This may sound really basic but please bear with me...I recently downloaded the Google app and have just set up an account to access the further applications. My question is this - will the gmail email account work from within the app without me declaring it as a new email account in 'settings' ?It works ok if I send messages to myself, but I'm not sure if any messages I send are getting 'out there'.

Originally Posted by hilsroo

This may sound really basic but please bear with me...I recently downloaded the Google app and have just set up an account to access the further applications. My question is this - will the gmail email account work from within the app without me declaring it as a new email account in 'settings' ?It works ok if I send messages to myself, but I'm not sure if any messages I send are getting 'out there'.

I think the GMail App is independent from the native Mail App. I understand it more as a "enhanced shortcut" to the Gmail mobile website.

Yep. Mostly the Google app is an optimized search for iOS devices, and a bunch of links to their mobile sites, including the mobile Gmail site. Until recently they didn't even stay in the app. Most of them opened Safari and went to the site.

It will work fine for what it does. And I have to admit there have been some nice improvements lately.

@OP, if you are not going to be sending and receiving a lot of attachments the mobile GMail site will work fine. Otherwise you should probably consider adding the GMail account to the iPad so that you can use the Mail app. It's not an either or decision. You can use both without any problems.

I'll take the official Gmail app over the native Mail app, every day with no questions asked! As stated above, the search function is amazing, compared to the "so-called" search function in the native mail app. It has never ever worked for me - not even once. Searching for a specific mail in the iOS mail app could give me headaches. It'd end up of me logging on to my mail account using an internet browser and from there searching for the mail instead.

With the Gmail app, all those problems are gone with the wind. It's a wonderful app, especially since the search function is working as intended! I suggest you give it a try at least, and from there make up your own mind.

And by the way, if you can receive the mail you just sent to yourself, everything is working as intended. You'd never be able to receive the mail and then read it if the mail server never received it, and from there sent it to it's destination (you, in this case). So mail away, they'll all be delivered as intended.

Thanks all for your speedy responses! The attachments issue shouldn't really affect me so I'll give it a whirl for a few weeks and see how I go. If I come across any glitches I'll let you know!