Android Vesture

How to make Gmail infinitely more useful on Android Wearable

Ane of the most bones but valuable features of an Android Wear picket is its ability to help you deal with notifications quickly. Managing alerts on your wrist is absurdly convenient -- just if you aren't conscientious, information technology can also get absurdly abrasive.

The risk is especially apparent with e-mail, since Wear doesn't yet have a elementary native way to control which incoming letters buzz your wrist and which stay silent. With a piffling chip of behind-the-scenes customization, though, you tin can turn Gmail and Wear into an intelligently coordinated team.

Android Wear Gmail

Hither'south how:

Start, set your phone'south primary Gmail notifications to be silent

Little-known fact: Notifications will only cause your Android Clothing watch to vibrate and low-cal upwards if they'd also make a sound on your telephone. If a notification is set up to be silent on your phone, it'll show up and exist available on your watch merely won't practise anything to alert you to its presence.

Now, if you want your watch to vibrate with every single electronic mail that hits your inbox, this doesn't apply to you. Only if you lot're anything like me and would prefer to go alerted just when something important comes in, this is what you lot demand to practice:

Head into the Gmail app on your phone, tap the icon in the upper-left corner, and scroll down to Settings. Tap the name of the Gmail account you desire to configure. Brand certain there'southward a check mark side by side to "Notifications," so tap "Inbox audio & vibrate."

On the post-obit screen, make sure there's a check mark adjacent to "Characterization notifications," then ready "Sound" to silent and brand sure "Vibrate" is non checked. (You can leave "Notify for every message" checked -- or non. It actually doesn't thing.)

Android Wear Gmail

And with that, our foundation is in place: Emails will appear on your watch but not cause information technology to vibrate or low-cal upwards by default.

Now permit's create some exceptions.

Option #one: Use Google'south categorized inbox to determine what's important

Google'due south default Gmail setup (as of concluding May) automatically categorizes your emails into a handful of categories intended to divide out things like promotions and social media updates from your more of import fare.

You can use those same categorizations to determine which types of emails trigger alerts on your Vesture device and which remain silent. Beginning, head into the Gmail Spider web interface and click the modest pointer next to the "Inbox" link in the left sidebar to switch to the "Default" inbox setup, if yous aren't already using it.

Gmail Default Inbox

Next, open the Gmail app on your Android telephone and caput back into Settings. Tap the name of your Gmail account and scroll downward to the option chosen "Manage labels."

Tap the selection for "Primary" and make sure "Sync letters" is set to "Sync: Last 30 days." Brand sure at that place's a check marking next to "Label notifications," and so tap "Audio" and pick one of the sounds that appears in the list.

(If y'all don't see an pick for "Primary" yet, wait a few minutes and endeavor again. It might take a bit for the changes you lot fabricated in the Web interface to show up in the Android app.)

Last but not to the lowest degree, make sure there's a check marker next to "Notify for every bulletin."

And at that place ya accept information technology: Your Wear device volition now vibrate and light up anytime an e-mail arrives into your "Primary" category simply won't notify you for messages that state anywhere else (in categories like Social, Promotions, and Updates). If for some reason y'all desire to get notifications for any of those other categories, only repeat the above process equally needed for each boosted category.

Option #2: Utilise Google's Priority Inbox to determine what's important

If the categorized inbox isn't your cup of tea, Google'south Priority Inbox is some other relatively simple setup to consider. Priority Inbox uses a variety of cues to determine which incoming messages are of import and then marks every email appropriately. It learns from your habits over time and really works quite well in my experience.

To set upward Priority Inbox with Habiliment, first open up the Gmail Spider web interface, click the arrow adjacent to the "Inbox" link in the left sidebar, and select "Priority Inbox" from the list that appears.

Adjacent, open up Gmail on your Android phone and head into Settings. Tap the name of your Gmail account and scroll downwards to the option called "Manage labels."

Tap the choice for "Priority Inbox" and brand sure "Sync messages" is set to "Sync: Final 30 days." Make sure there's a cheque marking next to "Label notifications," then tap "Sound" and pick one of the sounds that appears in the listing.

(If you don't run into an option for "Priority Inbox" all the same, wait a few minutes and try again. Information technology might take a bit for the changes you made in the Spider web interface to show upwardly in the Android app.)

Final but not least, make certain at that place'south a check mark adjacent to "Notify for every message."

Congratulations: Your Habiliment device will at present vibrate and calorie-free up anytime an email that Gmail marks every bit "Important" arrives merely won't notify yous nigh any less pressing messages.

Pick #3: Set upwards your own custom Gmail alerts

Our last option is the most powerful and customizable but also the near complicated to configure. In curt, it lets you make up one's mind exactly what types of emails will generate alerts based on a variety of specific variables.

The primal is to create filters within Gmail to assign warning-worthy messages to a special category -- and then to configure that category to trigger alerts in your Android Gmail app and thus also on your Android Wear lookout. If that all sounds similar gobbledygook to you, follow my custom Gmail alarm guide for step-by-stride instructions.

The beauty of this setup is its flexibility: You lot could have Wear notify you only when messages come in from sure people or with specific words in the subject line. You lot tin use it by itself or even in conjunction with ane of the other two methods, if you're feeling particularly adventurous.

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It'd be squeamish if these types of nuanced controls were built natively into Wear then the setup could exist streamlined and a little more convenient. Maybe 1 day. For at present, though, these workarounds will let you take control of your Gmail notifications and make them work the way yous desire with your Wear device.

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Contributing Editor JR Raphael serves upwards tasty morsels nigh the human side of technology. Hungry for more? Bring together him on Twitter or sign up for his weekly newsletter to get fresh tips and insight in your inbox every Friday.

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