcuts for Help Me Write and Refine My Draft. On mobile, when an email draft is empty, the Help Me Write option now appears in the body of the email and will expand when tapped. Meanwhile, the Refine My Draft shortcut will appear when at least 12 words are in an email draft and will be located below the email content. Users can select the option by swiping on the screen and will be able to Polish, Formalize, Elaborate or Shorten their draft, or easily compose and Write a new draft.

It should be noted that these options will be on by default, and there is currently no Admin control for the feature. However, all of these features are currently available on web browsers, Android and iOS for Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Business and Enterprise add-on, Gemini Education and Education Premium add-on and users with the Google One AI premium. 

These new features will help Gmail to maintain its place as our top email service. Hopefully, we will see some free variations appear for customers soon, unless Google plans to keep it locked behind subscriptions. In the meantime, check out our breakdown for the Made by Google event to see all the new products and software coming soon, including the new Pixel 9. 

More from Tom's Guide

• Google confirms it won't repair your Pixel Watch 3, only replace — and that's such a waste
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim might be the first foldable with titanium
• Google Pixel 9 performance looks disappointing after Tensor G4 benchmark results leak

After testing out a Quick Reply feature in Gmail last year, Google's ready to make the feature a permanent part of its email client — at least for some users.

Google has started rolling out Quick Reply to the Android version of Gmail, and the new feature is aimed at making it easier to reply to emails. The update to Gmail is apparently part of the latest Android Feature Drop that came out today, according to Android Authority. 

As of this writing, not everyone has the new UI update. The rollout is ongoing, and the Android Feature Drop notes don’t provide clarity on when everyone will get access to Quick Reply.

For those who haven’t received it, you’ll still see Reply, Reply All and Forward buttons on the bottom of emails. Tapping those buttons brings up a full-screen window for composing your response.

The new Quick Reply UI replaces all of that with a new text box that can be tapped to quickly enter a short reply; it can also be used to attach a file. There's a dropdown menu to edit the recipients or reply to everyone included in the original email. And naturally, you'll be able to use an emoji reaction button, too.

Once you start typing, the emoji button gets replaced with a send button. To type longer emails, an expand button also becomes available to switch to the regular compose email screen.

A larger change to the Android Gmail app could be in the works, as Android Authority expects a new Gemini button will be coming to Gmail. The addition was spotted by an Android Authority contributor, and it would allow both queries from users and email summaries — two features demonstrated during Google I/O.

Currently, the browser version of the Gemini button is available to Workspace users. Workspace is a suite of Google products aimed at businesses. So, it’s unclear when non-business users of Gmail on browsers will get this button, much less the Android app.

Other new features in today's Android Feature Drop mostly seem to focus on Google Meet and Google Home. Users also can finally edit messages in Google Messages.

More from Tom's Guide

• Google Search secrets potentially exposed in massive document leak
• Google unveils new Chromebook Plus laptops with integrated Gemini AI
• Google Pixel 8a vs Pixel 6 Pro: Is the new phone a worthwhile upgrade?

Google Workspace is about to get a lot more tools thanks to Gemini, the company's AI model. As detailed at Google I/O today (May 14), Gemini 1.5 Pro is powering a number of tools aimed at helping you get tasks done quicker and parse information more easily.

One of the more significant additions will be Gemini 1.5 Pro in the side panel for Workspace apps including Docs, Drive, Slides, Sheets and Gmail. The addition means a longer context window and more powerful AI tools. The panel also provides access to previously introduced tools like Help Me Write, Help Me Organize or Help Me Visualize.

Workspace Labs and Gemini for Workspace Alpha users get the improved side panel right away. Businesses and consumers will be able to add it next month via Gemini for Workspace add-ons and the Google One AI Premium plan.

The mobile version of Gmail in particular figures to see a number of benefits from Gemini 1.5 Pro. A Summarize Emails feature can go through long email chains and summarize the major points. Say you're discussing a work project — the summary might include deadlines, key tasks and other critical information.

The Smart Reply feature in Gmail gets more contextualized replies courtesy of Gemini. Google says the smart replies will now be more nuanced and draw from the context of those email conversations. You'll also be able to edit those replies.

Finally, Gmail is getting a Q&A feature where you'll be able to ask specific questions and get answers. If you've got a bunch of messages with contractor bids, for example, you can ask Gemini to provide a summary of that information. Basically, it's a way of saving you from having to dive into different messages to find that information for yourself.

Eventually, Google says that Gemini will be able to recognize receipts, invoices and other types of attached files and offer to organize and track them for you. That could include everything from entering them into a spreadsheet to storing them in a folder on your Google Drive. That capability is coming later this year.

