Gmail for Android prepares to add Search Chips for filtering Chat messages

Google introduced a new feature in Gmail called “Search Chips” earlier this year in February. The feature added clickable search suggestions in Gmail for G Suite users, making search filters a whole lot easier to use. A couple of months after the initial release, Google rolled out Search Chips in Gmail for consumers. While the company has yet to add the feature in the mobile version of Gmail, they are bringing a similar search filtering feature for users of Chat.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

A teardown of the Gmail app for Android (v. 2020.10.04) has unearthed new strings of code that hint at the upcoming search filters for Chat messages. Entering any keyword in the search bar will bring up related Search Chips right underneath the Search bar. Tapping on the Search Chips will instantly apply a filter and display all related messages underneath.

<string name="search_filtering_attachment_chip_title_with_count">Attachment+%d</string>
<string name="search_filtering_author_chip_title">From</string>
<string name="search_filtering_author_chip_title_with_name">From %s</string>
<string name="search_filtering_author_chip_title_with_name_and_count">From %1$s+%2$d</string>
<string name="search_filtering_dialog_attachment_icon_content_description">Attachment icon</string>
<string name="search_filtering_documents_chip_title">Documents</string>
<string name="search_filtering_documents_chip_title_with_count">Documents+%d</string>
<string name="search_filtering_images_chip_title">Images</string>
<string name="search_filtering_images_chip_title_with_count">Images+%d</string>
<string name="search_filtering_pdf_chip_title">PDFs</string>
<string name="search_filtering_pdf_chip_title_with_count">PDF+%d</string>
<string name="search_filtering_people_suggestion_header_title">Suggested</string>
<string name="search_filtering_sheets_chip_title">Sheets</string>
<string name="search_filtering_sheets_chip_title_with_count">Sheets+%d</string>
<string name="search_filtering_slides_chip_title">Slides</string>
<string name="search_filtering_slides_chip_title_with_count">Slides+%d</string>
<string name="search_filtering_video_chip_title">Videos</string>
<string name="search_filtering_video_chip_title_with_count">Video+%d</string>

As you can see in the below screenshot from Android developer and reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, there are a couple of filter suggestions, including an author and attachment. Clicking on these suggestions will narrow down your search, which is a significantly easier process than typing out Gmail’s old filters.

And here’s how it will look like pic.twitter.com/TvgJX5zDlz

— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) October 30, 2020

As of now, we have no information from Google regarding Search Chips integration in Gmail for mobile. We’ll update this post as soon as the feature goes live in a future version of Gmail for Android.

This article was updated at 1:43 PM EST on October 30, 2020, to reflect that these search filters are intended for filtering Chat messages and not emails.

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