From email filters and spam settings to server issues and incorrect forwarding, 

various factors can disrupt the traffic in your Gmail account.

 Many users face this frustrating issue and can’t receive email messages, as Google struggles to maintain consistent service despite being a tech giant.

This in-depth guide will teach you about:

The most common causes of your Gmail account not receiving emails

Alternative email services that offer stability

What to do if you are not receiving emails—8 practical tips

While there are various reasons behind this problem, here are some simple solutions to get your inbox functioning again:

Check the email app, folders, and filters

, with servers rarely experiencing unplanned downtime. Still, Gmail and other Google Workspace apps occasionally run into unexpected difficulties or prolonged maintenance.

If that happens, the only solution is to wait for Gmail to resume working, as the problem isn’t on your end. 

, where you can see the current status of all its services

If Google’s servers are up, the connectivity issue could be on your end. If you’re on Wi-Fi, check your:

If the router is currently on, your internet speed might be sluggish, or you might have experienced a momentary outage. Use an

to check the stability of your connection. Your device might also be the culprit, so 

check your emails on another phone, tablet, or computer.

 to confirm you haven’t run out of mobile data

 Your phone carrier probably maintains a mobile app where you can see such details, or you can enter the appropriate pound code and receive a notification.

—solving your problem might be as simple as that.

If you’re actively using Google Photos and Drive to back up pictures and other files, you can quickly burn out your storage. All Google Workspace apps use the 15 GB of storage you get with a free Gmail account and up to 30 TB with one of Google’s 

all incoming mail will return to the sender.

 It might be the reason your Gmail account isn’t receiving emails.

see how much free space you have in the dashboard of your Google account.

 If low storage is the issue, you have two options:

Upgrade to a higher Google Workspace subscription

If you choose the first option, delete larger files from your Google Drive and Google Photos. Videos and other high-resolution visuals can quickly eat up your 15 GB of free space.

Gmail protects users from spam with notoriously aggressive email filters, which can 

 Before ruling out this option, check the following folders in Gmail:

You can find Gmail’s folders in the left-hand sidebar. If your missing emails haven’t ended up in Trash or Spam and don’t appear when you go to All Mail, they probably haven’t arrived yet.

Gmail also lets you create additional filters and block specific contacts from sending you emails. You might have 

accidentally marked someone’s emails as spam

 in the past or added them to your block list.

To check if this is the case, follow these steps:

If any contacts are mistakenly on this list, remove the associated filters and ask them to resend the emails. You should then receive their messages without problems.

An outdated Gmail app on your smartphone or tablet might also be causing the issue. Go to Gmail’s page on the Google Play store to see if you’re running the latest app version, and update if necessary. After that, 

re-log to your Google account on all devices

 and display them in your browser or app. If your 

, the emails might have arrived in your inbox but aren’t visible on your device.

To enable the protocol, follow these instructions:

 in Gmail and you have a premium Google Workspace subscription, you might be experiencing one of the following account problems:

If a managed hosting provider handles your domain, you won’t have to fix related issues yourself.

 Contact the provider and have them look into why your Google account is not receiving emails.

Some antivirus programs have email filtering options that may

mistakenly mark a legitimate message as spam or a threat.

Disable email filtering or the antivirus program temporarily

Log out and log back into Gmail to refresh it

Disabling your antivirus for long is dangerous

turn it back on after you’ve checked whether the email filters were the issue.

If the email arrives after you’ve disabled the antivirus, the program has mistakenly registered the sender as a threat. Most antimalware programs with email filters allow you to 

create a whitelist with the email addresses of trustworthy senders. 

Add this sender to the list, and your antivirus will ignore their messages, letting them land freely in your inbox.

If this issue with your Gmail account persists or reappears regularly,

trying to solve the problem might not be worth it. While Gmail is generally stable, you shouldn’t have to spend so much time and energy on troubleshooting.

Reliability isn’t the only reason for a transition since Gmail doesn’t do enough to 

. Your privacy is also endangered since Google and other major email providers have long 

 for ad targeting and training machine-learning algorithms.

provide the same quality-of-life features as Gmail but without the glaring 

 offer a stable, reliable service without compromising on 

Skiff Mail is a stable, security-oriented email service

 is a steady email platform with an easy-to-use, modern user interface (UI). A free Skiff account lets you create up to

You can use one alias for work-related messages and another for online registrations. Organizing your incoming mail this way can help you stay in control of your inbox contents and 

In Skiff’s streamlined UI, forwarding, 

, filtering, and other options are available in one Settings window.

overview of any setting that could block an incoming message

, reducing the risk of misconfigured options.

