Gmail has been a standout email service for around 12 years, and undoubtedly the most powerful webmail provider in over 10 years. During that time, it has undergone multiple changes varying from the interface and user experience features to deep back end integrations in multiple industry leading communities. That is why on a monthly basis Gmail has over 1 billion (that’s right, over 1,000,000,000!) active users.
Since Gmail has such a numerous fan base, it is only natural that they have found a way to offer their services on mobile phones and tablets. Many software companies have recently started implementing Gmail as one of their importing services for mobile, which allows users to easily export files and forward them to different contacts.
So, without further ado, let’s get into which apps are the best for Gmail users to have on their mobile devices:
- Networking apps that help you stay in contact with your friends, coworkers and others
- Data Management apps that let you focus on organizing your files and folders
- Productivity apps will help you improve your work obligations as well as day-to-day chores
Networking apps
Spaces
Spaces is one of the newest group work apps on the market at the moment. Launched just several months ago, there were many questions raised regarding the purpose and necessity of Spaces, but it’s slowly getting recognition. In the meantime, Google announced and is in the process of releasing at least 6 more apps. While Spaces is not perfect (yet), we know that almost everything coming from Google’s workshop will be a top of the line product that you can always rely on. Google Spaces does resemble Google+ in the social media sense, however this app is more a group work app than anything else. You won’t be spending too much time with it and with such devotion, as you would with Facebook or Twitter, simply because there are no benefits from overusing it. There are no risks of underusing it, either. Spaces can work as a search app, but also as a YouTube client. As for the group work, it allows you to create a “space” for different topics, invite friends through link-sharing and also allow them to comment on posts you make. Get ahead of the game and join Spaces before the rest of the Internet flocks in.
Perhaps the best definition of Hangouts is describing it as a great alternative to Skype. Hangouts lets you talk to your friends and family through a video feed in real time, as well as send pre-recorded videos and audio messages. You can also broadcast your conversations through Hangouts and, let’s say, run your podcast as well. Hangouts also allows you to send both SMS messages and instant messages online. Along with Google Voice, it makes a great combo when you are not in the position to work on your phone (while you drive, e.g.)
Document Management Apps
If we are talking about document management and data safety, we simply have to mention Pocket Files Pro. This app is a password protected data vault that will keep your secrets as safe as a Swiss bank, all the while helping you move it around and keep an eye on who else is trying to break into your files. How? Well, the app will snap a photo and tell you the location of when and where there has been an attempt at compromising your files. You can import files from your iCloud, Gmail, and others, but you can also take photos and videos from within the app itself. Pocket Files Pro can also open several complicated file types such as PDF, .zip, GIFs, and both Microsoft and iWork formats.
Air Transfer is another must-have app for anyone who deals with data management. This app will let you move your files between your PC, phone and tablet, and it’s also very well integrated into Google’s system since you can move files from both Google Drive and Gmail. Air Transfer supports a bunch of different formats, so you are covered and you don’t have to think about whether most of the common files are supported in this app. You can import photos from your camera roll and immediately move them to other connected devices at the same time. Aside from that, its in-built music player is awesome and you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding the transferred files on your device and playing them since you can do both of those things in Air Transfer. This is a fair substitution for DropBox and its several advanced features are what make it stand out, which is why some people would choose this app over Dropbox any day or night.
Productivity Apps
Image to Word is one of the best apps when it comes to converting your files from .jpg (and other formats) to .docx due to several factors: It is extremely well integrated into Google’s system, and some of the finest OCR engines power this converter. Image to Word will let you import files from both Gmail and Google Drive in order to quickly convert your files and make them editable and searchable. Making quick edits to your images while on the go will never be a problem once you download this app.
While having PDF files on your mobile device can often prove to be a bigger problem than a blessing, having dozens of different formats choking up your memory can be an even bigger trouble. Save as PDF will let you save over 20 different file formats to your phone in PDF, and await further instruction. After saving the file, you will be free to export it via Gmail to your contacts.