The latest major update to Gmail is beginning to roll out to users and this one looks like it might be fairly important to Exchange users. We're still looking for additional features, but this version does bring support for task management and syncing to Exchange accounts. As usual, we've got a download link at the bottom so you don't have to wait for the apk to roll out to your devices organically.

Note: The original version of this post was a teardown predicting the addition of Inbox's Reminders and Snoozing features to the Gmail app. Unfortunately, it was a misinterpretation, these features are specifically for Exchange accounts at this time. I apologize for the confusion. But now that it happened, let's hope that my mistake and the resulting comments turn out to be a positive message about how much Gmail users would love to see a couple of the Inbox features become less exclusive.

What's New

Unofficial Changelog: (the stuff we were tipped about) Improved Exchange support: added Task syncing

Exchange: Tasks

Microsoft's Exchange protocol is a large, expansive system with features suited for use by businesses of all sizes. When Gmail was updated last year to include built-in Exchange support, many aspects of the protocol were left out, especially if they didn't directly relate to email, contacts, or calendars. The latest update expands the coverage to include Task support for Exchange.

Tasks work about the same way they do in any other implementation, and they can be very closely compared to Reminders in Google's Inbox app. (ahem)

Left: previous versions. Right: latest version with 'Sync tasks' toggle.

To see the new Task support in Gmail, your Exchange accounts have to be enabled to sync tasks from the server. This setting is not enabled when you update from an earlier version of Gmail, so you'll have to go into Settings –> (the individual account) –> turn on Sync tasks. Once enabled, a new entry for Tasks should appear in the navigation drawer when an Exchange account is currently active.

Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

Version: 7.1.1.144151060.release