Not getting emails after changing your Gmail password?

Last reviewed: October 1, 2026 · Markdown version

Your mail is very likely arriving; the apps you read it in have been signed out. Google's password page says that when you change or reset your password, "you’ll be signed out everywhere except" a few kinds of device, such as ones you use to verify it's you (Change or reset your password, read 1 October 2026). An app that has been signed out stops fetching, and from the outside that looks exactly like mail not coming in. The quick test: open Gmail in a web browser. If the new mail is there, the account is fine and only the app needs to sign in again.

Why some apps break harder than others

How hard an app breaks depends on how it was connected. For one that uses "Sign in with Google", signing in again is the whole fix. Apps that were set up with an app password stop working outright, because Google cancels those on a password change: "we revoke your app passwords when you change your Google Account password. To continue to use an app with your Google Account, create a new app password." (Sign in with app passwords, read 1 October 2026). An app password is a 16-digit code, only available with 2-Step Verification turned on, and Google now says they "aren't recommended and are unnecessary in most cases."

Apps that send only a username and password are a third group. Google may block them, and its page lists the errors you will see: "Invalid username", "Invalid password", "Unable to log in" (Less secure apps & your Google Account, read 1 October 2026). The same page has the bluntest fix of all: "In some cases you may need to remove your Google Account and then add it again on your device."

The Gmail app

Open it and sign in when it asks. If it does not ask and still shows nothing new, remove the account from the app and add it back; the steps are on how to remove a Gmail account from a phone. Removing the account from the phone does not touch your mail, which stays in your Google Account.

Apple Mail on iPhone or iPad

Apple's troubleshooting page starts here: "If the Mail apps asks you to enter a password for your email account, make sure that your password is correct", and suggests checking it by signing in on your provider's website (If you can't receive email on your iPhone or iPad, read 1 October 2026). If that does not clear it, Apple's next step is to delete the account under Settings, Apps, Mail, Mail Accounts, and add it again, after making sure your email is safe on the provider's side first. Google adds that iPhones and iPads on iOS 11 or later "don't require app passwords. Instead use 'Sign in with Google.'" (the Sign in with app passwords page above).

Outlook

Microsoft's page for this exact symptom is headed "Repeated password prompts", and its fix for Gmail is an app password: turn on two-factor authentication for Gmail, create the app password, and when Outlook asks for your password, "enter the app password you created" (Something went wrong adding Gmail to Outlook, read 1 October 2026). Google's own advice for Outlook puts "Sign in with Google" first and the app password second, for when you can't use it (Sign in with app passwords, cited above). Either way, the old app password died with the old password, so make a new one rather than looking for it.

If the password is not the cause

If Gmail on the web is also missing the mail, this is not a sign-in problem. Start with Gmail not receiving emails, where a full storage quota is the first thing to rule out; if mail shows on one device but not another, the syncing page walks through the device side.