In October, Yahoo introduced a brand-new version of its email app designed for the way people access their inbox on mobile devices, which included things like swipe gestures, easier access to attachments, integration with social services like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and more. Today, the company is rolling out its first major update to that app since its debut, with a handful of features that make working with emails easier, including customizable swipes, new menu options, plus better tools for managing attachments, using folders, and taking action on notifications.
Some of the features are only available on iOS or Android for the time being, as Yahoo does not appear to be developing the two apps in exact parallel.
However, some of the new additions are going live for users on both platforms. This includes the ability to customize your swipes. In other words, if you’d prefer to “star” messages, sort them into folders, or archive emails instead of deleting them, you can now choose which action does what.
Another cross-platform feature is are new options on the “Multi-Select” toolbar, which lets you take actions on more than one message. You begin by long pressing on any message, which will cause checkboxes to appear. Then you can select all the emails you want to take action on, including, now, the ability to “star” or “mark as spam,” too.
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Meanwhile, Android users will be able to take action on incoming emails from the notification pop-up that appears, in order to do things like star the email or move it, for example.
On iOS, there are a couple of other changes, including the ability to add, rename, and delete folders as well as create subfolders by long pressing on an existing folder.
When composing an email on iOS, you’ll now see all your recently received photos and file attachments, along with a search bar that lets you find a particular item. This feature, in particular, is similar to Microsoft’s mobile email app, Outlook, which also lets you dive into a “files” area to browse and search across attachments.
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Also worth noting, if you hadn’t considered the new Yahoo Mail app since its launch in October: the app initially supported only Yahoo, Outlook/Hotmail and AOL accounts. But last month, the company introduced support for managing your Gmail and Google apps mailboxes, too. That could make it an interesting competitor to the likes of Google’s own apps, Gmail and its mobile-first email app Inbox.
The updated app – which currently has a 4.5 star out of 5 rating, Yahoo notes – is rolling out today on the respective app stores, iTunes and Google Play.