iPad gmail app is broken... help?

April 21, 2011 5:42 AM

My iPad Gmail app appears stuck in viewer mode. How to fix?

I downloaded a PDF file attachment in the Gmail app on the iPad (the one that comes with the iPad), and now I can't seem to get it to go back to gmail itself. It's stuck in the PDF viewer mode and no amount of gesturing (or swearing) brings up any menu or makes it go back. I've tried exiting the app via the home key, and going back in, but it goes directly to the viewer. It does not appear to be possible to uninstall and reinstall this app either.

Any ideas? Am I just missing the particular gesture to back out of this one?

posted by Zinger to Technology (8 answers total)

Have you tried restarting your iPad?
posted by litnerd at 5:45 AM on April 21, 2011

I've had this happen with my iPod touch -- shutting all the way down (ie, not just putting it into sleep mode) and restarting fixed the problem for me.
posted by apparently at 5:57 AM on April 21, 2011

Best answer: Just double tap the home button to bring up the multi-tasking tray and press and hold the mail icon until it starts jiggling and there is a delete icon, click it to terminate the task. Then open up mail again. Voila. Do this with all applications that fail.
posted by pwally at 6:03 AM on April 21, 2011 [3 favorites]

As far as gesturing, have you tried a single tap in the middle of the screen? This generally brings back the chrome in Apple’s “stuff viewers”.

Otherwise, exit out of Mail and follow pwally's advice.
posted by Sidnicious at 6:25 AM on April 21, 2011

I ran into this problem recently, and Sidnicious's suggestion of a single tap is what got the menus back up for me.
posted by that girl at 8:54 AM on April 21, 2011

Yeah attachments get put into fullscreen mode, but a good tap in the middle should bring up a "Done" button which will take you back to your email. I have found that sometimes it takes more than one try.
posted by bwanabetty at 10:02 AM on April 21, 2011

Best answer: Double tap the home key to bing up your multitask bar. Hold your finger down on the icon of the app you need to restate until it depresses and shows a red and white minus sign in the upper left of it's graphic. Close out that app by clicking on the minus sign, then tap the home key twice to return to your home screen. Relaunch the app and see if the issue reoccurs.

If it does, a manual restart is required. Hold down the home key and the power button for 10 seconds. The Apple symbol will suddenly appear on a black background. Let the device reboot completely, and then relaunch your app.

A third option is to delete the app from your iPad and reinstall fresh from the App store. That fixes corrupted apps very quickly.

Good luck!
posted by patronuscharms at 12:24 PM on April 21, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks guys, didn't know that home key could be double-tapped. I had tried the tap in the middle of the document thing, but to no avail. Relaunching the app fixed it.
posted by Zinger at 11:30 AM on April 25, 2011