The encryption offered by Skiff is based on two keys:

, creating a string of random characters unreadable to anyone but the recipient with the decryption key. Both keys are generated and stored at the device level, ensuring

 no one besides the intended recipient could read your emails

—including Skiff’s team and unauthorized third parties.

Skiff is a trustworthy alternative to Google Workspace

Switching to Skiff gives you access to an

 that can rival Google Workspace. In addition to Skiff Mail, a free account gets you three E2E encrypted products, including:

—An encrypted scheduling app that integrates with Skiff Mail for a seamless user experience

—Secure cloud storage with up to 1 TB of space

—E2EE-enabled document editing platform that lets you create and collaborate on files securely

Gmail account not receiving emails—top 8 solutions

Having a Gmail account you don’t use connected to your phone can be frustrating. You probably receive countless email notifications from newsletters you no longer care about, which causes clutter and damages your productivity.

this guide will show you how to remove a Gmail account from a phone

. You’ll also learn why moving away from Gmail might be a good idea and what email provider can fill its shoes.

How to delete a Gmail account from my phone—three methods to use

 from your phone, some of which depend on the device you’re using. Here you’ll see how to:

Removing your Gmail account from an iPhone

If you connect your Gmail account to your 

, where you can manage them alongside other accounts. You can add or remove accounts from the 

 app, so there you’ll find an option to delete your Gmail account. Take the following steps to do so:

Here you’ll see all accounts connected to the Mail app, so tap 

 at the bottom of the menu and confirm the deletion when prompted

you can choose which Gmail data you want to sync with your phone

 but might need the account in the future, you can toggle 

How to remove Gmail accounts from Android

 from an Android phone is quite similar to doing it on an iPhone and involves three quick steps:

Tap the Google/Gmail account you want to remove

Note that Android is Google’s operating system, so, naturally, that the company wants you to use their accounts on the phone. That is why 

removing your Google account doesn’t only delete Gmail but also other connected services and data

. It would be the same as removing an iCloud account from an iPhone.

only way to stay signed out of Gmail on Android is to 

, so it might be a good idea to back up your data beforehand.

How to delete an account from the Gmail app

Besides removing your Gmail account from the device’s settings, you can do it from the provider’s app. The following steps show how to delete an account from the iOS app:

Open the Gmail app and tap your profile icon in the upper-right corner

 option above it, which will be explained later)

The steps are slightly different on the Android version of Gmail:

Tap the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner and go to 

Choose the account you want to remove and tap 

Removing a Gmail account from your phone doesn’t delete the account itself

, regardless of your chosen approach. If you want to delete your Gmail account completely, you must take some extra steps.

How to delete a Gmail account permanently from mobile apps

iOS and Android versions of Gmail’s app let you delete your account in a similar way, so we’ll use the former to outline the steps:

Open the Gmail app and tap your profile icon

Choose an email address to which you want to receive a verification email to confirm the deletion

Sign into your chosen account and verify it

When you complete the verification process, your Gmail account will be deleted. 

Other Google services will still be active

, so you can delete them separately by following the above steps. If you don’t want to use any of Google’s services anymore, you can delete your entire Google account.

Note that if you use Android, this would mean that 

you can no longer download anything from the Play Store

 until you create another Google account and sign up with it.

There are many reasons to remove Gmail from your phone, most notably:

You’re selling the device and want to wipe it clean

You got a business phone and don’t want to receive 

The last scenario is more common than you might think, as people are getting 

, so privacy-conscious users often look for 

The first reason for this is Google’s data-mining practices. While Gmail’s functions like Smart Reply and Smart Compose might come in handy, they rely on users’ 

Another issue is Google’s weak encryption

 encryption protocol, which only offers basic protection.

—a far more comprehensive security standard. The following table explains the differences between Google’s encryption and a robust E2EE standard according to the two key safety factors:

E2EE is a superior variant, but only a handful of services implement it properly. If you want to switch to such a provider, 

Skiff Mail—advanced security for everyone

 that safeguards your correspondence from unauthorized access using two separate keys:

—Used to encrypt the message and shared between the sender and recipient

—Used for decryption and safely stored on the user’s device

the recipient is the only person with the decryption key

, nobody but them can see plaintext copies of your emails, including Skiff’s team, as 

the service doesn’t have access to the key

 in encrypted form and is only deciphered upon reaching the recipient’s device.

Skiff’s security also wards off various 

. On the off chance that someone intercepts your message, they can’t see it unless they steal the decryption key from your device. 

