Unable to add a Google account to my iphone

Same situation here as Wells mentioned above. I can add the gmail account that has gmail in it but not the google account which was created with a non-gmail email. I can confirm it used to work in iOS 10 great. With iOS 12 that I am trying recently is not working well.

atiq_ca wrote:

Same situation here as Wells mentioned above. I can add the gmail account that has gmail in it but not the google account which was created with a non-gmail email. I can confirm it used to work in iOS 10 great. With iOS 12 that I am trying recently is not working well.

On June 2, the day you posted this, Google was in the midst of a major outage.

I am also having this exact same problem. I'm using an iPhone 8 with 12.3.1. I try to add the Google account using the Google selection on the Add Account screen. I enter my Google account user name (which is not a Google email address - it's an old Verizon email address) and password. It momentarily moves to the screen noted above and then immediately flips back to the Add Account screen without having added the Google account. I had a Google account on my iPhone before, but when I changed my Google password yesterday my iPhone would not recognize the new password when i entered it, so I tried deleting the account and starting over, and that's when I encountered this issue everyone here is having.

I found a work-around! All I wanted to be able to do was to show my Google Calendar and reminders on the Apple calendar. You can do this by adding a CalDev Account (pressing Other instead of the Google button on the Add Account screen) and following the instructions and Google settings shown here; https://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-use-caldav-on-iphone-to-sync-google-calendar-without-exchange/.

I am facing exactly the same issue. I was using iPhone7 with iOS 12.3 and it never did anything like that. I just upgraded my iPhone to X with iOS 12.4 and when I try to add the google account, it simply does nothing except been freezing for microseconds.

Can you please help me with this issue??

Since this seems to be a persistent issue and no forums give a good answer, I have been able to work with Google Support and have a solution for G Suite users. Note that you will need the G Suite admin to make changes to Mobile Device Management on iOS devices.

For some background, I have a two year-old G Suite domain that I just started using daily. I had only been using the Gmail app on iOS (iPhone and iPad), and everything worked fine. It was only after I recently tried to add my account to iOS for Calendar and Contacts for the first time that I ran into this problem. I only have one account on the domain at the moment, but that account is protected with a second-factor using a Titan Key. I don't know how much that matters, but I haven't tried on an account with no additional protection. But, I noticed in the G Suite Admin that new iOS settings have been added to the console, indicating that something has changed on iOS access to G Suite. The domain was set to Basic management of all devices, but dropping that to "Unmanaged" didn't seem to fix the problem.

For the solution that has worked for me, I reluctantly agreed with Google Support to change iOS management to Advanced in the Admin Console/Device Management/Setup/Mobile Management under the Custom bullet. Changing to Advanced requires setting up an Apple Push Certificate. Instructions were there and easy to follow for getting a certificate request from Google and then going to Apple to get the signed certificate (no cost). Unfortunately, doing this appears to log out any iOS user accounts from the Gmail app. Logging back in worked as expected, though.

I tried again to add the account to iOS and failed. I decided to delete one iOS device from the approved devices list (Google Admin/Device Management/Devices). Doing that killed Gmail access again, but this time, when I logged in, it prompted me to download the Google Device Policy app. Once I did that, the device was under domain policy control for the account I was trying to add. After accepting the ToS, it prompted me to select an account, pre-populated from the Gmail app, I assume. Then, it prompted me to download the G Suite domain policy. Once downloaded, you go into iOS Settings, and "Profile Downloaded" should appear at the top. After clicking that, I clicked "Install" and entered the iOS passcode. Confirm install and trust the provider to complete the profile installation.

Of course, I then tried to add the account again and failed. So, I changed the iOS settings in the G Suite Admin Console to "Push Google Account configuration" (G Suite Admin/Device Management/iOS Settings/Account Configurations). Going back into the Google Device Policy app on the iOS device, I manually refreshed the policy. It prompted me to authenticate the account, and boom, it put me into the iOS Settings for the Account, now finally allowing me to toggle Mail, Calendar, and Contacts as you would expect. Everything seems to be working now.

Note that I don't know how much of this is necessary or why it seems necessary now when I haven't had to deal with it before. I'm thinking that new accounts added to existing domains are having the iOS account install issue because Apple has changed it's device access policy, but G Suite accounts that were already installed on iOS have been grandfathered in without having to go through the certificate process. That said, I tried resetting the iOS device management policy back to Basic, and that removed the G Suite domain profile from the iOS settings, removed the user account, and caused a repeat of the original failure scenario.

What the!!!

I had lost my latest password so I had to change it and I couldn’t update it in settings (I was tapping but nothing) so I deleted the email account!

Long story short, it won’t let me tap ‘google’ and enter details. I’ve tried every tutorial I have found! Nothing works!

I will have to go and see the “Genius Bar” I think because there is no answer to this trouble 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m having the same problem with my iPhone 6 with iOS 12.4. Had to change my gmail password when I was logged onto a computer, and the iPhone mail app stopped recognizing the new password, so I tried deleting the account and adding a new account, and nothing happens when I push the Google button. I still have another Gmail account that is working fine. I wish I understood the response above that got it to work, but I have to admit I got lost in the complexity. Is there a help desk to contact to work through this?

The solution that I posted won't work for a Gmail account (gmail.com), only for a G Suite account that provides email for a custom domain (<anyname>.com). Google doesn't provide a help desk for Gmail accounts. I would suggest rebooting the phone and perhaps resetting the network settings. Otherwise, I've heard that waiting a day may help.

I was having this issue and was able to fix it for my situation. I'm on a 6S Plus running 12.4.1. My Google account did not have Gmail enabled. After I logged into my Google account on a computer and enabled Gmail, I was able to add my Google account to the iPhone and it appeared in the list of accounts. I switched off the mail, contacts, and notes because I only wanted to add it for calendar syncing.

This worked for me too, iPhone 11 Pro on iOS 13, thanks this was driving me crazy, had set it up a long time ago and it was working great. Migrated to a new phone and when it prompted me for the password for my wife's calendar I mistakenly hit delete account and have not been able to add it back in until I followed this suggestion.

I am having the same issue on iOS 13.1.3 on iPhone XS Max. Just happened out of the blue. I am not connected to VPN and tried with/-out Wifi too, so I can not find a solution for the "network change" mentioned in the thread here.

Thanks sooooo much for posting this solution. I haven't been able to add my gmail account either to the iphone mail app through iphone settings or to the Gmail app for several weeks (it used to work) and have been desperately searching for the solution. After I read your post just now, I turned off wifi to force the phone to use cellular and it worked!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

I just struggled with this problem this afternoon on my boss's phone. Solution that worked for me:

We set this Google account up years ago simply for the purpose of having a shared Google calendar. I was able to set it up using my boss's business email address, not a Gmail. The Google calendar has worked fine on his phone for years, and only recently stopped working. So ... I logged into his Google account on the computer, and I found that Gmail was diabled. I enabled it, which required me to create a Gmail address for him. After doing that, I was able to get Google mail/calendars/etc set up in Settings/Passwords & Accounts I don't know if maybe Google/iPhone compatibility changed recently, since it worked fine for years and only stopped working a couple months ago. Or maybe he somehow deleted his old Gmail or disconnected it from the account? Anyhow, I hope this helps someone else.

They sent me another reply :)