Has your boss sent you a work email, but you can’t find it anywhere in your iPhone’s Gmail app? Or an account activation or password reset email was sent to your address but you can’t find it in your inbox or spam folder? If you are able to receive and view these emails on other devices, then for some reason Gmail is not receiving emails on your iPhone. In this guide, we will highlight seven (7) ways to fix the problem.
This issue is usually caused by a weak or inactive internet connection. Other times, your iPhone’s Gmail app (or Google account) is encountering some issues and you need to refresh it to get things back in order.
1. Check Internet Connection
When your iPhone’s Gmail app is not receiving emails, the first thing you should check is whether your iPhone has an active internet connection. If you are using a Wi-Fi connection, check if your iPhone is properly configured and working with your router. Use other applications that require an internet connection to check if the connection is working properly. If they don’t, you can reboot the router or boost the router’s signal (using these methods).
If your iPhone connects to the internet via mobile data, check if you still have an active data/internet plan. If you do this but your phone’s internet is still not working, you can switch to Airplane Mode, turn it off for half a minute, and then turn it off again. When your internet is back on, refresh your Gmail app and check for new mails.
When your iPhone’s Gmail app is stable and new emails are still not arriving, contact your internet service provider. However, if your internet is working with other apps but Gmail is still not receiving emails on your iPhone, then move on to the next solution.
2. Change Active Accounts
Do you have multiple Google accounts linked to your Gmail app? If so, you want to make sure you choose the right account. Let’s say you have two accounts (Account X and Account Y) connected to your Gmail app, you may not be able to receive or view email for Account Y if Account X is the active account running in the foreground.
To switch accounts in your iPhone’s Gmail app, tap the profile picture in the upper-right corner and select the desired account as the active/foreground email address. You will now be able to receive all emails for accounts as soon as they arrive.
3. Re-enable Account Access
Google allows you to remotely renew your accounts on your devices from your browser. This allows you to fix any technical issues that prevent your Gmail app from receiving emails on iPhone and any of your devices. So, sign in to your Google account in your iPhone’s browser and follow these steps:
Step 2: On the ‘Allow access to your Google account’ page, tap Continue.
This refreshes your Google account (and by extension your Gmail account) so you can access it from your (old and new) devices or apps.
Stage 3: When Google (re)activates your account access, go to your Gmail app and refresh your mailbox; You should start seeing new emails coming in. Better still, close and reopen the Gmail app.
4. Enable Background App Refresh
If you have disabled ‘Background App Refresh’ for Gmail on your iPhone, you may not receive emails as soon as they arrive. You want to make sure that Gmail’s Background App Refresh is enabled. Here’s how.
Stage 1: Launch your iPhone Settings menu.
Step 2: Scroll down and select Gmail.
Stage 3: Check that ‘Background App Refresh’ is enabled. If not, tap to open.
Note: When your iPhone is in Low Power Mode, background app refresh (for all apps) is temporarily disabled until you disable Low Power Mode.
5. Check Google Account Storage
For each Google account, a user is allocated 15GB of free storage shared between Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos. If you have exhausted your free storage, you may not be able to receive new emails in your Gmail on all devices. To check how much account storage you have left, visit the Storage section of your Google account in a web browser.
If you’ve run out of available storage space, you can purchase additional space or delete some files from Google Photos, Google Drive, and Gmail to create space for new emails.
6. Sign Out of the Gmail App
Yes, signing out of your account from the Gmail app and signing back in can also help resolve this issue.
Stage 1: Launch your iPhone’s Gmail app and tap the account profile picture in the upper right corner.
Step 2: Tap ‘Manage accounts on this device’.
Stage 3: If you have multiple accounts connected to your Gmail app, tap ‘Remove from this device’ for the account that is not receiving email.
If all linked accounts are not receiving emails, remove and re-add them all.
Step 4: To re-add or re-sign in an account to the Gmail app, tap the account profile picture in the upper-right corner of the app, select ‘Add another account’ and follow the prompts.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to remove your account, you can enable and disable it temporarily.
Stage 1: In the Manage Gmail Accounts section, close any accounts that are not receiving emails and tap Done.
Step 2: Go back to the Manage Accounts page, reopen the accounts and tap Done.
Now refresh your Gmail to see if the account can no longer receive emails.
7. For Non-Gmail Addresses
If you’re still not receiving emails, check your account sync settings or visit your email provider’s support page for possible solutions.
Run Other Controls
While the troubleshooting tips listed above will help you get your Gmail app back to receiving emails on your iPhone, some other factors can prevent new emails from landing in your mailbox. For example, you want to confirm that the sender of the mail you expect to receive has typed/typed your e-mail address correctly. You’ll also want to make sure you don’t enable any Gmail filters or settings that prevent emails from appearing in your inbox.
Next: Looking for ways to increase your productivity with Gmail on your iPad? Check out 21 awesome keyboard shortcuts in the article linked just below.
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