After four years after Google turned on HTTPS as default in Gmail, and less than a year since the Edward Snowden document leaks, Google removes users' ability to opt out of encryption.
Before, using secure encryption was an option since it may slow Gmail's user experience and email retrieving. Users can use normal HTTP if they want to. With the new update, HTTPS is mandatory.
"The team has been working hard to mitigate any performance costs, which now puts us in a position where it no longer makes sense to allow HTTP connections," said a Google spokesperson. "The large majority of users already use HTTPS connections, so this is the final step in the journey."
The company also boasted about Gmail's stability, with service available 99.978 percent of the time.
