Joe Maring / Android Authority
2025 has been a shockingly great year for the Gmail Android app. Between a big Material 3 Expressive redesign, a new tool for easily unsubscribing from subscription emails, and a helpful way to track your online orders and deliveries, Gmail is in a better place today than it’s been in years.
It’s because of all these updates that I recently switched back to the Gmail Android app after using a third-party email client for most of this year. And while I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time back with this new version of Gmail, I only really started to love the app after I made one crucial change.
I’m talking about that annoying, good-for-nothing Meet tab, and how I got rid of it.
Do you like the Meet/Chat tabs in the Gmail app? 28 votes Yes 11 % No 89 %
How to remove Gmail’s Meet (and Chat) tabs
Joe Maring / Android Authority
When I first switched back to the Gmail app, there was a lot I quite liked. The new subscriptions tab mentioned above is great, the various Material 3 Expressive animations look incredible, and Gemini integration has actually been pretty helpful at times.
However, there was one aspect of the Gmail app I absolutely couldn’t stand: the Meet tab. At the bottom of the Gmail app were two tabs, one for my inbox and another that acted as a shortcut to Google Meet.
If you regularly have a lot of Meet calls, I’m sure having quick access to Google’s video calling in the Gmail app is helpful. But as someone who almost never uses Google Meet — and especially not on my phone — that tab in the Gmail app was completely useless and nothing but wasted space.
After annoying the bajesus out of me for a couple of days, I decided to skim through the Gmail app settings to see if there was any way to disable it. And lo and behold, there was. To remove the Meet tab in Gmail, all you have to do is the following: Tap the menu button in the top-left corner of the Gmail app. Scroll to the bottom of the menu and tap Settings. Tap your email address. Scroll down to the Meet section. Tap the checkbox next to Show the Meet tab for video calling.
Once you uncheck that box, the Gmail app takes you back to your inbox — now with no Meet tab and no bottom navigation bar to speak of. With that tab bar gone, you can now see more of your inbox on the screen at once, and it also just makes the app look a lot cleaner.
It’s worth pointing out that if you have multiple email addresses in your Gmail app, you will need to follow these steps for each of your accounts. Also, if you have a Google Workspace account, you may have a Chat tab instead (or in addition to) the Meet tab. In that case, follow the same steps above, but look for the General section in your email address settings and tap the checkbox next to Show the chat tab.
This is how the Gmail app should be
Joe Maring / Android Authority
If I used Google Meet and Chat as part of my normal routine, I can certainly see the value of having dedicated tabs for them in the Gmail app. But as someone who rarely uses Meet and never uses Chat, their prominent presence in Gmail is unwanted and unhelpful.
The ability to remove these tabs isn’t anything new, but if you’re like me and are also returning to the Gmail app for the first time in a while, it’s a good tip to keep in mind. It’s not often that Google allows you to customize an app’s navigation bar to this extent, so it’s fantastic that you’re able to do so here.
And that’s really all there is to this one! The Gmail Android app is pretty darn great at this point in 2025, and it’s even better when you don’t have the bottom of the app wasted by a tab bar you’ll never use.
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