When GMail and Google Services Won’t Sync on Your Android Phone–How To

As someone who works almost entirely online, I rely heavily on my phone (currently a Motorola Droid Mini) to stay connected throughout the day. Since I am an Android user, you can imagine my surprise when my phone suddenly stopped syncing with GMail and other Google services. My GMail app kept telling me it was trying to connect. And the Google Play store insisted that I was not properly logged in (without giving me any opportunity to change my login credentials).

The first thing I did was to make sure that my login information still worked when I went directly to Google’s site. It did. I rebooted my phone. I uninstalled the GMail app and reinstalled it. I logged out and logged back in. I checked the settings for the phone and each of the apps to make sure that synching was on and that they all had permission to use my network access. Nothing worked.

I was very close to a factory reset on my phone, but trying hard to avoid it, when I stumbled across an alternative:

1. Turn off the phone.

2. Remove the SIM card.

3. Turn on the phone without a SIM card.

My phone immediately connected to our home WiFi and was flooded with alerts, email, calendar reminders, and more. Success! I then turned the phone off and put my SIM card back in (OK, to be honest, I just put the SIM card back in without turning off the phone, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that!). I have had no problems since.

Disclosure: I received the Droid Mini via my relationship with the Verizon Insider program. There was no additional compensation provided.

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