On November 22, 2011, Google discontinued support for mobile Java and BlackBerry versions of its Gmail app and removed the download links for these apps from their sites. The Gmail apps still work and are the best way I’ve found to access Gmail on non-touchscreen feature phones. I haven’t used a BlackBerry in years but when I did I used the Google app because it worked better with Gmail than BlackBerry Mail did.
As these apps still work I’m posting them here for anyone that wants them. These are all official versions that I downloaded from the Google servers over a period of years. They are unmodified other than changing the URLs in the .jad files to point at the .jar or .cod files on my servers.
These apps work best on non-touchscreen phones. I’ve run the Gmail app on a N0kia N8 touchscreen phone and it works but it’s frustratingly difficult to accurately tap the correct items in the tiny hierarchical menus
Mobile Java:
V 1.5 “Mail By Google” version that supports Google Apps domains – 157 KB: JAD JAR
BlackBerry:
V. 2.0.6 for BlackBerry OS 4.1 and later: JAD for OTA , ZIP for installation using Blackberry Desktop Manager
There’s also a link to Gmail V. 2.0.7 for touchscreen BlackBerrys posted in this CrackBerry Forum thread.
A word about the various versions. V 2.0.6, which was released in 2009, was the last Gmail mobile Java version. It includes the following new features compared with previous releases
- Support for multiple Gmail accounts including Google Apps accounts.
- Offline capability. You can launch Gmail even when you have no signal to read emails that you previously downloaded and to compose new emails. When you hit “Send”, instead of complaining about the lack of connectivity, Gmail will hold the newly composed email and send it when you move back into a area with coverage.
- Polling, Gmail will check for new email periodically, approximately every 5 minutes when it’s in the foreground and every 20 minutes when running in the background.
- Alerts, when new mail arrives Gmail will alert you. The Java app vibrates once when a new email arrives, which is easy to miss. With the BlackBerry app the Gmail icon on the home screen changes to indicate you have unread mail. Gmail also hooks into the Blackberry OS’s profile based notification system allowing you to configure the phone to do any combination of vibrating, ringing or flashing the message waiting LED continuously to indicate new mail.
Unfortunately, 2.0.6 doesn’t work for everyone. There are two main problems:
- Size: Gmail 2.0.6 is a relatively big download, the generic Java version is 257 KB and is too large to run on some older and very low end current phones. Version 1.5 was significantly smaller at 156 KB and 1.0 smaller yet at only 113 KB. (The BlackBerry version of Gmail that is even larger, but even older BlackBerries seem to have sufficient resources to load and run it without problems.)
- Data and battery consumption: The constant polling uses data and battery power and there is no way to disable polling or change the interval. This is an obvious issue for anyone who pays for data by the KB or who needs to make their battery last as long as possible. The only way to stop Gmail from polling is the exit the app which means you have to restart it every time you want to check you mail. Gmail’s start up time is quite long compared with the time required to do an on demand poll with 1.5.
For most Java phones the easiest way to install Gmail is to point your phone’s browser at the mobile version of this post on wapreview.mobi and click on one of the JAD file links.
JAD (Java Application Descriptor) files are small text files that contain meta data about the actual application which is the JAR file. Loading the JAD file is the recommended way to install Java apps. The phone will read the JAD, which contains a link to the JAR, and then automatically download and install the JAR. Occasionally a phone will have trouble understanding the JAD but will be able to download and install the JAR directly. So if you get an error with the JAD link, try clicking the JAR file link.
Originally posted 1-Feb-2009. Updated 14-Dec-2011 with 2.0.6 versions added and links modified to point to copies of apps on my servers.
Thanks a lot it was really helpful may I wish people help you the same as you help others.
All the best.
Thanks!
Thanks for providing these files – had searched google’s site for a half hour prior to finding your post – really appreciate you sharing them.
Version 1.1.jar works on my Samsung s390!
Thank you for this page, I really needed an gmail app for my java sony ericsson phone.I dunno why gmail discontinued making the app
Did they Kill it?
