GMail Notifications

[KhaoYai]

Maybe some of the techies can explain what's wrong here - in a way that a non-techie can understand please.

 

I have 2 Samsung Android mobile Smartphones, one's my personal phone, the other I use for business.  I rarely use e-mail on my phones but they I have a separate g-mail address on both of them in case I need to receive and e-mail when I'm away from my laptop.

 

The problem is that I don't get notified of any incoming emails on either of them.  I've been through the App settings in the phone's permissions and notifications are allowed. In the Gmail App itself, all the notifications are on. Gmail is also synced.

 

What happens is (same for both)  - sometimes I send files etc. from my main e-mail on my laptop to the gmail on one of my phones but they don't seem to have been delivered when I check.  On some occasions the new e-mail is there when I open gmail on the phone but sometimes the new mail only appears after I've tapped on the last e-mail received.  Very occasionally, I'd say 2% of the time, I am notified that an email has arrived both audibly and on my screen but I stress, its rare.

 

What's wrong or is this just a regular gmail problem?

[scubascuba3]

If you've checked notifications for Gmail is on then it's one of those glitches. I find when my phone is acting strange i reboot it, mostly works. You could try uninstalling app and reinstalling

[ezzra]

Try to reset your App preferences, all of them, some times when we block or alter this or that App notifications settings that also affect other app from preforming properly...

[shdmn]

Notifications on the Gmail app have been broken for a long time.  I switched to an App called Aqua Mail.  Now my Gmail notifications work perfectly. 

 

Notifications on Android in general are hopelessly broken.  I can't get selective notification sounds to work reliably no way no how.  It may work one time but stop working 10 minutes later.  I've tried setting them per app, and also per contact and restart the phone and every other fix I could find by googling it.  It just won't work.  Same thing on multiple Samsung phones.  It's hopeless. 

 

I'm about ready to switch to iPhone because of it.  Also because Apple gives you OS updates for a lot longer than Samsung does and you can no longer install 3rd party OS images on newer Samsung phones.

Edited October 14, 2021 by shdmn

[mtls2005]

Challenging to follow the narrative here without a lot more detail. And two separate issues seem conflated: email management and notifications.

 

You have two GMail accounts and three devices? 

 

In this situation I would set up auto-forwarding so that all incoming emails (say to work) get forwarded as suits your needs.

 

 

11 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

sometimes I send files etc. from my main e-mail on my laptop to the gmail on one of my phones but they don't seem to have been delivered when I check. 

 

You send files as attachments to emails from one GMail account to the the other one? Why? 

 

You could consider a new email client, free or paid, which allows you to manage multiple accounts within one single interface. I use Mozilla Thunderbird to manage disparate GMail accounts (secondary, not primary).

 

Notifications within Android are unreliable. Relying on them can be a recipe for disaster, IME. Especially when you factor in multiple device usage.

 

Double-check notification settings in the mobile app and the web interface.

 

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1075549?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop

 

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1075549?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&oco=1

 

 

 

Lastly, there are gazillions of productivity tips and tricks, Settings and GMail add ons which might help you day to day.

 

One example: https://www.youtube.com/c/Simpletivity/search?query=gmail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KhaoYai]

7 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

You have two GMail accounts and three devices? 

Yes, I do most of my online stuff on my laptop but I also have both personal and business phones.  I rarely need to use e-mail on my phones but its there if I do.

 

7 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

In this situation I would set up auto-forwarding so that all incoming emails (say to work) get forwarded as suits your needs.

No, I prefer to keep everything separate.

 

7 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

You send files as attachments to emails from one GMail account to the the other one? Why? 

No, not from one gmail account to the other - from my main email to either one of my gmail accounts.  Example, say I have a file on my laptop that I need to take out with me, I e-mail it to my mobile - should be very easy.

 

7 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

You could consider a new email client, free or paid, which allows you to manage multiple accounts within one single interface. I use Mozilla Thunderbird to manage disparate GMail accounts (secondary, not primary).

Thanks for the suggestion but I don't want anything that links my accounts together.  I am very security conscious and have as little as possible on mobile devices because I simply don't trust their security.  I won't have eother my main e-mail or online banking on my phones for example. 

 

Overall I think this is a gmail problem, I may try installing a different e-mail client on my phones and using that instead.

 

Another strange thing I sometimes get with my mobiles - and one that affects other Apps, not just gmail - my phones can be silent all day but the moment I pick one up, I either receive an e-mail or a message from other App etc.

[KhaoYai]

8 hours ago, shdmn said:

I can't get selective notification sounds to work reliably no way no how.  It may work one time but stop working 10 minutes later. 

Yes, I also have that problem.  I did try an iphone once but I couldn't get along with it.  I think that subconsciously you get used to the way things work on Android so even when there are major updates, you usually don't have many problems finding what you're looking for.  Much the same with PC's on microsoft OS - years ago it was common (for me) to be totally lost following an update and changing from one OS to a new version was a nightmare.  Now I sort of just know their way of working.

 

I'm sure iphones are brilliant but when I switched, I couldn't find anything - for example, I just couldn't find the internet browser, I looked and looked to no avail.  It was only when I go home, went on my laptop and Mr Google told me that the Apple's internet browser is called Safari.  Silly me, everyone knows that - don't they?  After using Androids for many years, I'd struggle with IOS.