Gmail

Gmail is an email service provided by Google. It’s the biggest email provider globally with 1.5 billion active users as of 2019. Gmail is accessible through a web browser or its official mobile app. It also supports third-party email clients via POP and IMAP protocols.

When Gmail started in 2004, it offered one gigabyte of storage per user much more than its competitors at that time. Now it provides 15 gigabytes of free storage shared across Google Drive and Google Photos. Users needing more storage can buy additional space through Google One. Gmail allows users to receive emails up to 50 megabytes in size including attachments and send emails up to 25 megabytes. It integrates with Google Drive for sending larger attachments. The interface of Gmail is designed for easy searching and organizes messages into a conversation view similar to internet forums. It was one of the first to use Ajax, a type of programming that makes websites more interactive.

Google’s servers scan emails to block spam and malware. Before June 2017, they also scanned to place relevant ads next to emails which drew criticism from privacy advocates. Critics were concerned about data retention, ease of access by third parties and the lack of consent from non-Gmail users who send emails to Gmail addresses. They also worried about Google merging this information with other data they collect, potentially reducing privacy further. Google has faced lawsuits over these practices. The company argues that users should expect their emails to be automatically processed but assures that it doesn’t display ads next to sensitive messages such as those discussing race, religion or health. In 2017, Google stopped using Gmail content for ad targeting, choosing instead to use data from other Google services.

Features

Storage

• Initial Launch (2004): Gmail began with 1 gigabyte (GB) of storage which was significantly more than other services offered.
• First Anniversary (2005): On its first anniversary, Gmail doubled the storage capacity to 2 gigabytes. Georges Harik the product management director expressed Google’s intention to continuously increase storage.
• Increase to 4GB (2007): After competitors Yahoo and Microsoft upgraded their services, Gmail increased its storage to 4 gigabytes.
• Launch of Google Drive (2012): With the introduction of Google Drive, Gmail’s storage went up from 7.5 to 10 gigabytes.
• Integration of Services (2013): Google announced a merge in storage across Gmail, Google Drive and Google+ Photos setting the limit at 15 gigabytes across the three services.
• Introduction of Google One (2018): Google launched Google One, where users can purchase additional storage that’s shared among Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos. Free storage starts at 15 gigabytes with options to upgrade to up to 2 terabytes.
• Email Size Limits: Initially, individual Gmail messages including attachments, could not exceed 25 megabytes. In 2017, the limit for receiving emails was increased to 50 megabytes though the sending limit remains at 25 megabytes. For larger files, users can link files from Google Drive.

Interface

• Initial Design: When Gmail was first launched, its interface stood out because it focused on search and grouped emails from conversations together on a single page. This was different from other email services at the time and was later adopted by many competitors. Kevin Fox who designed the interface, wanted users to feel like they were always on the same page, just changing elements on it, instead of navigating to different places.
• Use of Labels & Filters: Gmail introduced ‘labels’ instead of the traditional folders offering a more flexible way to organize emails. It also included filters for automatic management of incoming emails such as organizing, deleting or forwarding them and markers to highlight important messages.
• 2011 Redesign: In November 2011, Google started updating Gmail’s look to a more minimalist design. This redesign included a cleaner conversation view, adjustable information density, new themes, a resizable navigation bar with visible labels and contacts and improved search capabilities. Users could try the new design before its official launch and could switch back to the old design until March 2012, when the option to revert was removed.
• Inbox Tabs Introduction (2013): Google updated the Gmail inbox to include tabs like Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums helping users organize their emails better. This feature could be turned off to revert to the classic inbox look.
• 2018 Redesign: Google unveiled a new Gmail web interface adopting the Material Design approach. Changes included using the Google Product Sans font, a new ‘Confidential mode’ allowing senders to set expiration dates on sensitive emails or revoke them, integrated rights management and two-factor authentication.
• Smart Features Settings (2020): On November 16, 2020, Google introduced settings that let users control their data across Gmail, Chat and Meet. This included options for features like Smart Compose and Smart Reply.
• Google Chat and Room Features (2021): On April 6, 2021, Google made Google Chat and Rooms available to all Gmail users, offering early access to these features.
• Material You Rollout (2022): On July 28, 2022, Google implemented the Material You design for all Gmail users, updating the interface’s look to be more in line with current design trends.