Workspace Labs users get the email summary feature this month, with the feature coming to Gemini for Workspace customers and Google One AI Premium subscribers in June. Contextual smart replies arrive in July for Workspace Lab users as does the Gmail Q&A capability.

Additionally, Google says its expanding language support for more Gemini for Workspace features. Help Me Write for Gmail and Docs will soon support Spanish and Portuguese. Google plans to add more languages in the future. 

More from Tom's Guide

• Google just dropped big Android AI upgrades at I/O 2024 — here's what's new
• Google Search is getting 6 huge Gemini upgrades
• Google unveils Project Astra AI assistant to fight GPT-4o — and it works with smart glasses

Google's email service has turned 20. Because it launched on April 1, many thought it was an April Fool's joke at the time. All these years later, Gmail has taken over the world of email and proved to be anything but a laughing matter.

To mark the occasion, Google is officially enforcing a set of previously announced security rules for its email platform. While security rules don't sound fun and exciting, they are designed to make using Gmail a safer, more pleasant experience. 

New bulk sender rules for Gmail starting April 1 and beyond

Several new rules will be enforced on Gmail starting yesterday (April 1). These are actual rules that you'll need to follow if you wish to keep using Gmail.

Basically, Google is now enforcing Bulk Sender Rules, designed to crack down on the amount of spam sent through the email service. All bulk senders must authenticate their email using "well-established best practices." These include Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance, DomainKeys Identified Mail, and Sender Policy Framework. Google's Neil Kumaran states this will "close loopholes exploited by attackers that threaten everyone who uses email." 

For legitimate marketers, these should all be done as a matter of fact, so it shouldn't change anything for them. For a sketchy spammer, though, these checks rarely happen, which means their emails will be stopped before they're sent, thus never reaching your inbox (or even spam folder, for that matter).

There are ways around these protections, as there are ways around most security measures, but anything that can help stop the spread of spam and malicious emails is good.

Starting on June 1, Google will make the one-click unsubscribe option mandatory for all bulk senders. This will save you time, as you will no longer have to click 15 different options to remove yourself from an email list.

Other Gmail security changes

According to The Signal, Google is enforcing some other rules that apply to non-bulk senders. For example, the company enhances email encryption when emails are sent through different providers. With Transport Layer Security (TLS), email content will remain encrypted regardless of what email provider the recipient uses. 

Two-step verification will also be the default for Gmail. With this change, phishing attacks, unauthorized access and impersonation attempts will be more complex. 

The Password Alert feature and Security Checkup Tool are also part of Google's further push into security and will help all Gmail users stay safe.

More from Tom's Guide

• Massive AT&T data leak hits 73 million users — what to do now
• Darcula phishing service targets iPhone users through iMessage — how to stay safe
• Hackers are using these Android apps on the Play Store to stage attacks — delete them all right now

Superhuman AI is on a mission to help you reach Inbox Zero faster and more efficiently than what you've gotten used to.

The AI email company built for teams using Gmail or Outlook just unveiled its new feature called Instant Reply. While Gmail does offer Smart Compose options to respond to an email with a few words that it generates, Instant Reply prepares replies that are more nuanced.

Superhuman says it’s been testing Instant Reply with thousands of users who claim they’re now writing emails twice as fast.

How it works

Once an email comes in, you’ll have the option of choosing between one of three replies. While these initial prompts are short, the emails they generate are full-sentence replies.

Users of Superhuman AI were already receiving one-line auto summaries above each email in their inbox, often helping them skip reading the full email entirely when the summary sufficed. Now, thanks to the Instant Reply feature users can speed up their reply process too.

In a video demonstrating the feature, Rahul receives an email from Marlene inviting him to speak on a virtual panel. Three reply options are presented: Interested, can’t do it, and need more info.

Clicking on ‘interested’ generated the line “Hi Marlene, thanks for the invite! I’m definitely interested in joining the panel.” Rahul can then send the one-liner as is or add some more text manually.

Superhuman AI also had some input from OpenAI to improve its products. OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said in a statement that Superhuman is all about making workers faster and more productive, adding they’re excited to keep the partnership going.

Superhuman’s starter plan will set you back $30 a month, meaning you’re paying around $2 for every hour of work that the AI tool saves you from doing.

More from Tom's Guide

• Outlook for Windows is getting a big upgrade with Copilot AI integration
• Gmail Help Me Write announced at Google I/O 2023 — and it writes entire emails for you
• Yahoo Mail’s new AI features can save you time and money — here’s how

If you're wondering how to unsubscribe from emails in Gmail, chances are you're a little annoyed by pesky companies repeatedly emailing you. Perhaps you accidentally subscribed to their newsletter when you signed up to a service or purchased a product. Maybe you forgot to uncheck the marketing preferences box, allowing the sender to mail you with marketing content.

