How to delete Gmail on iPad

Gmail users who updated their iPhones, and iPod touches, to the latest version of the iPhone operating system (called iOS now) might be experiencing a little dejavu. By default you can't delete messages from your Gmail account on your iPhone/iPod touch running iOS 4. Luckily, you can revert back to the old deleting behavior pretty easily.

Here you can see my Gmail account with the iOS 4 default setting. Swiping an email message reveals an 'Archive' button (which used to be a delete button). You can move an email message to the Trash folder manually... but that is far too many steps.

Launch the Settings app

To turn off message archiving just tap on the Settings app and select "Mail, Contacts, Calendars." This will list all the email account you have on your iPhone under the 'Account' section. Tap on your Gmail account.

Turn off Archive Messages

This is what your Gmail account settings should look like (roughly). Tap on the On/Off switch next to "Archive Messages." Now you can delete emails like a mad man.

Deleting like the good old days