Email notification "Can't sign in"

[welshsteve76]

My wife has been plagued by getting a notification from the Email app on her phone for a few years now.  It basically says "Can't sign in", when clearly it can because she is receiving emails absolutely fine and is also able to send them fine.  A bit of investigation tells me this is a known android problem where the email apps lose the permissions to access the functions on your phone it needs to to perform temporarily.

It is weird because as I say, the email is all working fine.  If you go through the notification it allows you to allow the permissions it needs again and the notification goes away.  But it soon comes back.  This is the third phone in a row my wife has had with this problem now, making me think there may be some residual issue with her Google account data from an older phone that keeps coming back.

Has anyone else experienced this issue?

[MI5]

Sounds more like a problem with her email account or provider in the way it saves the settings. As it's happening on a number of phones, the usual fix of deleting and reinstalling probably won't work so possibly look at a different email client or interrogate the settings closely.

[welshsteve76]

Her email is just her gmail account, so the provider is google

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The issue I think is with the stock email apps rather than Gmail itself.

We both have Huawei phones, and with Google removing the ability to set the notification sound for gmail notifictions now, she is using the stock email app as you can control the sounds in the app, and therefore know if it's an email or a text message alert when it comes through.

[MI5]

Probably best to use Gmail app for Gmail so expect the stock app is the issue.

[jonsie]

You can set the notification sound in the GMail app so it makes sense to use that. I've used it for years with no issues, having two accounts I can set a different sound for each.

[welshsteve76]

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@jonsie wrote:

You can set the notification sound in the GMail app so it makes sense to use that. I've used it for years with no issues, having two accounts I can set a different sound for each.

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Hi @jonsie

Where is the setting for this in Gmail?  It's not where it used to be and I can no longer find the setting.

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

Settings >General Settings >Manage Notifications then set tone for each account listed.

[welshsteve76]

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@MI5 wrote:
Settings >General Settings >Manage Notifications then set tone for each account listed.

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Thanks @MI5 That's in a different place than before and I'm sure I checked there already and I didn't have the options now showing.  Having said that, I did have a system update yesterday so maybe that has something to do with it

[welshsteve76]

I received an email from the forum asking if I have received an answer to my original question.  I actually haven't as nothing I have tried has stopped this message occurring. Using an alternative email program, i.e. Gmail is not really a solution to the original question so I can't really mark that as a solution.

Searching online this appears to be a widespread issue that has been around for years, and one that no satisfactory solution has been provided.

Guess it's just one of those "features" we have to put up with from google.

[welshsteve76]

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@MI5 wrote:
Settings >General Settings >Manage Notifications then set tone for each account listed.

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I've marked this as the answer as it means my wife can use Gmail instead for now.  I doubt we'll ever find an answer to the actual issue as google themselves seem incapable of fixing it or providing a satisfactory solution.