Gmail won't send or receive mail on my iPhone.
February 9, 2010 3:39 PM Subscribe
Why won't Gmail work on my iPhone?
I've already read about a similar problem on AskMeFi, but nothing is working. People say to wait it out; I've waited. People say to restart
the phone; I've restarted the phone. I still get the same connection errors.
I've looked everywhere, including Google's help forums, for assistance. I tried this strange captcha unlock thing, but it still doesn't work.
Gmail works fine in Safari, but the one thing I can't do in the mobile web version is send photos, which, of course, is the one thing I really want to do. So if anyone knows a way that I can use Gmail to send to, say, TwitPic, that works around this problem, I'm all ears.
Any ideas?
I've already read about a similar problem on AskMeFi, but nothing is working. People say to wait it out; I've waited. People say to restart
the phone; I've restarted the phone. I still get the same connection errors.
I've looked everywhere, including Google's help forums, for assistance. I tried this strange captcha unlock thing, but it still doesn't work.
Gmail works fine in Safari, but the one thing I can't do in the mobile web version is send photos, which, of course, is the one thing I really want to do. So if anyone knows a way that I can use Gmail to send to, say, TwitPic, that works around this problem, I'm all ears.
Any ideas?
Response by poster: Yes, I have, unfortunately.
posted by Flying Saucer at 3:56 PM on February 9, 2010
posted by Flying Saucer at 3:56 PM on February 9, 2010
Have you tried restoring the phone? Maybe it's a software glitch.
posted by phaedon at 4:06 PM on February 9, 2010
posted by phaedon at 4:06 PM on February 9, 2010
Response by poster: I've been trying to avoid that because it means losing so much information. Is there any kind of "soft" reboot or partial restore? Or will I just have to try it and hope?
posted by Flying Saucer at 4:12 PM on February 9, 2010
posted by Flying Saucer at 4:12 PM on February 9, 2010
Have you done a "reset" (press and hold down both the Home and the Sleep/Wake buttons simultaneously for at least ten seconds), or just a normal cycle of turning it on/off?
posted by chalkbored at 4:19 PM on February 9, 2010
posted by chalkbored at 4:19 PM on February 9, 2010
Response by poster: I was just turning it off and then back on.
Apple's support site says: "Only reset your iPhone or iPod touch if it is no longer responding," like if it's frozen.
Are you still recommending I try it?
posted by Flying Saucer at 4:24 PM on February 9, 2010
Apple's support site says: "Only reset your iPhone or iPod touch if it is no longer responding," like if it's frozen.
Are you still recommending I try it?
posted by Flying Saucer at 4:24 PM on February 9, 2010
I've "reset" mine when all else failed (ie Safari was in a persistently messed-up state, and just turning the phone off didn't help) with no apparent ill effects, but ymmv.
posted by chalkbored at 5:58 PM on February 9, 2010
posted by chalkbored at 5:58 PM on February 9, 2010
Besides straight IMAP you can alos set up your phone as an Exchange account unless you've already got one.
posted by bitdamaged at 6:15 PM on February 9, 2010
posted by bitdamaged at 6:15 PM on February 9, 2010
I don't know if this helps, but I use Apple's Mail client in Mac OS X for mail, and had set it up with multiple GMail accounts before I got my iPhone. When I synced my iPhone and Mac for the first time, the iPhone pulled down all the settings.
Looking at the instructions linked above from Google, there's also an instruction to enable IMAP in the Gmail account on the web before setting up remote access to the mail from something like Outlook. Presumably, this is the same for iPhone mail client as well.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:05 AM on February 10, 2010
Looking at the instructions linked above from Google, there's also an instruction to enable IMAP in the Gmail account on the web before setting up remote access to the mail from something like Outlook. Presumably, this is the same for iPhone mail client as well.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:05 AM on February 10, 2010
Response by poster: Sorry for the delay. And now, the exciting conclusion:
I did make sure IMAP was enabled. The Exchange account thing confused and scared me. So, finally, I did what Google specifically told me not to do -- which is to select "Gmail" when creating an account, instead of choosing "Other." Gmail wouldn't work the same otherwise.
But I selected it and now everything works just fine. So, this was all much ado about nothing.
Thanks for your help and patience.
posted by Flying Saucer at 4:49 PM on February 13, 2010
I did make sure IMAP was enabled. The Exchange account thing confused and scared me. So, finally, I did what Google specifically told me not to do -- which is to select "Gmail" when creating an account, instead of choosing "Other." Gmail wouldn't work the same otherwise.
But I selected it and now everything works just fine. So, this was all much ado about nothing.
Thanks for your help and patience.
posted by Flying Saucer at 4:49 PM on February 13, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by birdherder at 3:53 PM on February 9, 2010