Now you can set Gmail as your default email client on iPhones

Joy to the world, the need to take an annoying extra step while sending emails on your iPhone is no more.

Google has updated its latest version of Gmail, adding the option for it to become the default email client on iPhones. That’s thanks to a change made by Apple to the new iOS 14, which dropped last week.

At WWDC in June, Apple announced that users would be able to change their default web option from Apple’s Safari browser and switch the Mail email service to non-Apple services.

Until now, if you opened a link (say, on Twitter), it would open in Safari. Or if you clicked on a person’s email to send them a message, a new email would open in Mail. If you wanted to send a person an email in Gmail, you would have to specifically open Gmail, compose a new message, and either copy and paste or type in their email.

No more! Now, if you’ve made your default email client Gmail, if you go to a contact in your phone, and then click on that person’s email, a new email addressed to that address will open in Gmail. Hooray!

Chrome was able to take advantage of Apple’s new flexibility with an update last week, while the update came to Gmail Monday. Once you’ve updated to iOS 14, you can go to Settings and click on Gmail. Then, click on the “Default Mail App” bar, and select Gmail from the list. Voila!