Did they finely stop the support for this java application?
I used it on my S/E K800i yesterday, or the day before, and it worked. Today, it started to complain that “This application needs a working internet connection…” But I was running Opera mini at the same time, so I did have a working connection.
I removed the program, and re-installed it, from this site (Thanks Allot for having it here!).
Have tried both the:
* Mobile Java: V 2.0.6 – 257 KB: JAD, JAR
and the
* V 1.5 “Mail By Google”
but the problem is the same. I can download, install and start the programs, but they claim that there is no internet connection. (When I can clearly have a working connection.)
I’m worried that Google have terminated the possibility to use these java programs…
Any one else with a similar experience?
2.0.6 is still working for me. I haven’t tried 1.5 lately.
Thanks dude . It is very useful to me as i have been searching from few months
Thank you so much for you help !
I can use gmail on my e71 now !
Hello from Singapore!
Many thanks for that man, it is very very usefull to have kept those apps for us, thanks a lot.
Thanks for posting these files Dennis.
I just changed to a new BlackBerry and was so happy to get this Gmail app back. Awesome. Thank you so much.
Hey Buddy,
I am soooooooo delighted by this deed of yours.
Thanks a million.
This is a very good app for blackberry. (2.0.6 version of Gmail)
I dont understand why google disabled it..
Anyway thanks my friend.
Anurag
Dennis, thanks a lot for this post. I’m also an orphan of Gmail for java.
I had a version that worked perfectly with my Nokia 3120c (Series 40 OS). I’m trying the V 2.0.6 from your post but it is slightly different: it doesn’t accept my phone’s enter key. I need to use the 5 key instead, which doesn’t work well with some functions, like selecting emails from my address book.
Do you know if there’s another V2 for phones like mine?
Thanks a lot!
Thank you so much for this. I recently had to do a factory reset on my nokia e72 and lost the gmail app I’d grown to love, as it was the only thing that enabled me to delete emails. Nokia’s built in messenger simply archives the bloody things when what I really want to do is delete them.
Thank you very much. I could successfully download Gmail for my Nokia 5230 last Sep.But last month I found I can’t do it for my friend’s Nokia C 5-03 . I’ve been searching download links for Gmail for mobile since then. Your JAD link is the solution for me. Now both mobile work well with v 2.0.6 – 257 KB.Thanks once again for your info. You have saved my pride!
I had to Hard Reset my Nokia Mobile and Lost this application! Found it at last. Thanks a Bunch. Makes life a lot easier.
Thanks.
After changing my device I couldnt manage to follow my personal mail account.
thnx a million buddy!! I’v been searching 4 so long!
thanx a million.i had the app in my old phone.unfortunately i lost my phone and been searching like crazy for gmail for my new phone.
THAAAANKS A LOT!!! Really works, I downloaded gmail over a year ago, yesterday deleted by mistake:(( I spent two nights to find the solution and YOU are the solution!!! Icon of gmail looks ugly now but at least it works! Thank you once again. Rgs,Liya
Best web content…
This is the only site, where u should get the GMAIL application.
Thank you ‘wap review’
after installing the gmal206g.jar in my samsung gtb-7722 unable to login error is “An unexpected error occurred during program execution. Please try your operation again.”
Please help
The error indicates that the app is incompatible with the phone.
Very very thanks for gmail app 2.0.6 for Blackberry !!!
Thanks heaps, you are a legend
Very thanksyou from Cusco Peru
1000x thanks
this saved my old phone
Thanks for the BB app! I had uninstalled it by mistake and could not find it again. It works.
Thanks so much!
Thanks a lot for the app, its working fine on my bb 9700..
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Thanks. Saved me – I reset my phone, then lost the gmail app. 2.0.6 works on my SE Elm, but slightly differently to the version I had previously obtained from Google. That version was full screen, and had refresh as left press and menu as right. This has menu as centre and refresh as right and is not full screen. There are some other differences. Does anyone know where the version I had for the SE elm would be.
