Request: a shortcut that when run, opens a gmail link in the native gmail iOS app

Request: a shortcut that when run, opens a gmail link in the native gmail iOS app

When opening a gmail link on iOS, it opens in safari. I would rather in open in the gmail app.

Any ideas ???

Is this what you’re looking for?

thank you @SuperTachyon but that is not exactly what I am looking for.

Lets say an email within Gmail as the following address:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?zx=eb7cw5my89ax#inbox/FMfcgzGpFzlxlWdLGNKdC

opening the above link on mobile will open it in safari (or your default broswer). Ideally, I would prefer to open it in the Gmail app.

The purpose is simple. I use Things to capture that email to my Things inbox. From there, if I need to look at that link on mobile, it will open a browser, I would prefer to open the Gmail app.

If there’s a way to intercept a URL and open it in a particular app based on the contents of the URL path, I’d be very surprised. But I’d also be very happy – it would be so useful.

On Mac, I can use Choosy to do exactly this (open Google URLs in Chrome, certain others in Firefox, most of the rest in Safari).

This is why I generally prefer sharing emails from Mail or Spark. This drives me crazy that I can’t open iOS emails in the Gmail app. I hope someone has an answer because I much prefer Gmail interface but getting back to emails is a royal chore.

IMO the only solution for app lock-in is a law like the one the EU is “likely to pass”. It would, among other things, prevent manufacturers from installing non-removable default apps.

This used to be possible with URL schemes explored in a blogpost. But as I’m testing it it’s no longer working. It seems Google killed it a few years back.

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I don´t use the Gmail-App, as the “G” stands for Google, but if the App allows the usage of IMAP/SMTP, you can use Apple-Mails with it without any problems.
If the Gmail-App does not allow the usage of IMAP/SMTP, this is not to blame on Apple… :thinking:

I’ve seen suggested to use a callback-url from Chrome on iOS, but this does not work (at least it does not work for me, it just opens Chrome).

googlechrome-x-callback://x-callback-url/open/?x-source=Gmail&url=http://tom.scogland.com&x-success=googlegmail:///cv=ddddd/accountId=1&create-new-tab

We’re supposed to only use the callback part googlegmail:///cv=ddddd/accountId=1, where dd is the same unique identifier shown in the address in Safari. But it doesn’t work anymore as per my testing.

Perhaps Google didn’t kill it completely but changed things up a bit. But I’ve failed to find any new information. It might be possible to do the same exercise as the blogpost I mentioned, by building some URL grabber and intercept the URL sent to Chrome.

Can confirm. I believe Google disabled everything but composing emails by URL scheme. Not really sure what to make of this, though. Security concerns? Making life more difficult for Apple customers? Or just a product manager that did not believe the feature was useful?

@kennonb prefers the Gmail app but iOS opens files in their default app. I have been in areas where I could not send/receive messages because Messages continued to try (& fail) to send via data, rather than SMS, regardless of its settings.

There are times when being able to change the default app for mail, messages, etc. would benefit the owner of an iOS device.

Maybe I don’t get the problem, but if the Gmail App can work with IMAP/SMTP then you can receive also iCloud/me.com Mails within that app.
If you receive a mail within that app, than it opens also there, and not in the Mail-App.
And I also don’t understand the connection with that Mail related problem, and Messages? That are two completely different things. Also Messages has (as far as I remember) settings to send via SMS, if data is not available, but there are also Networks, that does simply not work with SMS (or does not allow to roam from an other provider), so that is maybe the reason why you couldn’t send the Messages via SMS?

You can set Gmail as the default mail app in iOS, but that won’t make it capture mail.google.com URLs as internal app URLs.

My Messages problem was definitely an edge case. The area was served by a carrier in a bordering country. Cellular service wasn’t great but there was data. However there was almost zero bandwidth. I tried turning off Cellular data and iMessage in an attempt to send a short text to my family. Eventually I gave up and had another member of our group send an SMS message for me on his android phone.

I had much the same problem a year later with my, then new, iPhone 11. But I learned of one tiny store in the town with an internet connection that I could use “with a purchase”. On my next trip I’m taking an android phone and a Garmin inReach Satellite communicator. :grinning:

This has long been a frustration. Works perfectly on the Mac, but I’ve not been able to find anyway for this to work on iOS.