Several people are experiencing issues with Gmail (especially G Suite) email accounts in Mail on Mac. It seems that the Mail App is not working as expected for some Gmail users. More specifically, some Gmail users have said that after installing the macOS 10.14.4, and launching the Mail app, some Gmail users are asked to authenticate their email addresses. They get a notification saying:
Gmail Desktop Notifier. The Gmail Desktop Notifier is one of the more popular methods to receive desktop notifications for Gmail. It is also one of the original notification clients available once notifications were released as a feature on Mac OS. Gmail Desktop Notifier is a nice, small, unobtrusive icon that sits in your menu bar.
See also: macOS Mojave Freezes or Stops Responding, Fix
“Enter the password for the account “(null)”: Google requires completing authentication in Safari.” This takes users to a Google web login form. However, shortly after authenticating, the Mail app asks for authentication once again, and again, as the process does not stick and goes into an endless loop.
Please note that we contacted Apple regarding this issue, and we were told that Apple is currently working on a fix.
In the meantime, you can try the following fixes:
1– Changing your Gmail account’s security settings may fix this problem. Open Google’s My Account site (https://myaccount.google.com) and click Security (On the left navigation panel) and then scroll down and find the “Less secure app access” section and turn this on (note that Google recommends this OFF).
See also: Mail App Keeps Crashing
2- Set up your email account using IMAP. Please note that this process will delete your messages and will no longer available on your Mac. But do not worry, your mails will not be removed from Google’s servers, you can still access your mails via gmail.com web site. Here is how:
- Open the Mail App
- Click Mail
- Click Preferences
- Click Accounts
- Select your Gmail account
- And click the (-) remove button
- Now we will re-add your Gmail account
- Before that, let us make sure that IMAP access is enable. If not, you can do that easily. To enable IMAP in Gmail, login into your Gmail web client (gmail.com) and then click Settings:
- Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab
- Select Enable IMAP (IMAP access section)
- And scroll down and click Save.
- Now again in Mail App, choose Mail
- Click Add Account
- Select Google, then click Continue
- Enter your email and click Next
- Enter your password and click Next
- And follow the instructions
If this does not work, try the “Add Other Account” option and add smpt/imap info manually:
- Incoming server: imap.gmail.com
- Outgoing server: smtp.gmail.com
3- Open Safari and go to https://accounts.google.com/b/0/DisplayUnlockCaptcha and then enter your username and password, then enter the letters (captcha) then try again.
4-Please try the following:
- Quit Mail App.
- Open Keychain (Applications > Utilities or Spotlight Keychain)
- Search: google.oa
- Find the accounts that you are having trouble accessing, and delete Keychains
- Now go to https://accounts.google.com
- Sign in with your problematic account
- Click Security (left menu)
- Find the “Third-party apps with account access” section and click “manage third-party access”
- Click macOS and to revoke its access
- Then sign out (https://accounts.google.com)
- On your Mac, go to System Preferences > Internet accounts and re-authenticate your account
- And open your Mail and try again
5-Still having the problem? if so try this:
- Download and install Charles (a proxy app): https://www.charlesproxy.com/latest-release/download.do
- Authorize automatic proxy, when asked
- In Charles go to the Help menu and then choose SSL Proxying > Install Charles Root Certificate
- Keychain Access will open. Find the “Charles Proxy…” (you may type Charles to search).
- Double click on it.
- Expand the Trust section and set to “Always Trust”.
- Close the window, enter your password when you are asked.
- In Charles, choose SSL Proxying Settings (Proxy menu).
- Add a new location with Host: people.googleapis.com
- Go to the Tools menu and then choose Rewrite and click Add.
- Add a new location with Host: people.googleapis.com.
- Add a new action:
Type: Body
Turn Off Mac Mail Notifications
Where: Response
Replace Value: {“names”:[{“metadata”:{“primary”:true},”displayName”:”Your Name”}],”emailAddresses”:[{“value”:”your@email”}]}
- And now on your Mac, open System Settings and Internet Accounts and re-authorize your account.
- Now test to see if it is working, if your issue is resolved now, feel free to remove the Charles app.
See also: macOS Mojave Draining Your Mac Battery Life? Here Is How To Fix
Mac Mail Notifications Not Working
With there being so many new ways to communicate with each other, such as Twitter and Facebook, you may quickly forget how email is still the top dominant way to communicate online. Most of use primarily use Gmail for out free email hosting because of the friendly user interface in addition to how it has primarily became the #1 email provider available. One of the great things about Gmail is how well it works with Mac OS X and the many ways to set up desktop notifications so you don’t have to continually check your inbox.
Gmail Desktop Notifier
Desktop Notifications Gmail Mac
The Gmail Desktop Notifier is one of the more popular methods to receive desktop notifications for Gmail. It is also one of the original notification clients available once notifications were released as a feature on Mac OS. Gmail Desktop Notifier is a nice, small, unobtrusive icon that sits in your menu bar. The icon will turn red when a new message has been received and a small number appears next to it to tell you how many new messages you have waiting in your inbox.
Another great feature is that you can click the icon and a pull down menu will appear which will show what the subject of the email is and who the sender was. Once you select an email, Gmail will automatically open up in a web browser.
Chrome Gmail Notifications
Gmail App Notification Settings
If you are a big Chrome browser user then this is the best Gmail notification you can use for your desktop. It is a very easy to set up and has a simple interface that shows the sender, subject and first line of the subject. In order to activate notifications through Chrome simple click the Gmail settings menu (gear icon) then click Gmail settings, general and then enable Gmail notifications. The only con about the Chrome Gmail notification is you must be logged into your Gmail account through Chrome at all times in order for it to work.
Notify Email Notification Utility
Notify when it was created was a free notification application that quickly added new features, which in return made it a paid utility costing $10. Although it is no longer free, it is for sure the most robust and dynamic Gmail notification utility that you can purchase. Notify has some very cool features that give you the ability to create new messages, mark the messages as read, reply and receive a full message preview all from a dropdown on the menu bar. Notify is also great if you utilize any other email clients because it works with almost any email available.