Someone please tell me send me a link to download signed version of gmail
Google never published a signed version.
u guys give my life with this app
THANK YOU SO MUCH! You are the best. You literally saved this self-diagnosed OCD person! :)
Thank for share man, i take one for my w715 phone. again thank you
dude thank you very much!! i can smile again now :)
You made my day man:) thanks a ton uploader !
I’ve used LogicMail for Gmail’s imap. It works better for up-to-the-second email updates. I use the Gmail app when I need to be able to search my emails or archive and/or delete a bunch of useless emails quickly (like those newsletters we seldom read or those deal sites).
I can’t see the Java Gmail app from working stopping working, as it actually downloads the “mobile web” version of your emails. That’s why html links don’t work. Only links with the url in the rendered text work.
(Btw, logicmail can render simple html links, and you can copy text from emails too).
Others have reported that shanghai mail for blackberry works with gmail too.
Thanks a lot to you Dennis for all the info and JAD files. I rescued my old Nokia 6630 (yes I’m still using this robust smartphone) for Gmail use.
I was shocked to see this page http://www.google.com/mobile/mail/#utm_source=hc_header&utm_medium=Gmail&utm_campaign= where Google has withdrawn native application support from all platforms other than Android and iPhone. Dirty trick!?
You are welcome. I can sort of understand Google no longer developing mobile Java apps, it’s a declining platform. However pulling the apps from their site when they still work makes no sense. I’m worried that that this may indicate that they are planning remove the API these apps use rendering them useless. You might want to take a look at PicoMail, http://picomail.com/ a third party mobile Java email app that works well with Gmail and uses the IMAP protocolwhich Google will keep supporting as it’s what desktop email clients like Thunderbird, Outlook and Apple Mail use. The downside is PicoMail has ads.
http://forums.crackberry.com/blackberry-bold-9650-f172/one-day-too-late-gmail-672195/#post6896199
Found the working one for BB torch… very nice thanks for all the help!
I downloaded the gmail 206 version to my torch but keep getting an error:
error starting gmail206: Module gmail206-3 verification error 1074 at offset a45f
Can anyone help me out?
I think that error indicates that the app is not compatible with your phone. Try one of the other versions.
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Fernando,
the problem with open-sourcing it is Java ME is very much not open-source, unlike Java SE.
The Java ME VM is closed source but Java ME apps can and frequently are released under open source licenses.
And if they claim to no longer have the in-house programmers to maintain GMail for Java ME, they should do the obvious thing and OPEN SOURCE IT. I´m sure there´s plenty of programmers @ Oracle who could maintain such version.
In fact, if some hacker group *cough* runs the existing GMail client through a Java decompiler like JAD and posts the full source of the application for all to see, I wonder what Google could do about it.
Of course, I´m not vouching for the violation of Google´s IP and trade secrets, not at all. That would be a fairly extreme (and beyond all, illegal) measure.
Let´s hope Google comes to its senses and releases the GMail app as open source. Should we start a petition?.
Google promised to “do no evil” but that s precisely what they are doing: copying Microsoft and promoting their own platforms (Android) at the expense of the competition (Java ME enabled phones). They can´t claim there is no market share. They simply try to reduce functioality to Java ME devices by stopping support for the platform.
The big question why no one has challenged this on competition grounds. Seems like abuse of a dominant position to me…
FC
You can download a copy of Gmail 2.0.6 for Java here: http://boostapps.com/gmail.htm
Does any one has newer version of Gmail Mobile for Java? I can not download it from Google anymore :(
Pawel
What Jtron said. If anyone has the 2.0 or higher versions, please please, post a link. My job may depend on it
if anyone has the 2.0 or higher versions of the jad installer (now unavailable from google) please comment.
The newest version here has limited functionality on the bold 9780.
thanks alot, it works fine now :)
java 1.5v works wel on the simplest phone ever with limited functions-alcatel c250
i downloaded the JAD file of version 1.5 to my samsung hero e2230. And after the download finished it said “java content does not match the application”.please help
Thanks for reporting the error. I’ve believe I’ve fixed it. Try re-downloading.