Spam Filter

Gmail uses a community-driven approach to filter spam. When a user marks an email as spam this helps the system learn and better identify similar messages in the future as spam for all users.

In an update from April 2018, the design of the spam filter warnings was changed to include larger and more noticeable lettering.

Labs

Gmail Labs was launched on June 5, 2008, to let users try out new and experimental features within Gmail. Users have the option to turn these features on or off individually and give feedback on them. This feedback helps Gmail’s engineers refine these features and decide which ones are popular enough to become permanent.

One of the well-known features that started in Gmail Labs is the “Undo Send” button which later became a standard part of Gmail.

It’s important to note that all features in Gmail Labs are experimental and can be removed at any time.

Search

Gmail includes a search bar that can be used to look up emails, as well as contacts, files in Google Drive, events in Google Calendar and content on Google Sites.

In May 2012, Gmail upgraded its search capabilities to offer auto-complete suggestions based on the content of your emails.

However, Gmail’s search doesn’t allow you to search for parts of words (also known as ‘substring search’ or ‘partial word search’). There are some workarounds for this limitation.

Language Support

As of March 2015, Gmail is available in 72 different languages. This includes widely spoken languages like Arabic, Chinese (both simplified and traditional), English (both UK and US versions), French, German, Spanish and Russian among many others. The service also supports languages like Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Malayalam, Marathi, Norwegian (Bokmål), Odia, Polish, Punjabi, Portuguese (both Brazil and Portugal versions), Romanian, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Tagalog (Filipino), Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh and Zulu. This wide range of languages makes Gmail accessible to a diverse global audience.

Language Input Styles

In October 2012, Google introduced more than 100 virtual keyboards, transliteration tools and input method editors to Gmail. This update was aimed at helping users type in languages that might be difficult to input with their regular keyboards.

A year later in October 2013, Google added support for handwriting input in Gmail allowing users to write emails by hand on their devices.

By August 2014, Gmail had become the first major email service to support sending and receiving emails with addresses that include accent marks or characters from non-Latin alphabets.

Platforms

Web Browser Support

Gmail’s modern AJAX version is officially supported in the latest and the previous major releases of web browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Safari.

There’s also a “basic HTML” version of Gmail that works with almost all web browsers. However, this simpler version was discontinued as of January 2024.

In August 2011, Google launched Gmail Offline, an app powered by HTML5 that allows users to access their emails without an internet connection. This app is available for Google Chrome and can be downloaded from the Chrome Web Store.

Besides its native apps for iOS and Android, Gmail can also be accessed through web browsers on mobile devices.

Mobile Devices

Gmail offers native apps for iOS devices like iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch, as well as for Android devices.

In November 2014, Google updated the Gmail app on Android to allow users to send and receive emails from non-Gmail accounts like Yahoo! Mail and Outlook.com using POP or IMAP settings.

In November 2016, the Gmail app for iOS got its first major visual update in nearly four years. This new design introduced more color, smoother transitions and several new features that users had been asking for such as Undo Send, faster search with instant results and, spelling suggestions & easy swipe actions for archiving or deleting emails.

In May 2017, Google enhanced the Gmail app on Android with new security features to protect users from phishing attacks. This update was notably timely, coming on the same day as a large phishing attack involving Gmail and Google Docs.

Later that same month, Google added the “Smart Reply” feature to Gmail on both Android and iOS. Originally from Google’s Inbox app, Smart Reply analyzes messages and suggests three quick responses that users can edit and send. Initially, this was available only in English, with Spanish and other languages added later.

Google also offered another app called Inbox by Gmail which was available until April 2019 for both iOS and Android.

For those preferring other software, Gmail can also be accessed via third-party apps using POP or IMAP. In 2019, Google introduced a dark mode for Gmail on mobile devices for both Android and iOS.

Inbox by Gmail

In October 2014, Google launched a new email service called Inbox by Gmail. It was initially available by invitation only and was developed by the Gmail team as a different type of email inbox designed to help users manage their increasingly busy email lives. Inbox by Gmail aimed to tackle common email issues like distractions, difficulty in finding important information hidden within messages and managing a growing volume of emails. It introduced several unique features:

• Bundles: Automatically grouped similar emails together.
• Highlights: Brought key information from emails to the forefront.
• Reminders, Assists & Snooze: These features helped users handle emails at more convenient times.

