Since 1st June 2022, some people may have been experiencing issues when trying to send or receive emails via Gmail when using a third party email software like Outlook or Mozilla Firebird .

The annoying pop up box appears prompting you for your password.

And no matter how many times you input the correct password, the pop up still appears and you are still unable to send and receive emails.

Well the problems is down to how Gmail have updated their password systems.

Gmail have recently discontinued support for third-party apps that require users to sign in to their Google Account using only a username and password.

You now need to use 2FA authentication and to use app passwords.

An app password is a 16-digit passcode that gives a non-Google app or device permission to access your Google Account. App passwords can only be used with Google accounts that have 2-Step Verification turned on.

Go to your Google Account.
On the left navigation panel, choose Security.
On the ‘Signing in to Google’ panel, choose App passwords. If you don’t see this option 2-Step Verification is not set up for your account. So set up 2-Step Verification on your Google account
At the bottom, choose Select app and choose the app that you’re using.
Choose Select device and choose the device that you’re using.
Choose Generate.

Copy the 16-character code in the yellow bar and paste it into the password section for your email account in your third party email software.

Once done, then you will be able to send and receive emails via Gmail in your third party email software.

Most of the time, you’ll only have to enter an app password once per app or device, so don’t worry about memorising it.