Is Gmail down for you? Here's what you can do about it

It can be a harrowing experience when Google’s services go down, and really brings to the fore how dependent we are on them. Not being able to access Google Docs, YouTube, and Gmail is a huge problem, but the good news is that these services rarely go down. If Gmail stops working for you, here’s what you can do.

Is Gmail down for you?

1. Check if Gmail is down for everybody
2. Check your Internet connection
3. Make sure there aren’t any issues with the app
4. Restart your phone
5. Report any issues you are having

1. Is Gmail down?

If you don’t have issues with your Internet connection and other sites and apps are working as expected, Gmail going down might be because of an outage. In this case, it’s likely that it’s down for everybody, and not just you.

Down Detector is a good tool to use to check if that’s the case. You can also check the Google Workspace Status dashboard to see if all Google services are up and running. For current updates, be sure to follow Google Cloud on Twitter as well.

2. Check your Internet connection

If the Gmail app or website isn’t loading and there doesn’t seem to be an outage, check whether your Internet connection is fine. You can check if the connection is the issue by simply opening another site on your PC or phone browser. If nothing loads, your Internet is down.

On your phone, go to the Quick Settings drop-down and disable and enable the data connection. Make sure that you are in an area with a good network signal. If the data connection is still down, you will need to contact your network carrier. In case there’s a problem with your Wi-Fi router, restarting it usually does the trick. If that doesn’t work, we have a handy troubleshooting guide that you should check out.

3. Make sure that there aren’t any issues with the Gmail app

If the status checkers show that Gmail isn’t down and your Internet connection is fine, you might be facing some app issues. Try force closing the app and restarting it. If that doesn’t work, the best option is to uninstall and reinstall the app from the Google Play Store. We also have a guide to help you deal with common Gmail issues.

If you run into any problems, go through the list of questions and solutions available on the Gmail support page to see if a workaround is possible.

4. Restart your phone

Like many tech problems, the simplest and most effective solution might be to restart the device. Restart your phone or laptop and see if the problem goes away.

5. Report any problems you are having

If you’ve tried everything on the list and Gmail is still down for you, you can report the bug or problem to Google. If the app still opens, open the hamburger menu (tap on the three horizontal lines at the top left corner), and tap on “Help and feedback.” Then select “Send feedback” to report your issue. On the webpage, click on the question mark icon at the top right corner of the page next to the Settings icon. Then select “Send feedback to Google.”