Inbox by Gmail was opened to the public in May 2015. However, in September 2018, Google announced that it would shut down the service by the end of March 2019. Many of its innovative features were by then integrated into the standard Gmail service. The service officially ended on April 2, 2019.

Integration with Google products

1.      Google Voice & Hangouts Integration

In August 2010, Google introduced a plugin that allowed users to make phone calls from within the Gmail interface. This service was initially unnamed but referred to as “Google Voice in Gmail chat” and “Call Phones in Gmail”. It proved popular logging over a million calls within its first 24 hours. However, in March 2014, Google discontinued Google Voice as a standalone service and merged its features with Google Hangouts, a broader communication platform.

2.      Google Buzz & Google+

Google launched Google Buzz in February 2010, a social networking tool integrated within Gmail for sharing links, media and status updates. However, Google Buzz was short-lived and discontinued in October 2011, with its functions being absorbed by Google+, a then-new social networking platform. Gmail was also integrated with Google+ in December 2011 to unify Google services under one account. Due to public backlash Google later reversed the requirement to have a public Google+ profile in July 2015, allowing users to maintain private Google accounts.

3.      Google Wallet Integration

In May 2013, Google announced that Gmail users could send money as email attachments through integration with Google Wallet. This service was free of transaction fees, although there were limits on how much money could be sent. Initially available only on the web, this feature was extended to the Android app in March 2017 for users in the United States.

4.      Google Trips App

In September 2016, Google released Google Trips an app that automatically creates travel itineraries based on travel-related information from a user’s Gmail messages. It offers suggestions for activities, dining and attractions based on location, time and interests or works offline. An update in April 2017 expanded its capabilities to include bus and train tickets or allowed users to manually add trip details. Users can also share their trip plans with others and if the recipient also uses Google Trips, the details are automatically synchronized in their app.

Security

History

·       HTTPS Support

Since its launch, Gmail has supported secure HTTPS connections. Initially, HTTPS was only enabled by default on the login page because according to Google engineer Ariel Rideout it slowed down the email service. However, users had the option to switch to HTTPS after logging in. By July 2008, Google made it easier for users to switch to secure mode with a simple toggle in the settings menu.

·       Fixing Security Flaws

In 2007, Google resolved a security issue related to cross-site scripting that could allow attackers to access Gmail contact lists.

·       Default HTTPS

Starting in January 2010, Google made HTTPS the default setting for all users to enhance security.

·       Protection Against State-Sponsored Attacks

In June 2012, Google introduced a security feature to warn users about potential state-sponsored attacks on their accounts with a specific banner notification.

·       Enhanced Email Encryption

In March 2014, Google announced that all Gmail emails would be sent and received over an encrypted HTTPS connection. This encryption extends to all emails moving internally within Google’s systems.

·       Transport Layer Security (TLS)

Gmail uses TLS to encrypt emails during transit whenever possible. Users can identify whether an email is encrypted by looking for a red padlock icon next to the message on the web and Android devices.

·       Virus Scanning

Gmail scans all incoming and outgoing emails for viruses, especially those attached to email files. For added security Gmail blocks emails that contain certain risky file types like executables.

·       Machine Learning for Spam & Phishing Detection

By the end of May 2017, Google started using machine learning technology to better detect phishing attempts and spam in emails achieving a detection accuracy of 99.9%. Gmail also selectively delays about 0.05% of all messages to conduct more in-depth analysis to refine its detection algorithms.

·       Link Protection

In November 2020, Google implemented a new security feature that checks links at the time of click redirecting them through Google to assess their safety before opening which helps protect users from malicious sites.

Third-party encryption in transit

Google’s Transparency Report includes a section called “Safer email” where it shares data on how many emails are securely encrypted while they are being sent between Gmail and other email providers.

Two-Step Verification

Gmail offers an optional security feature called two-step verification to help protect user accounts during the login process.

When this feature is activated, after you enter your username and password Gmail asks you to confirm your identity using a second method. This is especially important when you log in from a new device. Some of the common methods include:

• Entering a code that you receive via a text message on your mobile phone.
• Using a code generated by the Google Authenticator app on your smartphone.
• Responding to a prompt on your Android or iOS device.
• Inserting a physical security key into your computer’s USB port.

