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Mac Mail App Broken for Some Gmail Users in macOS Mojave 10.14.4

justperry said:
Not spin, it's a fact Gmail uses non standard protocols, even with IMAP.
Click to expand...

The spin I referred to is the assertion this is purely a google problem. I did not address, at all, whether Gmail uses non-standard protocols.

To recap: the only thing that changed between completely working and completely failing is the Apple update. Nothing on google's end changed. No client configuration changed. This is not a transient issue since restoring to 10.14.3 works.

The only way your response to my post makes sense is if Apple announced, in advance, they were stopping support for some aspect of gmail because it is non-standard. That would be on google for not making the change Apple demanded and people would have time to switch to another mail client, mail service or simply not update. This isn't the case.
 
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Gannet said:
Okay, so I've tried to make this as easy as possible. We're going to use Charles to rewrite a response from google to include the email address which is for some reason missing in google's own response. This is a one time setup only needed for verification.
  1. Download, install and run Charles.
  2. If this is your first time using Charles it should prompt you to authorize automatic proxy configuration. Do this. (Otherwise just make sure the macOS proxy is enabled and working)
  3. From the Help menu choose SSL Proxying > Install Charles Root Certificate.
  4. Once the certificate is installed, find it in your keychain (type Charles into the search), open it, expand the Trust section and set to Always Trust. You will be prompted for your password when closing it.
  5. Back in Charles, from the Proxy menu choose SSL Proxying Settings.
  6. Add a new location with Host: people.googleapis.com.
  7. From the Tools menu choose Rewrite and click the Add button.
  8. Add a new location with Host: people.googleapis.com.
  9. Add a new action with the following details...
    • Type: Body
    • Where: Response
    • Replace Value: {"names":[{"metadata":{"primary":true},"displayName":"Your Name"}],"emailAddresses":[{"value":"your@email"}]}
    • (Make sure you put in your name and email address)
  10. Once you save this, we're all set. Go to your system Internet Accounts or (Mail) and authorize your account.
  11. If everything thing is working, you can quit Charles and feel free to delete the certificate from Keychain.
Click to expand...
thank you! this worked perfectly!
 
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Gannet said:
Okay, so I've tried to make this as easy as possible. We're going to use Charles to rewrite a response from google to include the email address which is for some reason missing in google's own response. This is a one time setup only needed for verification.
  1. Download, install and run Charles.
  2. If this is your first time using Charles it should prompt you to authorize automatic proxy configuration. Do this. (Otherwise just make sure the macOS proxy is enabled and working)
  3. From the Help menu choose SSL Proxying > Install Charles Root Certificate.
  4. Once the certificate is installed, find it in your keychain (type Charles into the search), open it, expand the Trust section and set to Always Trust. You will be prompted for your password when closing it.
  5. Back in Charles, from the Proxy menu choose SSL Proxying Settings.
  6. Add a new location with Host: people.googleapis.com.
  7. From the Tools menu choose Rewrite and click the Add button.
  8. Add a new location with Host: people.googleapis.com.
  9. Add a new action with the following details...
    • Type: Body
    • Where: Response
    • Replace Value: {"names":[{"metadata":{"primary":true},"displayName":"Your Name"}],"emailAddresses":[{"value":"your@email"}]}
    • (Make sure you put in your name and email address)
  10. Once you save this, we're all set. Go to your system Internet Accounts or (Mail) and authorize your account.
  11. If everything thing is working, you can quit Charles and feel free to delete the certificate from Keychain.
Click to expand...

I realized I have another question: using Charlesproxy worked for me. But I read in the Apple Support Communities discussion that one person (who didn't use the Charlesproxy solution) installed 10.14.5 beta and the problem with Gmail was not fixed in the beta. So my question is: if 10.14.5 is released and Apple hasn't fixed the Gmail bug, will installing 10.14.5 require that people use the Charlespoxy solution again?
 
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Absolutely brilliant! Thank you my friend!
One thing, it works fine if Charles is running, but doesn't if I quit the proxy app. Any thoughts about that?
A minor concern until a fix is released, but curious. Thanks


Gannet said:
Okay, so I've tried to make this as easy as possible. We're going to use Charles to rewrite a response from google to include the email address which is for some reason missing in google's own response. This is a one time setup only needed for verification.
  1. Download, install and run Charles.
  2. If this is your first time using Charles it should prompt you to authorize automatic proxy configuration. Do this. (Otherwise just make sure the macOS proxy is enabled and working)
  3. From the Help menu choose SSL Proxying > Install Charles Root Certificate.
  4. Once the certificate is installed, find it in your keychain (type Charles into the search), open it, expand the Trust section and set to Always Trust. You will be prompted for your password when closing it.
  5. Back in Charles, from the Proxy menu choose SSL Proxying Settings.
  6. Add a new location with Host: people.googleapis.com.
  7. From the Tools menu choose Rewrite and click the Add button.
  8. Add a new location with Host: people.googleapis.com.
  9. Add a new action with the following details...
    • Type: Body
    • Where: Response
    • Replace Value: {"names":[{"metadata":{"primary":true},"displayName":"Your Name"}],"emailAddresses":[{"value":"your@email"}]}
    • (Make sure you put in your name and email address)
  10. Once you save this, we're all set. Go to your system Internet Accounts or (Mail) and authorize your account.
  11. If everything thing is working, you can quit Charles and feel free to delete the certificate from Keychain.
Click to expand...
 
ElectricPotato said:
The spin I referred to is the assertion this is purely a google problem. I did not address, at all, whether Gmail uses non-standard protocols.

To recap: the only thing that changed between completely working and completely failing is the Apple update. Nothing on google's end changed. No client configuration changed. This is not a transient issue since restoring to 10.14.3 works.

