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iPhone 13 Pro Max Mail App and Gmail Inbox Will Not Sync, 2nd Inbox is Grayed Out

Ever since purchasing my iPhone 13 Pro Max in November 2021, the iPhone native Mail App has not synced with my Gmail account 100% of the time. I have a Rackspace / Microsoft Hosted Exchange IMAP business email account that works flawlessly with iPhone Mail App, as does my iCloud email account.


But when trying to use my personal Gmail account through the iPhone native Mail App, my Inbox, specially will not sync correctly depending on the day.


Additionally, I find that when iPhone Mail App will not retrieve new Gmail emails on the server, sometimes the Inbox goes completely blank (ALL emails disappear) and sometimes I find a "Grayed Out" or "Phantom" Inbox at the very bottom of my folder hierarchy, that will show Unread emails that my "Local" iPhone Gmail Inbox does not.


The only way to accurately know if I am seeing all new Gmail emails or not is to open the Gmail App for iPhone. I do not want to have to open the Gmail App every time I question if I'm seeing all Gmail Emails or not. The Gmail App is not integrated with my business account either, so I prefer the convenience of using the iPhone Mail App (for html signatures, being able to access all of my email accounts through one Mail App, I.E. basic phone mail client desired email functionality, etc...


Examples:

6/22/22:

iPhone Mail App shows 6 Unread Emails in Gmail Inbox:


Gmail App shows 13 Unread Emails in Gmail Inbox,

The Gmail App Inbox confirms 13 Unread emails when I view them

(13 is the accurate count of New / Unread emails in my Gmail Inbox):


iPhone Mail App "Phantom" Inbox (Grayed Out Inbox) shows 15 Unread Emails in Gmail Inbox:


***So even though the "Grayed Out" native Mail Inbox and Gmail App Inbox do not agree, the Grayed Out Inbox is always an indicator to me that I do have new emails on the server that are not appearing in my iPhone Mail App inbox for Gmail. It tells me the count is off and emails are missing.


And this is all at the same exact time on the same day, 6/22/22.


The same exact thing happened again most recently 6/28/22:


iPhone Mail App shows 0 Unread Emails in Gmail Inbox:


***Do not have a screenshot, but when I visit the Inbox showing 0 emails my entire email account screen is BLANK, not even unread emails appearing, as if all emails on the server have disappeared.


But the Gmail App shows 2 Unread Emails in Gmail Inbox:


The Gmail App Inbox confirms 2 Unread emails when I view them

(2 is the accurate count of New / Unread emails in my Gmail Inbox):


iPhone Mail App "Phantom" Inbox (Grayed Out Inbox) shows 5 Unread Emails in Gmail Inbox:


The ONLY consistent solution I have seen anywhere on discussion threads or support from both Apple and Google is to completely remove the Gmail account from iPhone Mail and re-add it. Well yes, this caveman-esque tactic will indeed work, but even then only temporarily.


Doesn't matter if I'm at home on fast WiFi, or on the road using 5G LTE. The inconsistent results are the same and my iPhone Mail App is not reliable for checking Gmail, period.


I do not have the time or patience to completely remove my Gmail account from the Mail App and re-add it each time. That's not an effective solution when you are on the go and need to conduct business via email. I also did not have this issue (at least not this consistently) on iPhone 8.


I cannot believe that upgrading my phone to the (at the time) biggest and most powerful iPhone ever offered by Apple would mean that my experience checking Gmail through iPhone Mail App would be absolutely horrendous and not improve with iOS updates over 7 Months time either. Electronic Mail has been around since 1975, yet Apple has somehow managed to screw up this basic and vital internet function between the world's best-selling phone (iPhone) and the world's most popular email (Gmail), and I just, don't, get it...


I believe the iPhone Mail App is the problem, because I do not experience this at all using Macbook Pro Mac Mail and Gmail using the exact same Gmail account and exact same settings across both devices. The problem must lie with the iPhone Mail App.


I desperately need help here, and need the iPhone Mail App and Gmail account to play nice together.


iPhone 13 Pro Max

Software Version 15.5


Thanks in advance.

iPhone 13 Pro Max

Posted on Jun 28, 2022 2:01 PM

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5 replies

Aug 5, 2022 11:18 AM in response to JMCSD

I was hopeful after your reply and after updating software to 15.6, and it seemed to work better for maybe a week. Then today 8/5/22, Nope... My blank Inbox is back, and I've got at least 6 Unread Emails clearly visible in the "Gmail" App, that WILL NOT show up in Mail App for iPhone.


Thanks for nothing, Apple Support.



Jul 4, 2022 9:52 AM in response to lenmw80

Opened my case with Apple Support on 7/2/22. Their attempted resolution was to completely restore my iPhone to original factory settings (I.E. completely new software install as if it were a new phone). Did this, and email worked a little better (downloaded all unread emails / correct email count displayed) for about a day.


Then, right back to not getting all new emails, seeing Empty Inbox / No Mail when pulling down to refresh the Inbox.


Spoke to Apple Support again 7/4/22, and the rep confirmed what I had suspected all along "This is a know issue. Engineers are very aware of it and investigating why iPhone 13 can't get new Gmails and the Inbox is not 100% syncing". They've had several customers complain about this very same issue.


They DO NOT know when the issue will be resolved, but suspect it will be part of a new iOS or iOS update down the road. They literally recommended I use the Gmail App in the meantime for accuracy and to see all emails.


So that's confirmation "from the horses mouth" that the world's supposedly best phone, currently, does not work correctly with the world's most popular email (Gmail). Sad. Guess I'll start learning how to use the Gmail App now while I wait for a pie in the sky update and fix from Apple Engineers (that once again hasn't happened so far in 7 Months of ownership).

Jul 25, 2022 2:19 PM in response to lenmw80

I have the same issue. Worked fine for a while when I first received my 13 Pro Max... then with an iOS update while I was out of the country, Mail was receiving Gmail messages, but I couldn't delete or send... then, it wiped out my Gmail "folders." That was a pain... Gmail was able to restore them, and then ****** if it didn't do it again this time losing the folder contents.


I have finally installed the Gmail app to manage my Gmail account.


Out of frustration... no, hope, having just updated to iOS 15.6 that there was a fix.... I deleted the Gmail account in the Mail app on the iPhone and reinstalled the Gmail account on the iPhone 13. It seems to work! I'll compare with the Gmail app for a week before declaring success, but at least it is further than I've gotten previously. There does seem to be some latency with reading the Gmail server for updates... sometimes 10 seconds.... sometimes five minutes or better.


I have same iOS 15.6 on my iPad and there are no problems.... Mail on MacOS functions fine.... and fast on the iPad Mail app. Something's still a bit off on the iPhone 13 Pro, but I see progress.


iPhone 13 Pro Max Mail App and Gmail Inbox Will Not Sync, 2nd Inbox is Grayed Out

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