Google wants you to 'Gmailify' your non-Gmail email accounts -- but should you?

While Gmail is the most popular webmail service in the world, not everyone uses it. Plenty of people prefer to get their email through Outlook.com or Yahoo Mail.

Google would like you to use its service -- naturally -- but understands you may not want to go to the hassle of switching, or changing your email address. This is where Gmailify comes in. Link your existing Microsoft or Yahoo webmail account through it (support for other email providers is planned), and you’ll get all of the benefits of Gmail without needing a Gmail address.

Those benefits, according to Google, include:

• Gmail's spam protection
• Automatically sorting email based on type (Social, Updates, Promotions)
• Faster search, with advanced search operators
• Travel and hotel reservations appearing automatically in Google Now
• All your mail in one place.
• Better mail notifications on mobile

Gmailify is Android only for now, and to get it up and running you’ll firstly need to install the Gmail app, and then add your non-Gmail account. Once done, follow these instructions:

1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Gmail app.
2. In the top-left, open the Hamburger Menu.
3. Scroll down and tap Settings.
4. Tap the non-Gmail account you’d like to link.
5. Tap Link account.

Emails sent to the linked address will appear in both the Gmail Android app, and on the web at mail.google.com.

While the benefits of Gmail are great, let’s not overlook the fact that there’s a reason why Google wants to Gmailify non-Gmail accounts. This way it gets to scan your messages and get its hands on your data which, understandably, you may not be too keen on. If you prefer the look of your existing email app, then you probably won't be in a rush to start using the Gmail app either.

It kind of reminds me of Google Chrome Frame, an add-on from a few years ago which installed Google's web browser inside Internet Explorer.

What's your view of Google's latest move? Will you be Gmailifying your non-Google email accounts?