Aside of the fact that the app displayed an error message at first launch ("Notification error" - "no valid 'aps-environment' entitlement string found for application" - how did this pass review?), it a) doesn't support multiple accounts, b) is very laggy to use when you compare this to, say, the android version and c) feels like another one of these "let's embed the website above a little native toolbar"-apps

Because Safari gets to JIT-compile JavaScript and UIWebView embedded into apps can't, this actually feels slower than the website (~0.5 seconds between clicking on a message and seeing it load? really?)

I really think I'll move back to using their Exchange-Sync for push together with the standard web shortcut for mail management as this is faster and supports multiple accounts.

(edit) On a related note: Doing these "let's add a native toolbar to my website and publish this in the AppStore"-apps feels nearly as stupid as when everybody felt the need to add flash intros to their website. There's next to no additional value (especially with the currently broken push) provided by such a half-assed pseudo-native app.

This does nothing but hurt both native development (by leaving a bad impression on what's possible with native apps) and the open web (by making people believe that a website is not good enough)

The app is so bad it sounds like they're saying: "If you really want a great native Gmail experience, switch to Android."

Like Gruber said on The Talk Show recently (and I'll probably be downvoted given how unpopular he is here): Apple gets people to upgrade their phones by making them love their current one; Android makers get people to upgrade their phones by making them hate their current one.

Seems like the strategy continues to holds true here...

Looks like they removed it from the App Store:

"Update: 11/2/11: Earlier today we launched a new Gmail app for iOS. Unfortunately, it contained a bug which broke notifications and caused users to see an error message when first opening the app. We’ve removed the app while we correct the problem, and we’re working to bring you a new version soon. Everyone who’s already installed the app can continue to use it."

Shows exactly how far apart the distance between native apps and web apps really is.

People were impressed with the GMail web app when it launched; this is basically a skin around that same app and they're recoiling from it in horror.

Incredibly, this app is slower than using their mobile website. Nicely done!

I'll echo other comments here that this looks like it needs a bit more work.

* Notification error on startup: ridiculous

* Laggy scrolling (how?)

* No support for Send As, which is actually what is really missing from the iPhone Mail app.

It's almost there. It needs a bit more love.

All those that ridicule Google's product quality on iOS have never tried to use iTunes on Windows!

And given that lots of Googlers have iPhones, it's hard to ascribe malice when just incompetence will suffice.

So, if Google is supposed to only be hiring A people, who is making all these crummy iOS apps?

Multiple accounts is definitely a deal breaker for me. I'm surprised they didn't implement that out of the gate.

When I want to remind myself of what it's like to use a non-iOS device, I'll open up this Gmail app.

Google, hire some Mac/iPhone developers to do the job.

This is what happens if you hire 'generalist' and reject Mac developers by asking some scaling and data center questions.

I've always been very satisfied with the iPhone mail app personally.

sigh they (poorly) lifted functionality, all the way down to cache clearing in the app settings, from http://usemailroom.com.

Between that and the Facebook navigation, this app is more stolen than it is crappy.

I guess I fail to see the point of using this app. For me the mail.app and active sync have been working great. I get push, I can attach files, etc.

Other than better searching, and different management I don't know why this would be better.

Searching for mail or finding 'labelled' archived content on the default mail client was a real pain and this app answers those questions but as previously mentioned..

No multiple accounts? I have several Gmail accounts that I need to manage on the fly, and it is indeed quite 'laggy' when you have images or heavy content in the email body (which it doesn't scale down!)

All in all, it's a step in the right direction and about time this app came to market - let's just hope they resolve the issues and tweak the overall user experience.

That blog post breaks scrolling behavior on iPad and iPhone. Amazing.

It doesn't look like it supports multiple accounts unlike the web app

Here's the link to the app in the appstore: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gmail/id422689480?mt=8

Doesn't seem to support multiple accounts - back to Mail.

Super disappointing that it's just a native wrapper around a web interface. They had a chance to kill it with this app and they didn't reach very far.

I don't see it in the app store, unfortunately.

Edit: for me, the only way to get it is to download in iTunes and then sync

I was hoping to see the native Gmail app that can support multiple accounts, but it is currently not. Oh well. I'll stick with Mail for now.

It look like the native Gmail itself is a browser and navigate to Gmail Mobile website. Thus is the reason why the native app only can hold one account at a time.

Apparently not available in Germany.

The AppStore search function only finds third party apps and the AppStore link from the blog post opens the AppStore and shows the unhelpful error message "Your request could not be completed".

Interesting how they decided to copy the sliding panels from Facebook for iPhone. I wonder if it will become a standard on iOS.

Can anyone explain if/how this app downloads mail in the background? I thought that wasn't possible using the current iOS API?

Can't swap to another account. At all.

Edit: There is a switch in settings to do it...

Doesn't work with GAFYD accounts...

Ya know, a web page announcing your iPhone app should really be viewable on an iPhone. This one refuses to scroll at all.

Not terrible but not at all great, either.

Floppy disk icon for „Save“? I guess GMail alreadh has users who never had that thing in their hands…

It feels like the mobile web client.

Ha. Seems like it was pulled from the app store (Probably because of the push bug). Nicely done.

annnd...it's been yanked already, according to thenextweb: http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/11/02/google-pulls-gmail-a...

They have officially pulled it and are working on a fix. Check the update on the blog post.

I just got a message saying the item I tried to buy is no longer available.

Yesterday, when I asked people not to get too excited about the iPhone GMAIL app and I was downvoted into oblivion.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3180049

The I maintain that the Android version is really unstable (take a look at the app store review page).

Google is just too big to move at the pace required for so many products it has.

I tried downloading it just now- says the app is "no longer available."

Any good alternatives so?

iTunes error: "Not available in US store"

About time.

I'm baffled that Google, of all companies, can't make a decent mobile web app. The first Gmail versions from years ago on the iPhone were beautiful and they degrade with every new version.