Google’s search engine helped the Mountain View-based internet giant quickly rise to the ascendancy in the early days of the internet. Google was quicker than other search engines and always served up more reliable answers to queries. It wasn’t long though, before Google started branching out from web searches and the result now is a bunch of core products, which are among the most popular pieces of software ever developed.
Google programs like Gmail, Chrome, and Maps all have literally billions of users and other core products like Google Drive aren’t far behind them. At the heart of all these products, including the search engine that started it all, lies our Google accounts. Our accounts give us access to personalized versions of each core product. Yes, they do allow Google to collect data on our web usage, which is worth billions to the web giant, but our accounts also allow to have our own Google Drive allocation, individual Gmail inboxes, and keep a record of all the places we’ve searched for and been to while using Google Maps.
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Most of us have reached the point now where we have more than one Google account too. Whether it be for work and personal use or more compartmentalized use of the Google products, like shopping accounts and travel accounts etc. it is becoming more and more common for Google users to have multiple accounts. It is good news for an awful lot of us then that Google is making it much easier for us to switch between accounts.
Google has introduced a swipe to switch account feature to Google Maps, Google Drive, and Gmail
Gesture control has been creeping in on Android for quite some time now. Google has been adding different gesture controls to try and replace the standard search and menu system. Although there are many more, my favorite and most used gesture control on my Pixel is the double tap of the power button to launch my camera app. It is easy, saves time, and means I take more pictures.
As always with most big tech innovations gesture control is supposed to shave precious seconds off our digital processes. The time we save searching through menus, can theoretically be used to do something else. The new swipe to change account feature does this quite well.
The idea behind the new features is that rather than having to click on the account button in the top-right of your Google apps and then select the account you want to work with, you can simply swipe your finger up or down across it. This will move you between all the different accounts you have linked to your Android phone.
The new swipe to switch account feature will save you the grand total of two clicks every time you use it. That is reduced to one click though, if you count the swipe itself as a click. This might not sound like a lot but as is so often the case with these incremental feature upgrades soon you’ll be so used to using the new swipe feature that you’ll barely remember having to click through the account’s menu in the first place.
Multiple reports have noted this new feature on Google Maps , Google Drive , and now most recently on Gmail too . The feature landed on Google Maps midway through August and then on Google Drive a week later. This means if you’re using the latest version of both apps, you’ll be able to swipe to switch accounts right now. The feature is much newer on Gmail, however, so you’ll have to wait until you’ve downloaded Gmail v2019.08.18 before you’ll have it on your email app.
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