Google Rolls Out Chat messaging and groups Rooms to Free Gmail Accounts

Google’s vision to make Gmail the “new home for work” gets better with the introduction of Chat messaging and group Rooms. These features, which rolled out in August 2020, to G Suite customers on Android and the web, are now available to personal Gmail accounts. 

Google is integrating everything — Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs/Sheets/Slides, Tasks — into your inbox since you’re likely to have Gmail open on your desktop. The goal is to let you get everything done on one page without having to keep switching between other tabs.

The new Gmail is broken into four main sections. “Mail” and “Meet” have been in place for the past few months. “Chat” is where you send messages to individuals and small groups using “Chat”, while “Rooms” — similar to Slack — are for large conversations with sharing of files and tasks. 

For Android users, there’s a bottom bar with four tabs, while on the web, the Gmail sidebar is divided into four parts. They are shown by default but can be quickly hidden by clicking the chevron. Once you tap a “Chat” it opens a conversation at the bottom-right corner of your screen. Rooms open full-screen and replace the default list of messages. Chat and Room are identical to the Google Chat app. 

The search bar has a status indicator that helps you set controls like Automatic, Do not disturb, and Set as “Away”. You can find them in the Gmail navigation drawer on mobile. 

Though yet available on iOS, many free personal Google accounts today can enable the new Gmail with Chat on Android. Enterprise accounts need the permission of their admins. 

To get started, you need to have the latest version of Gmail installed from the Play Store. You have to enable Chat “Early Access” on each of your Android devices and the web, as well as Google Accounts. Activating one does not bring a new experience to all your Gmail instances.

How to turn on new Gmail with Chat, Rooms

Android 

1. Open Settings (at bottom of nav drawer)
2. Tap personal Gmail account 
3. Under General, select “Chat (Early Access)”
4. Click “Try it”
5. Gmail app relaunches with a tutorial and prompts you to turn off notifications from the standalone Google Chat app (that is, if installed)

Web

1. Visit mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/chat
2. Select “Google Chat (Early Access) instead of “Classic Hangouts” 
3. Confirm pop-up box