Getting "couldn't sign in" notice on gmail app. How do I fix?

[AC Question]

I have an (older) Galaxy GS3 phone. In the last day or so I have been getting a "couldn't sign in" message for on the gmail app. There is a sign-in box to the right, but nothing changes when I press it. There are no other error messages. For example, I can't tap on the error message and see any additional explanation. Interestingly, I can look at other folders such as the Sent folder and read those emails (although they don't appear to be synced recently), but I can't access Primary, Social, and Promotions without solving the sign in error.

I cleared the phone's cache by going through the battery removal and key dance and reboot procedure. That didn't help.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

I have one other google app on my phone, docs, and that is working correctly. The gmail account on my home computer is working correctly

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Go to the App Manager, select Gmail, and Clear Cache/Clear Data. Now open it again and see if it signs in properly.

Also, go to Settings>Accounts-Google>[your account]. Is Gmail's sync turned on?

 

[ministerrr]

You're not alone, it happens to me too. First on my phone two days ago, then on my tablet yesterday. I deactivated and reactivated my account on the phone. That helped for a few minutes but I soon got stuck again.

Both phone and tablet is running Android 4.4. Not sure if that matters?

No clue what's going on. I can log in and use gmail from my laptop without any issues at all.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, this is very annoying.

 

[belodion]

Re: Getting "couldn't sign in" notice on gmail app. How do I fix?

See this: https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=796753

Since there are several threads about this, I'll close this one. The one that I've linked will be the active one.