The only way your response to my post makes sense is if Apple announced, in advance, they were stopping support for some aspect of gmail because it is non-standard. That would be on google for not making the change Apple demanded and people would have time to switch to another mail client, mail service or simply not update. This isn't the case.
Click to expand...


Fair enough, see your (you've got a) point.
 
bunnyhero said:
my own experience seems to fit this pattern. my @gmail account is fine, but my g-suite account (which is also > 10 years old) won't authenticate.
Click to expand...
I have 4 google accounts: and the one that was so old it needed an invite back when Gmail wasn't completely open yet and it was no problem plus one that was created as soon as I could create another back then. My problem account is about 3 years old and is an education account, but I actually have a more recent education account and it worked fine.

What I needed to do to get them to work was to log them all out of safari so that you couldn't just click to switch accounts. Add one to Mail and remove it. Then repeat, but the one problem account never worked this way.
 
Gannet said:
Google has now fixed the issue so you can all stop using Charles. If you're still having trouble, try deleting and adding the account again.
Click to expand...

Yes! I came to say that it has been fixed (I guess from Google's side) but had to delete and add the account again.
 
kevo0822 said:
I contacted Apple Support 4 hours ago and was repeatedly told that they hadn’t heard of this problem and that “I should contact Google support.” I pushed back and got the issue escalated... but I was never told that Apple was aware of the issue, nor that a fix was in the works.
Click to expand...

who has shown that it's an Apple issue to fix. Google likely had the ability to see the update before release just like all app developers. if they didn't fix their system in time it could cause an issue like this and there's nothing Apple can do about it. this line "Some users have had success setting up their email accounts using IMAP as a workaround." suggests that it's an issue with how Google is handling security for POP access, which is not Apple's concern.

as for Apple saying a fix is in the works, yeah cause they contacted Google and told them to get their "stuff" together cause Apple is tired of getting calls about the issue. and since someone in an earlier post said 'it's been going on for weeks' it's not likely an Mojave update issue
 
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Seems like its working again. I just clicked on the lighting bolt thing and went through the process and all my accounts are working again, guess they fixed something
 
charlituna said:
who has shown that it's an Apple issue to fix. Google likely had the ability to see the update before release just like all app developers. if they didn't fix their system in time it could cause an issue like this and there's nothing Apple can do about it. this line "Some users have had success setting up their email accounts using IMAP as a workaround." suggests that it's an issue with how Google is handling security for POP access, which is not Apple's concern.

as for Apple saying a fix is in the works, yeah cause they contacted Google and told them to get their "stuff" together cause Apple is tired of getting calls about the issue. and since someone in an earlier post said 'it's been going on for weeks' it's not likely an Mojave update issue
Click to expand...
???? idk where to start other than that this is an asinine reply. After I argued a bit, Apple acknowledged that they should look into the problem since it only occurred after a macOS update. So, as far as "who has shown that it's an Apple issue to fix," the answer is APPLE after they acknowledged that their update caused an issue. It's irrelevant if the ultimate issue lies with Google or Apple; the point is that everything worked normally until Apple issued an update THAT BROKE FUNCTIONALITY. If you think AppleCare should be telling people otherwise, feel free to contact them. Otherwise, I'm going to go by what they told me because you are nobody and they are Apple. There is no utility in arguing any further about this.
 
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I was experiencing a severe case of the 10.14.4 issue, as it broke both my gmail and iCloud accounts. I spoke with Apple support, and they had me boot into safe mode (hold down the shift key during boot until login screen). Apparently, this step alone resolved the issue for me.
 
jflynn82 said:
I was experiencing a severe case of the 10.14.4 issue, as it broke both my gmail and iCloud accounts. I spoke with Apple support, and they had me boot into safe mode (hold down the shift key during boot until login screen). Apparently, this step alone resolved the issue for me.
Click to expand...
Interesting! I'm glad that helped resolve the issue for you! They also had me boot into Safe Mode... but with no apparent change in the issue :/
 
This appears to be fixed.

Those having issues, try to authenticate now. It should go through.

Someone made a change, and it conveniently didn't require a software update.

Phew.
 
It works again. Confirmed on 2 Macs and 3 iOS devices. And I didn't do anything special, just tried to add the account again, something that wouldn't work since Wednesday.
 
leventozler said:
But stops working after a couple of hours, need to restart Mail app to refresh auth tokens.
Click to expand...
For me it's been working non-stop for over 12 hours on an iPhone, two MacBooks, and two iPads.

Try removing the account from your Mac, and select to remove all entries from the Keychain (Remove from Everywhere); then try adding the account again as needed.
 
Based on the reports here of it being fixed now, presumably by a change on Google's side, I updated again and this time gmail works.

So, it is at least possible (but not certain) the issue was exclusively on Google's end. I concede now it might have been non-standard Google behavior and Apple accidentally exposed it with a standard compliant change. It is also possible, if this was a Google problem, that Apple told them before releasing 10.14.4 and Google was slow to respond. We just don't know, but I was wrong previously saying it must be an Apple problem.
 
leventozler said:
But stops working after a couple of hours, need to restart Mail app to refresh auth tokens.
Click to expand...

Sigh. Yes, I was celebrating too soon. Now gmail works for a few hours then requires a gmail sign in through Safari with the whole 2FA dance. I guess that is better than not working at all, but not as good as 10.14.3 which does not require any of that.

I still don't know who is at fault (Apple or Google or both) but it would be nice if Apple temporarily put the working code back in until they can figure out the details. Having to go through that headache every few hours is not acceptable.
 
I've experienced the same issue, but it seems this has been fixed by now.
 
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