How to Send Confidential Emails From Your Phone Using Gmail
In April, Google introduced a new confidential mode for desktop Gmail that allows you to send emails that automatically expire. The idea is that if you are using Gmail to send sensitive information (which, let’s face it, is not the safest idea), then using confidential mode will make it a little safer.
Messages can be configured to expire after a specified period of time, such as a week or a month, and the sender can choose to revoke access to them at any time. You can also protect the email with a password so that the recipient needs a code sent to them via SMS in order for them to open the email in the first place.
Now Google has added this feature to its mobile app as well, XDA developers note .
Want to try? Here’s how to do it on mobile devices. The same instructions work for both the Android and iOS versions of the app:
Open the Gmail app and compose your message. In the message, click on the hamburger menu at the top right (three dots located one above the other) and select “More” and then “Confidential Mode”.
When you select confidential mode, the app launches a menu page where you can select an expiration date for your message or create a password for it (which can be SMS or not). If you change your mind about sending a message privately, you can also disable this feature on this page.
That’s all!
If you later decide to revoke your email access, you can do so by launching Gmail, clicking the hamburger menu in the upper left corner of the page and choosing Sent. From there, find the email you want to revoke access to, and then select “Remove Access” at the bottom of the page.