Well, don't worry: Gmail has an incredibly quick way to unsubscribe from emails in just a single click or tap. It's one of the first things you should learn when figuring out how to use Gmail.

Here's how to unsubscribe from emails in Gmail, using both the desktop browser site and the smartphone app.

How to unsubscribe from emails in Gmail

We've completed the following steps on an iPhone 15 Pro using the Gmail iOS app, although the steps are exactly the same if using the Android app or the desktop website.

Voila, that's all there is to it. If you'd like more help using Gmail, check out our other guides, including how to create folders in Gmail, how to change your Gmail password and how to activate Gmail's dark mode.

Google is releasing an upgrade for the Gmail app that will allow users to easily unsubscribe from unwanted mass emails. However, this feature is not available on every Android phone just yet.

The unsubscribe option has been available on the web app for a while, but it was quite hard to find. As such Google redesigned the option to make it more obvious for the user. Surprisingly this change previously didn’t affect the Android app, until now. 

The new design follows the same trend as the web browser with the unsubscribe button being placed at the top of the email. When tapped it will either ask for confirmation or redirect you to the newsletters unsubscribe website. This is supposedly down to how the publisher implemented this option. 

If you are unsure of the website, or just don’t want to risk being sent to a potentially harmful website, it is still possible to mark an email as spam or block them. This will send the newsletter to a separate inbox and will send any further correspondence to the same place. However, it is worth showing some restraint with labeling emails as spam as it may cause your system to forward legitimate emails.

However, it appears that the feature is not yet available for everyone. In a recent report, Android Authority found the option was available on a Pixel 8 Pro, but not on an Honor phone. This will likely be solved soon and we imagine the addition will be implemented on more phones as time goes on. Until then users are still able to unsubscribe from emails the old-fashioned way.

Google's attempts to improve the visibility of the Gmail Unsubscribe buttons are certainly one that many users will appreciate. It is all too easy at the moment to lose track of emails and, while it may seem like a minor headache, having a massively full inbox can cause issues. One of them being that it'll fill up your Google cloud storage, which can then become a cost to pick up some more. It can also mean that important emails get easily missed as there are just too many to look at. 

It is also important to keep security in mind when it comes to emails. As stated before, if the email has come from an untrusted source it is better to send it to the spam folder rather than trying to unsubscribe. If you do feel that your phone may have a virus then we have compiled a list of the best antivirus software for phones.

Google is known for constantly updating its programs to make them more appealing to users. This change is not a major one, but it does make an already existing feature more prominent and that is enough. Hopefully, some of the other options, such as how to select important emails, get the same treatment.

More from Tom's Guide

• iPhone 16 rumored for RAM and Wi-Fi boost to close the gap with 'Pro' models
• How to set up parental controls on an iPhone — 7 tips you need to know
• Google’s Keep note-taking app is getting a new feature courtesy of Android 14 that’s a huge time-saver, even if Samsung got there first

If you have an old Google account you haven't used in a while, it could be getting wiped this week. Beginning on December 1, Google will start purging photos, videos, emails and other data belonging to inactive accounts — that is, accounts that haven't been accessed in at least two years.

Google's updated inactive account policy, which the company first announced back in May, applies to content within Google Workspace such as Gmail, Drive, Docs, Meet, Calendar and Photos. Google plans to start enforcing its updated inactive account policy on December 1. Though the company has been sending warnings to affected users since August alerting them that their accounts could be at risk of getting wiped. Deletion will be done in a phased approach, starting with accounts that were created and never revisited again.

Google's VP of product management, Ruth Kricheli, explained back in May that the purge is part of a security measure to protect accounts. An internal analysis found older accounts are at least 10 times more likely to rely on recycled passwords and significantly less likely to have up-to-date security measures in place like two-step verification.

“Meaning, these accounts are often vulnerable, and once an account is compromised, it can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector for unwanted or even malicious content, like spam," Kricheli said.

Though Google is making an exception for certain accounts, such as accounts with YouTube channels, those with remaining balances on gift cards, those with purchased digital items like a book or movie, and those that have published apps that are active on a platform like the Google Play store, the company said in August. You can find other exemptions on Google's Inactive Account Policy page. 

How to prevent your Google Account from being deleted

If Google deems that your account has been inactive, it will send a series of emails to both your Gmail address as well as your recovery email account, if you have one set up. 

