Something to look forward to: Unwanted newsletters and other kinds of mass email campaigns are an unfortunate reality of today’s digital life. Google is now trying to ease the spam burden with a new way to quickly disable a mail subscription directly from the Gmail app.
Gmail is acquiring an additional option to unsubscribe from unwanted spam or mass emails. Google is delivering an updated version of the mail app for Android, which includes a big Unsubscribe button shown next to an email’s header. After spending a few months in beta testing, the “stable” feature is now gradually rolling out to Android users.
The prominent unsubscribe feature is already available in Gmail’s webmail version and it will seemingly provide the same user experience on mobile devices. After tapping on the unsubscribe “button,” users will be shown a popup dialog box to either confirm their choice or to redirect the process to the website the newsletter is coming from.
Publishers will have control over how the unsubscribe feature is implemented, but any legit organization should at least provide an option to stop a newsletter at this point. Users will still have the option to unsubscribe or mark an email as spam or an unwanted message through the three-dotted button shown next to the header, though this could set Gmail’s spam filter on a higher alert level than necessary.
The new unsubscribe feature isn’t yet available for all Android and Gmail users. Android Police speculates that Google is prioritizing the latest Pixel devices, and that the new button is rolling out as a server-side switch. While waiting for the update, Android users can still unsubscribe from mass mailing campaigns either through the app’s top overflow menu or by marking an email as spam.
Google started to make the unsubscribe option easier to use from its webmail in December 2023, when the company adopted a new blue font for the instantly visible text button in an email’s header. The option was previously available with a gray font, and it was harder to spot by users.
The modern unsubscribe button was first spotted back in November 2023, when Google Apps leaker ‘AssembleDebug’ showed the new button on X/Twitter. The most recent leaks related to the Gmail app include a “manage subscriptions” feature, and a new way to report illegal content through Google’s official support page.
