Tip of the Week: Use Android to Get Gmail Functionality for Your Non-Gmail Email Account

Gmail is a great email client, but not everyone uses it as their primary method of email communication. Some might prefer Microsoft Outlook, or they might still be using Yahoo Mail. Even if Google wants you to be using their email service, they know that they can’t win them all. For those who want the experience of Gmail without switching providers, you can now do so on the Gmail app for Android.

In other words, you can add your non-Gmail email address (Outlook or Yahoo) to the Android Gmail app. This will provide you with all of the benefits of a Gmail account, without the Gmail address. Gmailify is currently only for Android devices, but it could be useful nonetheless; especially if, say, your office uses an Outlook-based email system, but you want to view it in a Gmail-based inbox.

According to Google, you can reap the following benefits:

• Gmail's spam protection
• Automatically sorting email based on type (Social, Updates, Promotions)
• Faster search, with advanced search operators
• Travel and hotel reservations appearing automatically in Google Now
• All your mail in one place.
• Better mail notifications on mobile

In order to use the Gmail app for your non-Gmail accounts, you need to link the accounts to the Gmail app. Open up the menu in the top-left corner and tap Settings. Next, tap the non-Gmail account that you want to add. Finally, select Link account. This allows you to view your email inbox in the Gmail app for Android. Another neat function is that your emails will also appear in your web-based Gmail account, so even if you don’t have Android, it might be worth it to take advantage of the other features provided by Gmail.

Of course, Gmail wouldn’t be offering these services if they didn’t have some sort of reason to do so. According to ITProPortal, Google has an ulterior motive to providing Gmail features to non-Gmail users:

This way [Google] gets to scan your messages and get its hands on your data which, understandably, you may not be too keen on. If you prefer the look of your existing email app, then you probably won’t be in a rush to start using the Gmail app either.

Either way, Gmailify is an interesting way to change the way that your email inbox looks, and might prove useful to some users. Have you tried out Gmailify, or are you willing to try it out? Or, do you think that the data scanning practice is a little too much? Let us know in the comments.

For more great technology tips and tricks, subscribe to Preferred’s blog.