To keep your Google account from being marked for deletion, simply log in to your account or any Google service tied to that account at least once every two years. Google also provided a list of other ways to ensure your account remains active:

• Reading or sending an email
• Using Google Drive
• Watching a YouTube video
• Sharing a photo
• Downloading an app
• Using Google Search
• Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service

More from Tom's Guide

• 10 helpful Gmail features and how to use them 
• Best Buy Cyber Monday deals — 49 sales to get before it’s all over
• 9 hidden Google Maps features everyone should know

Google Bard is getting a significant upgrade today, conveniently just ahead of the big Microsoft September event where we expect to hear about new features for rival chatbot Bing with ChatGPT.

The most notable new feature is Bard Extensions, a new upgrade for Google Bard in English that lets you tell the AI-powered chatbot to do tasks involving other Google apps and services, like Gmail or Outlook.

Bard is also getting what could be a better fact-checking tool, in the form of an enhanced "Google it" button that tries to double-check answers using Google Search. 

The chatbot is also getting more useful in a collaborative sense (more on that shortly) and more accessible. While the new Bard Extensions are only available today on the English language version of Bard, the company is also updating Bard in over 40 other supported languages to have some of the latest features of the English version, including the big upgrades it got in July.

It's a significant expansion for the nascent chatbot, which came a bit late to the Bing with ChatGPT vs. Google Bard debate. While it will take a little while to see what the truly maniacal will do with the new Extensions, here's the three big ways Google Bard is getting better with today's upgrade.

Integration with Google services

The biggest new feature is really Bard Extensions, which let you tell the chatbot to answer questions using data from other Google apps. We're talking not just Google Docs or Drive but also services like Google Flights, Hotels and YouTube, and it can tap multiple services simultaneously in the same conversation. 

If you use more than one or two Google services you can immediately start to see how this could potentially impact the way you do everything from plan a presentation to a dinner date to a company off-site, though how effective Bard will be at parsing the data and serving up useful answers remains to be seen.

Improved 'Google It' feature

Bard is also getting what could be a better fact-checking tool, in the form of an enhanced "Google it" button that works to double-check an answer using Google Search to try and find substantiating evidence. 

When Google's tech decides such evidence exists, you'll be able to click on highlighted text to "learn more about supporting or contradicting information found by Search" online. Given the inaccuracy of many AIs, it could prove to be a helpful reality check.

Continue shared conversations

Finally, Google Bard is getting a bit easier to share with friends. Now, when you share a link to a Google Bard conversation (a button for which can be found under every response Bard gives) the recipient can continue the conversation on their own.

So while it's not as though you're both typing responses to Bard in the same shared conversation—that joy is still reserved for those brave enough to huddle around the same screen, typing silly answers to the machine—it should be a better way to collaborate on Bard chats. You could send pals a link to a restaurant Bard recommended to see if they want to go, for example, and they could pick up the conversation and ask Bard why it would ever dream of such a thing. The possibilities for collaborative creating, planning and goofing around boggle the mind.

Outlook

All together, these new features give Google Bard some substantial new depth and offer serious Google users a plethora of new ways to ask Google's chatbot for help with things. How they'll use it, and how helpful Bard will be, remains to be seen.

But what's really notable here is that Google is keeping pace with competitor Microsoft in integrating its AI-powered chatbot with its own suite of apps and services.

Microsoft has already laid out plans to effectively tie its own services (like Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams and the like) up with an AI-powered assistant in Microsoft 365 Copilot, and with Windows 11 Copilot it's experimenting with putting such a chatbot directly into Windows.

Will Google ever take the next step of integrating Bard directly with ChromeOS? Might we soon see other Google services, like the Google Assistant on your Google Pixel Tablet, speaking back to you with AI-powered answers? The mind reels at the thought.

More from Tom's Guide

• Panos Panay is out at Microsoft — what it means for Surface and Windows 11
• How to use Google Bard
• Google Chrome just got an AI-powered upgrade — TLDR summaries of articles

Use it or lose it. That's the warning that Google sent out to people with Google accounts yesterday via email (see screenshot below), stating that any account that has been inactive for two years will be eligible for deletion.

Fortunately, you have a few months before this policy goes into effect, as Google won't start deleting accounts until December 1, 2023, and will send out warning emails, starting 8 months in advance, to those whose accounts are at risk of being deleted. 

How to prevent your Google Account from being deleted

If Google deems that your account has been inactive, it will send a series of emails to both your Gmail address as well as your recovery email account, if there is one. After a Google account has been deleted, the Gmail address for that account will no longer be able to be used to create a new account.

