There are 1.5 billion (with a b!) active users of Gmail, which Google clearly sees as an asset that can be used. You may have noticed that Google continues to fill the interface with buttons for other services.
The left sidebar of the desktop and the bottom sidebar of the mobile now have large buttons for Chat, Space, and Meet, three services that Google would love to see started.
Google through Justin Pot
A four-button sidebar takes up a lot of space, apparently just to remind Gmail users that Google offers video conferencing and chat services. It’s even worse on the mobile version, where the chonkbar constantly lives at the bottom of the screen. It’s a lot of clutter, I’m tired of seeing it, and I don’t think I’m alone.
You might take this as an opportunity to replace Gmail with a privacy email provider, but I understand that not everyone wants to change their email address. With that in mind, here’s how to keep your Gmail address without having to look at the Gmail UI or, if you prefer, how to hide the cheat bar so you can enjoy Gmail again.
Try an email client
Okay if you forget about email clients; we all did. It’s time to dump her and move on. Here are some of the ones I like:
- On Apple devices, the default mail application is clean, fast, and even blocks email tracking by default.
- Windows has the default mail application, which is very clean and won’t allow you.
- Outlook is very good now and is included if you are already paying for Microsoft Office. The mobile version, in particular, is much cleaner than Gmail in many ways, and it’s also a pretty nice calendar app.
- Thunderbird is still a great open source email client for all desktop operating systems.
- Canary is a clean, fast, and secure email client for Windows, Android, and Apple devices. Optionally, you can use Gmail’s default keyboard shortcuts, which is very important if you’ve been a powerful Gmail user for a long time.
All of these apps make it easy to add a Gmail account after installation, so you can try some and see what you like best. And everything will sync between these clients and Gmail, so you can use both at the same time for a while if that helps.
