GMail starts to block less secure apps: how to enable access again
Gmail users can access their account on the official website or by using first-party or third-party apps and services instead. A first party app is for instance Google's official Gmail app for Android, while Thunderbird and the mail client app of Windows 8 are third-party apps.
Google announced back in April 2014 that it would improve the sign-in security of its services and affect any application sending usernames and passwords to the company.
The company suggested to switch to OAuth 2.0 back then but did not enforce it up until now.
If you open the new less secure apps page under security settings on Google, you will notice that Google has disabled access by default.
Note: You see the page only if you are not using Google Apps or have enabled two-factor authentication for the account.
Google states on it that "some devices and apps use insecure sign-in" technologies to access account data, and that the disable setting blocks these apps and services from accessing the Google Account.
You can flip the switch here to enable less secure applications again so that access is regained.
A help page lists some of the applications affected by the change:
- The mail app on iPhone or iPad with iOS 6 or below.
- The mail app on Windows phone prior to Windows Phone 8.1.
- Some third-party mail apps on Android.
- Some desktop mail clients like Outlook or Thunderbird.
How to resolve access errors
If you are receiving error messages -- password incorrect or similar -- when trying to sign-in to your Gmail account using a third-party application or service, chance is that it is affected by the change.
You have several options at your disposal to resolve the issue:
- Enable Two-Factor Authentication for the account. As mentioned earlier, accounts with it enabled are not affected by the change. You may need to create an app specific password in the process for the app or service though. Read also: Use 2-Step Verification without mobile app.
- Change the "allow less secure apps" setting to enable. This allows them to connect to the account again.
- Switch to a different service or program.
The easiest option, without doubt, is to switch to enable on the security settings page. Two-Factor authentication may improve the overall security, but since you may need to create app-specific passwords, does not seem to improve security when compared to switching the setting to enable.
It is possible that companies will start to update their applications and services to support Oauth 2.0 so that users don't have to make a decision in this regard anymore.
For now, the three options listed above is all that is available to those users.
Martin, I would appreciate that you do not censor this post, as it’s informative writing.
Onur, there is a misleading statement “[…] GIFs are animated images …”. No, obviously you don’t seem to have take much notice of what you were told back in March regarding; Graphics Interchange Format (GIF).
For example, https://www.ghacks.net/2023/03/31/whats-gif-explanation-and-how-to-use-it/#comment-4562919 (if you had read my replies within that thread, you might have learnt something useful). I even mentioned, “GIF intrinsically supports animated images (GIF89a)”.
You linked to said article, [Related: …] within this article, but have somehow failed to take onboard what support you were given by several more knowledgeable people.
If you used AI to help write this article, it has failed miserably.
AI is stupid, and it will not get any better if we really know how this all works. Prove me wrong.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IYl1sTIOHI
Martin, [#comment-4569908] is only meant to be in: [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/09/how-to-send-gifs-on-iphone-two-different-ways/]. Whereas it appears duplicated in several recent random low-quality non relevant articles.
Obviously it [#comment-4569908] was posted: 9 July 2023. Long before this thread even existed… your database is falling over. Those comments are supposed to have unique ID values. It shouldn’t be possible to duplicate the post ID, if the database had referential integrity.
Don’t tell me!
Ghacks wants the state to step in for STATE-MANDATED associations to save jobs!!!
Bring in the dictatorship!!!
And screw Rreedom of Association – too radical for Ghacks maybe
GateKeeper ?
That’s called “appointing” businesses to do the state’s dirty work!!!!!
But the article says itself that those appointed were not happy – implying they had not choice!!!!!!
@The Dark Lady,
@KeZa,
@Database failure,
@Howard Pearce,
@Howard Allan Pearce,
Note: I replaced the quoted URI scheme: https:// with “>>” and posted.
The current ghacks.net is owned by “Softonic International S.A.” (sold by Martin in October 2019), and due to the fate of M&A, ghacks.net has changed in quality.
>> ghacks.net/2023/09/02/microsoft-is-removing-wordpad-from-windows/#comment-4573130
Many Authors of bloggers and advertisers certified by Softonic have joined the site, and the site is full of articles aimed at advertising and clickbait.
>> ghacks.net/2023/08/31/in-windows-11-the-line-between-legitimate-and-adware-becomes-increasingly-blurred/#comment-4573117
As it stands, except for articles by Martin Brinkmann, Mike Turcotte, and Ashwin, they are low quality, unhelpful, and even vicious. It is better not to read those articles.
How to display only articles by a specific author:
Added line to My filters in uBlock Origin: ghacks.net##.hentry,.home-posts,.home-category-post:not(:has-text(/Martin Brinkmann|Mike Turcotte|Ashwin/))
>> ghacks.net/2023/09/01/windows-11-development-overview-of-the-august-2023-changes/#comment-4573033
By the way, if you use an RSS reader, you can track exactly where your comments are (I’m an iPad user, so I use “Feedly Classic”, but for Windows I prefer the desktop app “RSS Guard”).
RSS Guard: Feed reader which supports RSS/ATOM/JSON and many web-based feed services.
>> github.com/martinrotter/rssguard#readme
We all live in digital surveillance glass houses under scrutiny of evil people because of people like Musk. It’s only fair that he takes his turn.
“Operating systems will be required to let the user choose the browser, virtual assistant and search engine of their choice. Microsoft cannot force users to use Bing or Edge. Apple will have to open up its iOS operating system to allow third-party app stores, aka allow sideloading of apps. Google, on the other hand, will need to provide users with the ability to uninstall preloaded apps (bloatware) from Android devices. Online services will need to allow users to unsubscribe from their platform easily. Gatekeepers need to provide interoperability with third-parties that offer similar services.”
Wonderful ! Let’s hope they’ll comply with that law more than they are doing with the GDPR.