Mojave 10.14.4 fails to Authenticate Gmail account

Yes, it seems to be fixed on the Mac now. I had to use the Charles method to get two of my three gmail accounts added, but waited on the 3rd. Just added the 3rd without using any work around. For my iPad and iPhone I had to take back to a prior version, get email to work, then upgrade again to 12.2 and that worked.

I initially thought that Apple servers might be involved in the authentication process so they wouldn't need to roll out an update. But on further reflection, the G-Suite Gmail authentication process is handled by Google. So I think you're right. I hear that this bug came and went during the 10.14.4 betas all the way back to January.

fft1024guy wrote:

I initially thought that Apple servers might be involved in the authentication process so they wouldn't need to roll out an update. But on further reflection, the G-Suite Gmail authentication process is handled by Google. So I think you're right. I hear that this bug came and went during the 10.14.4 betas all the way back to January.

I wish, just for once, that we would get an official explanation from either Apple or Google as to what actually happened. This issue caused a lot of headaches for some people and they deserve an explanation. Doesn’t matter on whose end the trouble was, we just need to know.

It also hammers home the frequently offered advice to sit back and wait a while before applying any new update of any software one relies upon. Wait and see what, if any, issues arise before jumping in, especially if your workflow might be disrupted.

Here's a good article that explains the sequence of events leading to the authentication problem and the impression that Apple caused the problem. It was more likely that Google resolved the issue on their G-Suite servers.

https://www.macobserver.com/analysis/apple-gmail-gsuite-10-14-4-mail-fixed/

Had two G-Suite accounts on different domains just stop working after updating, not immediately nor at the exact same time.

Attempting to reconnect appeared to work correctly until Safari closed and I got a "Incorrect username" pop-up from System Preferences.

I ended up deleting the accounts and re-adding in System Preferences and everything is now working.

But...

Both accounts display an alias email address in System Preferences -> Internet Accounts. Previously the displayed address was the primary email addresse, i.e. the one entered during the authentication process. Changing the "From" address was easy enough to fix in Mail -> Preferences but that should have been unnecessary.

Whether this is a problem at the Google end or the macOS end is not easy to decipher but it is definitely WRONG behaviour somewhere.

Myself and numerous other people have verified that the original problem as described by the OP **is** fixed and we are able to activate our gsuite accounts in 10.14.4. Maybe delete your gsuite account and add it again.

I still have an issue where the credentials from another gsuite account are being picked up when authenticating. For example, if I login with credentials for account A, I authenticate, but it gets added as account B; email doesn't work. When I authenticate with account B, everything works fine, but when I try to add account A, it tells me, account B is already added. Anyone know how to remove this invalid reference?

Sorry, the problem has NOT been "fixed".

My WORKAROUND was to delete and recreate the accounts (currently waiting for a few 100k mail items to synch...) but my accounts now display an alias (WRONG) email address (account name for Google) in the account details. I had to manually correct this email address in Mail preferences.

Yes it works... but not correctly

Have you tried repairing through utilities either on command R boot up or to Applications > Utilities > Disc utility > and click on repair permissions. It may take a few minutes, reboot, then open Mail ... you may also want to delete your current email(s) to get a clean start

Dear all, I found a workaround that can be helpful until Apple releases a fix for MacOS Apple Mail.

Important: for those users who have two factor authentication enabled on their Gmail or G Suite accounts, there's no need to disable 2FA on your accounts to apply the configurations I'll describe below

Basically you will have to remove you existing Gmail account from Apple Mail and reconfigure the account as a new IMAP account.

A- Those G Suite users who have 2FA enable will have to make sure that "less secure apps is enable" for their accounts.

1. Login to your G Suite Admin Console(admin.google.com). 

2. After that go to Security > Basic Settings > Go to settings for less secure apps ›› 

3. Select the middle option 'Allow users to manage their access to less secure apps'. 

4. Save changes. 

Once this is done, please do the following

1. Go to Gmail.com 

2. Login to your source G Suite account

3. Open a new Tab 

4. Go to this URL https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps 

5. Toggle the Less secure apps option and make sure it's enabled. 

B- Create an App Password for your Mail App (16-digit passcode)

Instructions here: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833

C- After this is done, remove the affected G Suite account from Mac Apple Mail and add it back again manually instead of selecting 'Google' option by using the settings and steps listed as per this Help Center support article https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en

Important notice: Please be mindful that IMAP protocol only syncs you emails and not contacts & calendars.

I seem to have passed the login process by entering the two-factor authentication code the second time.

So first you enter the password and the second time you enter the authentication code.

I didn't have any problems since then.

It is fixed!!!!

On both my iOS devices and my MacBook Pro.

I didn't do anything.

I found out by accident.

Because of some syncing difficulties, I had to delete the Exchange account from my iPhone that Google suggested as a work around. On a lark tried to reinstall as a Google account, thinking it probably would not work and I would have to go the Exchange route again. It worked. Installed as a Google account and everything is normal. Same with my iPad.

I had already deleted the Google account on my Mac pending a fix by Apple. But thought I would give it a try. It worked. Installed normally without the endless loop and null messages. I wonder if Google made some changes as there are no Apple OS updates.

Hope the same is true for everyone else. Try deleting and reinstalling your Google accounts. I know that didn't work before, at least for me. I tired that several times. But I think something changed on Google's end.

Yah!!

This is what works for me:

1) Delete the Gmail account in your computer.

2) Using the browser, change your Google password for a new password.

3) Install your Google account again from scratch and use the new password.

This is work just perfect for me.

You forget to point out that ALL software has bugs no matter WHO developed it. Google certainly does not have an immaculate track record for buggy software. Google got caught programming around Safari’s security protections so they could continue to glean user data. Neither does Microsoft, or Adobe, or any other developer. The impulse to immediately blame Apple for everything is tempting but counter productive in the end.

Scott Willsey wrote:

Now are we done blaming Apple TV+ for this yet?

Seriously. Software bugs happen. Apple always have had them. They always will.

True. I meant to imply it when I said software has bugs. I was responding to earlier complaints about Apple’s focus. I’m not trying to pin the blame on Apple for this, indeed it doesn’t seem like it was their issue per se, although it’s not really conclusive at this point.

I just found the moaning about Apple’s focus and News+ or whatever the complaint was wrt this issue illogical.