Why is Gmail not working? – How To Fix

Gmail is by far the world’s largest provider of email services in the world, with billions of users serving countless people at the same time at any moment in the day.

So, what do you do when Gmail stops working? Following this guide can help you identify the problem and find the solution in a couple of minutes.

Gmail App Not Working – Check this first

If Gmail suddenly stops working for you it can be pretty frustrating and even confusing if you’re not sure why it’s not working.

Before you start panicking and assuming the worst, it’s a good idea to check a few quick and easy things before you start getting into troubleshooting mode.

1. Make sure you aren’t in airplane mode. Having airplane mode accidentally enabled will prevent any internet-based app from working correctly, and any mail you send or receive won’t get processed until you disable this feature. If you see the plane lit up on your device, just tap it to disable.

2. Check you’re signed in with the right account. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I’ve done it myself. When you are expecting an email, but you have ten different Gmail accounts and you’re sitting there waiting and nothing is coming through, there’s a chance you are signed into the wrong account.

3. Turn it off and on again. Don’t ask me why, but most of the time there’s a problem with technology, this age-old technique seems to always work. Try restarting your device and see if it fixes whatever problem you are having with Gmail.

If none of these worked and you still find Gmail not working, don’t worry.

There are a lot more step-by-step solutions that may get your Gmail service up and running again.

Check the stability of your internet connection

If your internet connection is unreliable, your Gmail app won’t be working properly – this means that you won’t be able to send or receive mail or load your folders.

1. Check if you are connected to your Wi-Fi. You can do this by trying to use any other online app, such as Google search or Facebook.
2. Stand near your router. The further you are from your Wi-Fi source, the less stable your connection will be.
3. Reset your router. If you are still struggling to connect, you can unplug your router for 30 seconds then reconnect it so your DNS and IP reset, providing you with a fresh connection.
4. Try using mobile data. If none of those worked, try to access the internet with mobile data instead, and if that works, try to access Gmail. If Gmail still doesn’t work, there’s a chance the servers are down.

Is Gmail down?

As incredibly unlikely as it may seem, even Google’s servers can go down occasionally, which take their mail services with it.

To find out if Gmail’s servers are down, you can check here and see if there are any spikes in outage reports.

If there are, unfortunately your best option is to simply wait for someone to get around to fixing the servers.

Update the app

If you don’t keep your app updated, you can have compatibility or file problems which slow down your app, break features, or cause it to not work all together.

To update your Gmail app, go to the Play Store, search for Gmail, and if there is an update available it will show up next to the app.

Tap Update and it will install automatically.

Clear cache & data

Even if you update your app, you can sometimes retain corrupted data which can slow down or disable your Gmail app.

Clearing your data does not delete your emails, don’t worry. It deletes your preferences, login data and any additional bloat that may causes your Gmail to stop working.

To clear your cache & data, go to Settings > Apps > Gmail > Storage > Clear Cache & Data.

Reinstall Gmail

Reinstalling Gmail requires two steps. First you need to remove your account from your device.

You can do that by Opening Gmail > Tap your profile picture > Manage accounts on this device > Select your account > Remove this account > Confirm removal.

With your account disconnected, you can then uninstall Gmail by long pressing on the icon and selecting uninstall from the pop-up menu.

Once you’ve done that, you can reinstall from the Play Store then sign back into your account, and you will have a clean install that should work correctly – there’s no need to log out of the Gmail app.

Switch to Web Browser

If you’re having an issue with the Gmail app specifically, it could be worth trying to access your account from a browser.

This won’t fix any ongoing issues you’re having with Gmail, whether you’re using iPhone or Android.

However, what it will do is tell you whether the issue is with the app itself, or perhaps with your Gmail account.

Conclusion

Thankfully, Google is one of the most reliable companies when it comes to technology stability, so there are rarely problems with the Gmail app that aren’t related to your usage or your internet connection.

As long as you keep your app updated and follow these troubleshooting steps if anything goes wrong, you shouldn’t have to deal with a situation where the Gmail app isn’t working for too long.