The easiest way to keep your Google account from being marked for deletion? Just log into it. Google also provided a list of other ways to ensure your account remains active:

• Reading or sending an email
• Using Google Drive
• Watching a YouTube video
• Sharing a photo
• Downloading an app
• Using Google Search
• Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service

In its email, Google also stated a few exemptions to its account-deletion policy. 

Google accounts with YouTube channels, videos or comments, accounts with a gift card with a monetary balance; or an account that has a published application will not be marked as inactive, even if there has been no activity in two years. You can find other exemptions on Google's Inactive Account Policy page. 

More from Tom's Guide

• YouTube is getting 2 big upgrades to make your life easier
• iOS 16.6 is coming soon — here's all the new features for your iPhone
• Google Bard Extensions are bringing AI chatbot to YouTube, Gmail, Zillow and more

Gmail users are being encouraged to enable Google’s Enhanced Safe Browsing in both the Android app and on the web, 9to5Google has spotted. 

An information box is appearing above the inbox for users checking their Gmail, promising “additional protection against phishing”. 

“Turn on Enhanced Safe Browsing to get additional protection against dangerous emails,” the box reads. Users can dismiss the prompt by clicking or tapping “No thanks," while clicking “Continue” takes you to this page in your account where you can enable it. 

What is Enhanced Safe Browsing?

First introduced in 2020, and then improved a year later, Enhanced Safe Browsing works in the background in both Gmail and Chrome to prove real-time web protection. 

With it enabled, Enhanced Safe Browsing will be on the lookout for risky URLs, downloads, browser extensions and more. Google has claimed that those with it enabled are phished 35% less often than those who haven’t opted in. 

For websites, it checks “uncommon URLS” against a list in real time to reduce the odds of you hitting a phishing site. With suspicious-looking downloads, Google gives enrolled users the option of uploading files to Google’s servers for a more thorough check. And with browser extensions, those made by developers who don’t follow Google’s Developer Program Policies include an option to find out what permissions they have, so you can risk-assess the possible damage yourself.

None of this is mandatory, and you can overrule Google at any time. But the idea is to make users think a bit more carefully about blindly clicking links or downloading potentially risky files.

Gmail: Paying it forward 

Enrolling in the program will also mean you’re helping in the wider cybersecurity efforts. Google says it will send a “small sample of pages, downloads, extension activity and system information to help discover new threats”. 

Though those who worry about their privacy may be put off by the fact that this “temporarily links this data to your Google Account when you're signed in” in order to “protect you across Google apps”.

While the mobile prompts currently only seem to be appearing on Android, the iOS version of Chrome also supports Enhanced Safe Browsing as of last year.  

If you don’t see the prompt, but want to enroll, it’s really easy to do so. You can toggle the option on in your Google account by logging in here, or enable it in the Chrome settings via this address: chrome://settings/security.

Scheduling meetings via Gmail is about to become more streamlined thanks to new update. Instead of going to Google Calendar to schedule meetings and events, you can now do so directly from Gmail.

As posted on the Google Workspace Updates page, the company is adding a feature to Gmail that can help you find optimal meeting times with others. The post says this will be especially helpful when trying to a schedule time with folks whose Google Calendars aren’t visible to you.

You’ll see a new Calendar icon with all Calendar-related actions consolidated and discoverable when composing an email. Clicking on the icon brings up your calendar on the right. From there, you can select and insert proposed times. The person receiving the email can then review the suggested times and select one directly from the email. This will automatically create a calendar invite.

You can see the feature in action below:

You can also schedule a meeting and share the event information back in the email — with an event summary automatically inserted into the email body for easy sharing. If that sounds familiar, it’s because this specific option was once available in the three-dot menu at the top of an email’s conversation view.

Note that this feature only works for on- on-one meetings. As Google explains, only the first person to book an appointment will get added to the event automatically if multiple people are included in the recipient list.

This feature began rolling out for Rapid Release domains on July 11 and will begin rolling out on July 31 for Scheduled Release domains. As this is a gradual rollout, it will take up to 15 days for the feature to become visible to all Google Workspace users and those who have personal Google Accounts.

Outlook: Gmail keeps getting smarter

Many of us use Google for work, with scheduling meetings being an important part of our everyday routine. The ability to schedule meetings and negotiate the best available times with those you’re emailing will no doubt speed up one’s workflow. But even outside or work, using this feature for personal emails will be beneficial.

This latest upgrade comes after Google showed a new 'Help me Write' feature at Google I/O, which is designed to help you compose emails on the fly. And in May Gmail added blue checkmarks to fight phishing and scammers. 

More from Tom's Guide

• Google Calendar just got a major upgrade for hybrid workers
• How to use Google Maps Immersive View
• Gmail adds blue checkmarks to fight phishing and scammers