Google introduced the option to use a physical security key for two-step verification in October 2014.

24-Hour Lockdowns

If Gmail detects unusual activity that suggests your account might be compromised, it can temporarily lock you out for a period ranging from one minute to 24 hours depending on what it notices. This automatic lockdown is to protect your account.

Here are some reasons why Gmail might lock an account:

• Excessive Email Activity: If you receive, delete or download a large amount of mail via POP or IMAP in a short time, you might see a message saying “Lockdown in Sector 4.” If this happens, you’ll typically need to wait 24 hours before you can access Gmail again.
• Sending Many Failed Emails: If you send a lot of emails that bounce back as undeliverable.
• Third-Party Software Access: Using file-sharing or storage software, browser extensions or any third-party software that logs into your account automatically.
• Multiple Gmail Instances: Having several instances of Gmail open at the same time.
• Browser Issues: If your browser keeps reloading while trying to access your inbox it might be a browser issue. Clearing your browser’s cache and cookies might help.

Anti-Child Pornography Policy

Google actively fights against child pornography using Gmail’s servers in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Together they create a database of child pornography images, with each image assigned a unique numerical identifier called a hash. Google then scans Gmail for these hashes to identify any suspicious images. When such images are found, Google reports them to the relevant national authorities to take further action.

History

Gmail was originally developed by Paul Buchheit under the code name “Caribou” and the project was kept secret from most of Google’s own engineers in its early stages. By early 2004, the service had improved enough that most Google employees were using it internally.

Google officially announced Gmail to the public as a limited beta release on April 1, 2004.

In November 2006, Google launched a Java-based Gmail application for mobile phones.

By October 2007, Google started rewriting some of Gmail’s code to make the service faster and introduce new features such as custom keyboard shortcuts, the ability to bookmark specific messages and email searches. Additionally, Gmail added support for IMAP in October 2007.

In January 2008, changes to Gmail’s JavaScript affected some third-party scripts that users were utilizing. Google recognized this issue and provided workarounds to help users.

Gmail officially came out of beta on July 7, 2009.

Until December 2013, Gmail required users to manually approve the display of images in emails as a security measure. However, in December 2013, Google changed this policy to automatically display images, routing them through Google’s secure proxy servers instead of the original external host servers. This change meant that email marketers could no longer track recipients’ IP addresses or device information, although senders could now determine when an email was first opened due to the images loading from the server.

Growth

Gmail has seen substantial growth in its user base over the years. In June 2012, Google reported that Gmail had 425 million active users worldwide. By May 2015, this number had more than doubled to 900 million with 75% of these users accessing Gmail on mobile devices.

By February 2016, Gmail’s active users had surpassed the 1 billion mark. A little over a year later in July 2017, Google announced that Gmail had reached 1.2 billion active users.

In the business world, a 2014 report by Quartz revealed that among 150 U.S. companies across three major categories—Fortune 50 companies, mid-size tech and media companies and startups from the latest Y Combinator incubator class—only Google itself from the Fortune 50 was using Gmail. However, 60% of mid-sized companies and 92% of startups were using Gmail.

Additionally, in May 2014, Gmail became the first app on the Google Play Store to achieve one billion installations on Android devices.

Gmail Design Company & Misspellings

Before Gmail was launched Gamil Design a product and graphic design company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, typically received about 3,000 visits to their website each month. However, after Gmail was introduced, traffic to the Gamil Design website started to increase due to people mistyping “Gmail.” In May 2004, a Google engineer who had mistakenly visited the Gamil Design website multiple times contacted the company to ask if they had noticed an uptick in traffic. Indeed, the site’s traffic had doubled.

By two years later, the traffic had skyrocketed to 600,000 hits per month. This increase led to the internet service provider increasing their charges. In response, Gamil Design acknowledged the mix-up humorously on their site with a message:

You may have arrived here by misspelling Gmail. We understand. Typing fast is not our strongest skill. But since you’ve typed your way here, let’s share.

This light-hearted acknowledgment helped them connect with the accidental visitors.

