Google killing Gmail in August 2024? Don’t believe rumours, only a part of it is accurate

For many people across the globe, their day begins with logging in to Gmail. Many companies operate on Google’s email platform and freelancers too use it to keep a tab of their professional communications. So, when rumours of Google deciding to kill Gmail in August this year started coming up on X, people were naturally concerned. However, there’s no need to panic as this is just a partially true rumour.

Google isn’t killing Gmail and it is here to stay, the company confirmed in a post on X. But there is indeed a feature of Gmail has been discontinued. And that feature is the basic HTML version of the email platform. This was confirmed back in September last year. 

Google killing Gmail this year? Not really

On Thursday, rumours of Google deciding to kill off Gmail started floating on X when an image went viral that appeared to be an official email from Google titled “Gmail is sunsetting.”

The image said that the journey of Gmail is “officially coming to a close”. However, this turned out to be a fake image and if you are a regular Gmail user, you don’t have anything to worry about.

The rumours started doing rounds online following Google’s apology on behalf of Gemini when the generative AI tool declined to generate images of white people and was termed “racist” by many users online.

Google HTML view killed off this year 

The feature of Google that has been laid to rest this year is the HTML view. This was confirmed back in September 2023 when Google’s support page said that after January 2024, the default mode for all users to access Gmail would switch from HTML view to Standard view. 

The HTML view was where you could check your emails in the simplest way possible. This view seemed perfect for accessing Google when the user was in low network areas and couldn’t load the standard view. 

Many features of Google, such as chat, spell checker, keyboard shortcuts, rich formatting and search filters weren’t available in the HTML view. Google hasn’t officially confirmed if it will be rolling out a new mode for people who are in low connectivity zones.

Meanwhile, Google is continually adding updates to Gmail in hopes of making the service even better. A couple of weeks back, the company unveiled a powerful upgrade to its spam detection system, a move that was hailed as a significant defence enhancement. The innovation, named RETVec (Resilient and Efficient Text Vectorizer), represented a major leap forward in text classification technology, specifically designed to counter “adversarial text manipulations.”

In simpler terms, this meant that Google strengthened its ability to identify and block tricky spam tactics, such as emails containing special characters, emojis, and typos that could slip through Gmail’s defences. The company had said that this upgrade is one of the “most substantial” in recent years.