Gmail for iOS gets updated: Background sync to make app faster

Google’s Gmail app for iOS hasn’t exactly been an award-winning one, given that it  often takes time to load new emails. Thankfully, Google has now fixed that problem by releasing an update that supports iOS 7’s background app refresh.

According to Gmail’s own blog post what this means is “messages will be pre-fetched and synced so they’re right there when you open the app—no more annoying pauses while you wait for your inbox to refresh." 

The key phrase being ’no more annoying pauses’ as you wait for your email to load. It should be noted that users will require iOS 7 for this update, and will also need to turn on background app refresh and notifications (badge or any other type) for the Gmail app.

With background sync, the email will be ready to open in the app, even if you don’t have the app open all the time. The way the app works at present, is that even though the new message is in the app, it still takes time to appear.

The latest Gmail update for iOS also adds support for single sign-in across Google’s various apps. By signing into your Gmail account, you’ll be able to quickly log in after downloading Google Maps, Google Drive, YouTube, and Chrome.

Users should note that in some cases, they may have to re-login after updating the app.