It is highly unlikely to happen if your device isn’t infected with malware.

 requiring verification via the Authenticator App

—A protection standard enabling zero-knowledge login to let you 

 without leaving any personal information

Strong security isn’t the only benefit of Skiff Mail. The platform offers numerous features that ensure a pleasant and productive emailing experience:

Modern, user-friendly interface without clutter

Fast email and text search paired with advanced filtering

Integration with numerous crypto wallets for 

Skiff.com aliases for managing emails from multiple addresses in one place

Folders and labels for easier organization

These features, alongside helpful extras, are 

, which should meet an average user’s needs without constraints.

, so the codebase is available for public review

 to stay updated. If you want to know more about Skiff’s security measures, check out 

 gives you access to three end-to-end encrypted platforms besides Mail—

All four platforms are available on mobile devices (iOS and Android)

, so you can stay updated and protect your data when working remotely. You can also use Skiff with MacOS devices and all major browsers.

You can create a Skiff account in three quick steps:

Start using Skiff Mail and other end-to-end encrypted products

If your needs grow and you require more storage, 

 and pick the one that suits your budget.

How to remove a Gmail account from a phone—a step-by-step guide

Fastmail, launched in 1999, is one of the oldest 

—probably because it is not free—it still has a loyal user base. 

 was launched in 2014 and quickly rose as a 

The Fastmail vs. ProtonMail comparison is based on various factors that can make or break the overall user experience. 

We have prepared this guide to help you make an objective choice after analyzing the two services across relevant categories, including:

ProtonMail vs. Fastmail—security and encryption

 is one of the primary reasons privacy-conscious users are exploring encrypted email service providers. Services with weak encryption standards put your messages at risk of unauthorized access during transit or after delivery. Both ProtonMail and Fastmail are 

 claiming to safeguard your messages from third parties, but their 

, which means your data is scrambled during transmission between 

TLS and SSL standards are used by all major email providers, 

While it safeguards your emails during transit, your data and 

 are still vulnerable when resting on Fastmail’s servers. 

Fastmail also creates and keeps the decryption keys to your messages, so any 

 its servers can steal them and access your emails.

The security protocols at ProtonMail are more advanced as the platform 

The messages are encrypted on the sender’s device and decrypted on the receiver’s end with a key created and stored by the user. This means no unauthorized third party—including the provider—can access them.

While ProtonMail implements stronger security than Fastmail, it is not without faults. 

 protocol that does not encrypt the subject line of emails and has demonstrated significant vulnerabilities in the past. 

If email security is your primary concern, you might want to look into some other E2EE services, such as 

, that offer more advanced end-to-end encryption.

ProtonMail vs. Fastmail—anonymity and data protection standards

Data integrity is an extension of security but needs to be reviewed separately as Fastmail and ProtonMail aim to attract privacy-focused users. Unlike common 

, neither service capitalizes on user data.

—ProtonMail and Fastmail allow setting up 2FA for secure logins with out-of-band verifications. It ensures your email account will be protected even if someone steals your login credentials

—Aliases hide your main email address and can be added and deleted at your convenience. Like 

, they can be used for signups on sketchy websites and help prevent spam and data mining. You can also use them as alternate business addresses

ProtonMail has the edge over Fastmail due to features like zero-knowledge login and 

The platform also offers tracking protection by removing trackers attached to marketing emails. Furthermore, ProtonMail is Swiss-based and answers to the country’s pro-privacy laws, while Fastmail is rooted in Australia, a 

ProtonMail and Fastmail provide all the basic benefits you expect from a reliable provider, including:

Besides these core similarities, the services focus on different productivity aspects.

The former prioritizes security, with features like self-destructing messages and built-in PhishGuard

phishing protection. It also offers a comprehensive product suite to streamline your workflow—by signing up for ProtonMail, you get access to an E2EE ecosystem that includes VPN and Drive for free.

Fastmail might appeal to users by offering more diverse features, such as:

—Fastmail allows users to perform multi-level text searches according to various parameters (similar to 

 and Gmail). ProtonMail’s search feature requires you to download all emails to your browser’s cache, which can be tedious

—Fastmail’s basic plan allows users to store 600+ aliases, although it may be unnecessarily generous. ProtonMail’s alias limit is under 10 for its cheapest subscription plan

Fastmail has a trainable spam filter that can classify messages as spam or non-spam according to your input. The platform also offers a snooze option for emails—which may interest 

 and productivity-focused users—but the feature is not available on webmail interfaces or to 

plan subscribers. Some Fastmail users expressed frustration over being unable to open 

Both providers have simple and clean interfaces that contribute to a satisfactory user experience.

Fastmail makes managing your inbox easier with features like threaded conversations and unlimited folder additions. 

The color customization tools help add a personal touch. Note that some users have complained about issues like delayed delivery and no image-zoom-in feature and felt that the user interface 

Sunny Li