Inbox by Gmail

The better Gmail that Gmail ate

Replaced
19902026

Inbox by Gmail was Google's experimental email client, launched invite-only in October 2014. It pioneered bundled mail, snoozing, pinned messages and Smart Reply, features Gmail later absorbed. Google shut it down on 2 April 2019 to focus on Gmail, to loud protest from its fans.

Timeline [edit]

  1. 2014
  2. 22 October 2014 Launch
    Inbox launches, invite-only

    Bundles, snooze and sweep reimagine the inbox.

  3. 2015
  4. 3 November 2015 Feature
    Smart Reply arrives

    Machine-generated quick replies debut in Inbox before Gmail.

  5. 2018
  6. 25 April 2018 Decline
    Gmail redesign absorbs Inbox features

    Snooze, nudges and Smart Compose reach the mothership.

  7. 12 September 2018 Shutdown announced
    Shutdown announced

    Google says it is focusing on Gmail alone.

  8. 2019
  9. 2 April 2019 Shutdown
    Inbox shuts down

    Users are pointed back to Gmail.

The site through time

Browse inbox.google.com as it was, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Full archive →

Ownership [edit]

Google 2014–2019 Founded Built by the Gmail team

Why it shut down [edit]

Official line: Google said it was focusing on Gmail alone and shut Inbox at the end of March 2019, promising its best features had been carried over.

Our analysis: Inbox was Google's email lab: bundles, snoozing, smart replies. Once the experiments proved out, Google ported the popular ones to Gmail and closed the lab, leaving its devoted users with a downgrade they never asked for.

History [edit]

Email as a to-do list

Inbox launched in October 2014, invite-only again, built by the Gmail team as a rethink of what email is for. Mail arrived pre-sorted into bundles (Travel, Purchases, Promos), messages could be snoozed to reappear later, whole bundles could be swept away in one gesture, and Reminders sat in the same stream as mail. Email became something you finished.

It was also Google's testbed for machine-learning features: Smart Reply composed short answers automatically in 2015, and trip bundles assembled themselves from confirmation emails. Power users adored it with unusual intensity.

The lab closes

The features that proved themselves in Inbox kept migrating into Gmail: snoozing, Smart Reply, Smart Compose, nudges. In September 2018, days after a big Gmail redesign shipped, Google announced Inbox would close at the end of March 2019 so the company could "focus on Gmail". The shutdown came on 2 April 2019. Bundles, the feature its users loved most, never fully made the crossing, and half a decade later ex-Inbox users were still asking Gmail for them.

Similar projects

Yahoo Groups Where the internet organised itself 2001–2020 Google Reader The web, in one place 2005–2013 MSN Messenger The sound of nudges after school 1999–2014 Google Play Music Your music locker, repossessed 2011–2020 Picasa Everyone's first photo library 2002–2016 Google Hangouts One messenger to rule them all, briefly 2013–2022

Sources [edit]

  1. Inbox is signing off: find your favorite features in the new Gmail Google 12 September 2018 [archived]
  2. Google is shutting down Inbox in March 2019 The Verge 12 September 2018

Last verified: 11 August 2026. Spotted an error? Suggest an edit (corrections with sources are reviewed and applied).