Problem adding Gmail account to Native Mail App

[Johkar]

The native mail app was working fine with my gmail account. Had a problem though and deleted the gmail account on the ipad. Was just going to re-add it. During setup Gmail comes back and says IOS 12 or higher is required. As did pretty much every other email app I tried. Is there a way around this?

This is my 97 year old Mom's Ipad and it doesnt make sense to get her a new one for email and Scrabble. Gmail worked just fine until I deleted the account. Now they seem to have a problem. I set her up with web gmail but she gets confused by it.

Help please...

 

[Jupiter7]

Perhaps you should consider getting your mother a newer iPad. There are other Apps which will not work on the older operating software, but which she might enjoy.

 

[bondr006]

You can find gen 6 iPads for $200 or less and they run the current iPadOS

 

[Johkar]

Perhaps you should consider getting your mother a newer iPad. There are other Apps which will not work on the older operating software, but which she might enjoy.

While I'm amazed and thankful she can use an ipad at her age I don't think getting a replacement is best based on what she enjoys. It seems odd that Gmail won't let you reconnect from the native mail app, they didn't care when it was connected before. now they want the latest OS. Maybe I should try connecting by adding their servers manually to see if that matters.

 

[bondr006]

While I'm amazed and thankful she can use an ipad at her age I don't think getting a replacement is best based on what she enjoys. It seems odd that Gmail won't let you reconnect from the native mail app, they didn't care when it was connected before. now they want the latest OS. Maybe I should try connecting by adding their servers manually to see if that matters.

My mom is 86 this year and I have helped her with her iPad since her original one, iPad 3. She just got the 9 and she loves it. She never learned to use a traditional computer but does pretty good on the iPad. She just got her first iPhone last year, the SE. Creds to you for helping your mom.

 

[twerppoet]

While I'm amazed and thankful she can use an ipad at her age I don't think getting a replacement is best based on what she enjoys. It seems odd that Gmail won't let you reconnect from the native mail app, they didn't care when it was connected before. now they want the latest OS. Maybe I should try connecting by adding their servers manually to see if that matters.

It is probably the newer security requirements added to GMail of the last few years. It would run fine, but getting it to re-authentication with the older version of Mail (that does not have the newer whatever-is-required) is the issue.

It might be possible to bypass this by using an app specific password. Google moved to newer authentication methods before many devices and apps were ready, so it added this method to authenticate apps individually.

Sign in with App Passwords - Google Account Help

Tip: App Passwords aren’t recommended and are unnecessary in most cases. To help keep your account secure, use "Sign in with Google" to connect apps to your Google Account. An App Password is

support.google.com