If you’re like me, your email box is usually full of travel confirmations. However, right now I only have one travel-related email in there, for our cruise next July. I flag all of my reservations to keep them in one place but that can still get cluttered.
That’s why I also use TripIt to consolidate all my plans. One of the things I really like is the system is almost totally automated. I allowed TripIt access to my Gmail account and whenever I get a reservation, the information is automatically added to my TripIt page.
Imagine my surprise yesterday when I got this email from Google with the title “Protecting the data in your Google Account.”
Hello,
Beginning July 8, 2020, the following app will no longer have access to your Gmail data:
TripIt
Google has always worked to design our tools and services with security at their core. Last year, we proactively updated the Google User Data Policy to better protect Gmail users.
All apps listed above have not passed our required verification process and, as a result, will no longer be able to access your Gmail data starting July 8, 2020.
I was really shocked by this. TripIt is owned by Concur, one of the largest corporate travel and expense management companies. Concur is a subsidiary of SAP, the global software behemoth. Needless to say, they’re not the type of company that wouldn’t have the resources to meet whatever verification process Google and Gmail were requiring.
I was dreading having to manually forward my travel emails to TripIt, a huge #firstworldproblem.
However the next day I was happy, and not surprised, to see the email from Google titled “Important clarification concerning recent notifications about your Google Account.”
Hello,
You may have received an email notification with the subject “Protecting the data in your Google Account” recently. In that message, we notified you that one or more apps would no longer have access to your Gmail data beginning July 08, 2020 because the app(s) had not completed our required verification process.
We recently discovered that, due to an error, some apps may have been incorrectly listed in that message. The following app did complete the verification process and is approved for access to select Gmail data:
TripIt
Please note that you may need to sign in to the app to take additional steps to reconnect your Google Account.
We apologize for the confusion and thank you for your understanding. If you have any further questions, please contact the developer of the app.
Thanks,
The Google Accounts team
Part of me wants to know how this story played out. I’m sure this email wasn’t just sent to me since TripIt supposedly has 13 MILLION user accounts, many of who also use Gmail.
In my mind, I can see this alert showing up in mailboxes belonging to higher-ups at Concur and SAP. They then sent Google a strongly worded message about how TripIt did complete the verification process and this oversight needs to be rectified ASAP.
Whatever the reason, I’m glad to see that Gmail and TripIt will continue to play nice and once I start making travel plans again, they’ll be nicely organized.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
