Experiencing mysterious midnight gmail logins from MY PHONE

[AC Question]

When I check the 'Recent Activity Details' of my gmail account (in the bottom right corner), I see my IP address accessing my gmail account from mobile, usually at or a little after midnight. The only mobile device that has access to my gmail account is my Motorola Moto G LTE running Android 4.4.4 according to my 'Recently Used Devices'.

I made a whole Google Product forum post about it, they couldn't tell what was going on. Searching for "mysterious midnight gmail logins" in Google should get you there. (Not allowed to post links)

I'm pretty certain that it is MY phone that is doing this since when I turn wifi off, the LTE IP address appears in my login history instead. I did a factory reset; it didn't fix it. I tried turning off the Gmail account sync, the Chrome background sync, and the 'Scan device for security threats' in Google Security Settings; the midnight logins still happen. Any ideas about whats going on? The Google Product forum post has all the details.

 

[the tall guy]

Hi, I was going to suggest sync - but since you've said you have disabled all sync it can't be that. Just to be on the safe side, have you tried changing your Google password and seeing if it continues? that way you'll know if it's your device or someone else.

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[MoroccoMarcus]

Hey man, thanks for responding.

Any time I change my password or revoke mobile access through the Google account "Recent Device Activity" page, these logins stop until I log in on my mobile device. As further evidence, if I turn off Wifi on my mobile, the midnight login changes to an LTE IP address; and if I completely turn off my phone around midnight, I don't see the midnight logins until about 15 minutes after I turn it back on. It really feels like the phone is logging into my Gmail by itself.

On mobile, the google account is used by the Google Play Store and Chrome as well so it might not be a Gmail thing. I get the feeling that it is some sort of Sync option that I'm just overlooking.

Thanks again!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! On the phone, are you using the Gmail app or the stock Email app (or some other 3rd party email client) to access your Gmail account?

 

[MoroccoMarcus]

Hey there,

I'm using the Gmail app, it comes pre-installed on my Motorola Moto G LTE (with all the Google stuff).

The specific version is "version 6.10.23.137993986.release"

 

[B. Diddy]

I checked the recent activity for my account, and unfortunately it doesn't go back as far as midnight. My guess is that the Gmail app is routinely checking in at the beginning of the day as part of its routine syncing, but I have nothing to base this on.

Do you have a lot of "All Day" Google Calendar events scheduled? If so, and if they're associated with notifications, then I wonder if each All Day event is triggering Gmail to sync with your account at the very beginning of the day.

 

[MoroccoMarcus]

I looked at my Google Calendar and I have no events; in fact this is likely the first time I've ever used Google calendar, ha ha.

Here's a link to the Google Products forum post, it may have some important details:
https://groups.google.com/a/googlep...d25-bb5a-bc13133c2295@googleproductforums.com

 

[MoroccoMarcus]

Here's an attached example of what I'm seeing. Both IP addresses are mine; though its a bit weird that they're different types of IP addresses.

 

[MoroccoMarcus]

UPDATE just in case this happens to anyone else.

I bought a new phone running Android 6 and the log-ins have stopped; this means the logins were tied to the phone rather than the gmail account.

Was it a syncing error? Was it GODLESS CHINESE MALWARE? The world may never know.