Google Workspace

As part of Google Workspace which was formerly known as G Suite, Gmail offers enhanced features tailored for business use. These include:

• Custom Email Addresses: Businesses can use their own domain names for email addresses (like @yourcompany.com).
• Reliability: Google guarantees 99.9% uptime for Gmail, meaning there’s virtually no scheduled downtime even for maintenance.
• Storage Options: Depending on the subscription plan, businesses can get either 30 GB or unlimited storage which is shared with Google Drive.
• Support Services: Google provides round-the-clock phone and email support for Workspace users.
• Compatibility: Gmail in Google Workspace is compatible with Microsoft Outlook and other email services making it easy to sync across different platforms.
• Add-Ons: Users can enhance their Gmail experience with add-ons from third-party apps available in the Google Workspace Marketplace. These add-ons allow for more integrated and tailored functionalities within Gmail.

Reception

Gmail is recognized by web developers for being one of the first email services to use Ajax, a web development technique that helps websites to load faster and more smoothly.

Awards

• Gmail was ranked second in PC World’s “100 Best Products of 2005” just behind the Firefox web browser.
• It received an ‘Honorable Mention’ in the Bottom Line Design Awards in 2005.
• In September 2006, Forbes named Gmail the best webmail application for small businesses.
• In November 2006, PC World gave Gmail a 4-star rating, praising its performance and features.

Criticism

Privacy

Google uses a single privacy policy that applies to all of its services. The company states that it does not target advertisements based on sensitive information which includes categories like race, religion, sexual orientation, health status or sensitive financial details.

Automated Email Scanning

Google’s mail servers have historically scanned emails for various reasons, including to filter out spam and malware and previously to place context-sensitive ads next to emails. This practice which continued until 2017, drew criticism from privacy advocates for several reasons:

• Privacy Concerns: Critics argued that scanning emails could lead Google to store vast amounts of data indefinitely, potentially building detailed profiles on users.
• Reduced Privacy Expectations: There was concern that automated scanning could lessen users’ expectations of privacy in their email communications.
• Data Retention: Information from emails could be kept for years beyond its relevance.
• Non-Consensual Scanning: Emails from users of other email services were scanned even though those users had not agreed to Google’s privacy policies.
• Policy Changes: Google could change its privacy policies without significant user notification, potentially expanding how it uses the collected data.
• Legal Monitoring: The scanning might make it easier for governments and organizations to monitor emails legally.
• Security Risks: Any security issues within Google could expose a vast amount of user data.

In 2004, thirty-one privacy and civil liberties organizations urged Google to halt Gmail services until these privacy issues were resolved. They demanded clearer policies on data retention and sharing emphasizing concerns over scanning emails for ads.

Responding to these concerns on June 23, 2017, Google announced it would stop scanning emails for creating targeted ads later that year. Instead, it would rely on other personal data collected from its services. This change aimed to address concerns especially from enterprise G Suite (now Google Workspace) customers about the unclear distinction between the free service which included ads and the paid service which did not.

Lawsuits

• 2011 Lawsuit in Texas: A former Gmail user from Texas filed a lawsuit against Google, arguing that Gmail invades users’ privacy by scanning their email messages to serve targeted ads.
• 2012 Class Action Lawsuits in California: Some residents of California sued Google and Yahoo!, claiming that these companies illegally intercept emails sent from non-Gmail and non-Yahoo email accounts to their users without the senders’ consent.
• Google’s Legal Stance on Privacy: In these legal battles Google has argued that Gmail users should not expect total privacy. A motion from Google’s attorneys mentioned that Gmail users have “no expectation of privacy.” Furthermore, a statement from a 2013 court filing by Google explained that just as one would not be surprised if a business colleague’s assistant opened a letter, users should not be surprised that emails are automatically processed by their email service provider.
• Google’s Response to Privacy Concerns: In response to the ongoing concerns and lawsuits, a Google spokesperson stated on August 15, 2013, that the company takes the privacy and security of Gmail users very seriously. They compared the automatic processing of emails to the way physical mail is handled in a business setting, suggesting that some level of automated handling is to be expected.

Terms of Service Update in April 2014

In April 2014, Google updated Gmail’s terms of service to make it clearer how they handle users’ email content. The updated terms stated that Google’s automated systems analyze users’ content including emails for various purposes. These include providing personalized product features like customized search results, targeted advertising and detecting spam and malware. This analysis happens when emails are sent, received and stored. A Google spokesperson said that the goal of the update was to make the policies easier for users to understand.

