I don’t mind Google’s Meet video conferencing platform – I’ve actually used it a few times – but I can’t help but be annoyed when I need the feature through other apps. In particular, Gmail. Meet first appeared in the Gmail desktop app in the spring of 2020, but it doesn’t take up much space and was relatively easy to ignore (or remove from your screen if you wish).
However, a few months later, Meet made its way into the Gmail mobile app through two tabs at the bottom of the screen: one labeled “Mail” and one labeled “Meet.” The problem was not only that I was forced to use a specific video conferencing app, while all I wanted to do was check my email, but it also took up space, expanding the bottom field of the app and giving me approximately three lines less to work with.
And then, in mid-2021, Google added two additional icons to its Chat and Spaces apps.
It may now be convenient for some people to have these tabs at the bottom of their Gmail pages. This is good. But if you want to maximize your email space, you can easily get rid of all three tabs (the email tab that appears with them will disappear automatically).
This is how. These instructions apply to the Gmail app for both Android and iOS.
- Select the three-hamburger icon in the upper left corner, scroll down, and tap Settings.
- Select the Gmail account you want to change.
- Scroll down to Chat and uncheck “Show chat tabs and intervals”.
- Once you’ve done that, Gmail will take you back to the home screen. Return to the settings page for the same account, scroll down to the “Meet” category, and uncheck “Show the Meet for Video Calls tab.”
And that’s it! You’ve freed up some space in your Gmail app.
Updated July 28, 2021, 1:50 PM ET: This article was originally published on August 11, 2020. The introductory text has been changed and the screenshot has been replaced to reflect a change in the Gmail interface.
Updated February 11, 2022, 9:20 a.m .: This article has been modified to include chat and spaces, as well as Meet.