Reacting to the update Jim Killock, the executive director of the Open Rights Group, expressed concerns not just about email scanning but also about broader issues. He pointed out that the more concerning aspects of Google’s operations include the data collected through tools like Google Analytics, the use of cookies in advertising and the detailed profiling possible from individual user accounts.

Microsoft’s Ad Campaign Against Google in 2013

In 2013, Microsoft launched an ad campaign criticizing Google for scanning users’ email messages to generate targeted ads. Microsoft argued that many consumers were unaware that their personal emails were being monitored for this purpose. The campaign emphasized that Microsoft’s email service, Outlook, does not scan the contents of messages for ad targeting. A spokesperson from Microsoft referred to privacy concerns as “Google’s kryptonite.”

In defense, Google responded by stating that their ad placement is safe, not intrusive and relevant to users. They explained that no humans read users’ emails or account information for ad purposes. Instead, an automated algorithm, similar to those used for features like Priority Inbox or spam filtering handles this process. Meanwhile, supporters of Google criticized Microsoft’s campaign as distasteful, seeing it as a desperate move by a company struggling to compete with Google on product quality.

Other Privacy Issues

2010 Cyberattack from China

In January 2010, Google detected a sophisticated cyberattack on its systems originating from China. The primary targets were Chinese human rights activists but Google also found that the accounts of activists from Europe, America and China had been accessed by unauthorized parties. The investigation revealed that at least 20 other companies across various industries such as internet, finance, technology, media and chemicals were also targeted.

As a result, Google took steps to notify these companies and collaborated with U.S. authorities. Following the attack Google strengthened the security and architecture of its infrastructure. They also recommended that individual users protect themselves by installing antivirus and anti-spyware software, updating operating systems and web browsers and being cautious with links and personal information in emails and instant messages.

Social Network Integration Issues

In February 2010, Google introduced Google Buzz, a social network connected to Gmail. It faced immediate backlash because it shared users’ contact details publicly unless they altered the default settings.

Later in January 2014, Gmail introduced a feature allowing users to send emails to Google+ account holders without knowing their email addresses. This feature also raised privacy concerns.

Marc Rotenberg, President of the Electronic Privacy Information Center described this feature as “troubling” and compared it to the privacy issues faced during the initial launch of Google Buzz.

DoubleClick Privacy Policy

In June 2016, Google updated its privacy policy to remove a clause that previously stated it would not combine DoubleClick cookie information which tracks web browsing habits with personally identifiable information from its other services.

This alteration allowed Google to integrate personal data from its various services to form a comprehensive advertising profile for each user. However, after the change was reported by Julia Angwin of ProPublica, Google clarified that this new policy would not involve using keywords from Gmail for ad targeting.

Outages

Gmail experienced several outages over the years that raised concerns about its reliability. In 2009 alone, there were at least seven significant outages. One notable incident occurred on February 28, 2011, when a bug made it appear as though users’ Gmail accounts were empty. Google addressed this issue quickly, reassuring users in a blog post that no emails were lost and that restoration efforts were underway.

Additional outages were reported on specific dates: April 17, 2012, September 24, 2013, January 24, 2014, January 29, 2019 and August 20, 2020.

Despite these incidents Google maintains that Gmail is operational and available more than 99.9% of the time for all users. The company emphasizes its commitment to making such outages rare and ensuring high reliability for its service.

“On Behalf Of” Tag

In May 2009, Farhad Manjoo from The New York Times blog discussed an issue with Gmail’s “on behalf of” tag. This tag appeared when users sent emails from their Gmail account using a different email address in the sender’s field such as their work email. For example if you used Gmail to send an email from your work address recipients using Microsoft Outlook would see the email as coming from “youroffice@domain.com on behalf of yourgmail@gmail.com.”

Google explained that this tag was used to prevent the email from being flagged as spam as being transparent about the email’s origin could help avoid suspicion from spam filters.

However, following feedback in July of the next year, Google introduced a new option allowing users to send emails that would not show the “on behalf of” tag by using the other email address’s server instead of Gmail’s servers for sending the email. This change helped to make the emails appear as though they were sent directly from the user’s primary email address, without any mention of Gmail.

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