Android setup frustration...
 

I am trying to set up a Gmail account on an android samsung S5 to receive fastmail account emails.

(Please don't suggest I use the fastmail app as I've already tried this on another phone earlier this year and app continually says "trying to connect to server". This was never resolved.)

See my thread at:
http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=72697&

I installed fastmail app on the new phone yesterday (same model S5) and started to get the same message.

So I thought I would install Gmail. The Gmail setup on my new phone is different to the screen shots on FM's help screen at:

https://www.fastmail.com/help/clients/android.html

Gmail says the username and password on the new phone's setup is incorrect. I have check multiple times and they are both correct! What am I doing wrong??

user name: accountname at fastmail.com (i.e. the real account name, not an alias)
password: the app password I got via usernames's via web interface
server: imap.fastmail.com
port: 993
security type: SSL/TLS

I can't set outgoing srver details as the errot message stops me goinf onto next creen.

Really appreciate if someone can help.

Is your account name actually ...@fastmail.com or is it still ...@fastmail.fm

Also, I'm not sure I understand this sentence:
Did you get the App password from "Settings / Passwords and Security" menu under App Passwords?

Is your reference to Gmail (a Google server based mail service) just an awkward term of phrase, and you are trying to set up an IMAP account on the Android Mail app? If not (and you are really trying to use Gmail) that would explain why the username and password are not accepted. Google's Gmail servers have no knowledge of FastMail accounts.

@BritTim
My understanding is that the Op is trying to register a fastmail account on the Android Gmail app.
Which does work - I have my fastmail account registered on Gmail app.

Just did a trial setup of my FastMail account in the Gmail app on my Android 'phone (Moto X Style/Android 6.0) without problem.

I don't use the Gmail app myself (quite happy with AquaMail Pro), but of course I had to use the Gmail app to set up my Gmail address to keep Google happy, but then I disabled the sync on the Gmail app, and use AquaMail Pro for all my e-mail accounts.

I followed the setup from the link posted to the FastMail configuration for the Android 'phone, and the instructions there worked OK for me.

Android Frustration
 

Thanks for responses so far. I am trying to register a fastmail.com account using the Gmail app supplied on a friends samsung phone.

I have done this successfully on my own samsung and when I receive email to my FM account it is accessed via the Gmail icon. When I reply it uses my FM user name. (I'm only using the Gmail app because the fastmail app keeps on telling me it's trying to get to the server.)

So I am trying to use the same config from my phone to my friend's phone. But I suspect they may be different versions of the app.

(One mistake I did make was to use a new app password rather than the existing app password created for a tablet some months ago. But reverting to the existing app password hasn't helped.)

FYI, in the past couple of years, Google extended the functionality of the Gmail app so that it can be used as a general email client, and it is probably superior to many. It is no longer dedicated to accessing Gmail accounts. It can replace the generic email app found on many handsets.

Hmmm. I'm trying to duplicate what I think you are doing. Before I continue, I normally use the Fastmail app.
On support page https://www.fastmail.com/help/clients/android.html
FM say "FastMail has an excellent Android app which many of our users prefer to other mail apps" - frankly, I don't know if that was ever true, either that the app is "excellent" or that many FM users prefer it.
I documented some of my frustrations here:
http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...4&postcount=19
... and I have received a suggestion from FM support _not_ to use their "excellent" app. You are probably better off without it.

In the Gmail app, you are correct that FM's Gmail app setup instructions at https://www.fastmail.com/help/clients/android.html are out of date, so I'm just following the flow in the Gmail "Add Account" to add the FM account with a new app password I have not previously needed, generated with device= Android and Access = imap.

I am failing, also, but in a stranger way than you. I can set and apparently validate the "incoming mail" - Gmail is happy with that - but, when I proceed to outgoing mail, with
server=smtp.fastmail.com
port=465
security=SSL/TLS
... and with my FM username and FM app password (just used immediately prior for incoming mail) copied and pasted and visually verified to be identical, Gmail says
"validating smtp settings ... Your usename or password is incorrect".

In the FM logins log, I can see the successful login for incoming
"imap SUCCESS 2 App password: Android"
... and then the failure for outgoing ...
"smtp FAIL 6 "
... but there is so little info displayed that the log is useless. I already know it failed.

But I'll tell you something I noticed along the way which may give a clue as to what is happening. I first experimented using a password that was deliberately invalid because I wanted to see what error messages I'd receive. Of I course I failed the "incoming" stage (not having progressed to the "outgoing" stage), and then, when I used the correct password for incoming and that validated and I passed to configuring the "outgoing", something odd happened...

Referring to stage "6" of FM's Gmail setup instructions, they say regarding the "outgoing" Set the server settings for outgoing mail.
---- quote
Server is smtp.fastmail.com
Security type is SSL/TLS
Password should be pre-filled: it's your app password.
----- end quote
"Password should be pre-filled: it's your app password" was not true - it was set to the experimental deliberately-invalid password I have initially used and which I had then replaced by the correct password that validated for incoming. So I explicitly pasted in the correct app password, and then got stuck on the failure condition.

You seemed to indicate that you had initially used an incorrect password. I'm wondering if these incorrect passwords are being cached somewhere and not being overwritten when a better password is later supplied.

I can't think of any other explanation for my failure to pass validation outgoing having passed validation for incoming with the same credentials.

Or is it the case that the Gmail app will require the generation of a second app password, with
Device = Android
Access = smtp
... in which case FM's advice quoted above "Password should be pre-filled: it's your app password" is wrong ?

fmett: Very much appreciate what must have been a time consuming task of replicating my work. Thank you.

I have been a satisfied and loyal Fastmail user for more than a decade and cannot fault their email and files functionality on the desktop either via an email client or the web. It's quick, clever and dependable.

But they are badly letting down their customers (loyal or otherwise) in what should be a bullet-proof mobile phone solution.

If FM support is suggesting to people to not use the FM app, then it's clear that something needs fixing. (You could start by removing the mention of "FM has an excellent Android app" on your FM site.)

The world is moving to email on mobiles. FM needs to invest some time and money in getting a solid, easy-to-install application for mobiles. I want to use a FM solution, not Google's.

Not sure why I need to waste an entire Saturday afternoon in trying to get dependable access to email on my mobile.

I'm cross and frustrated...

I know this isn't of much help to you, but the iOS app works very well on both my iPhone and iPad. I think that Fastmail is having trouble with the software environment they use for the Android app. With enough problem tickets they should work to get it fixed. It might take a while, however.

Bill

So many different phone now....:D:D:D

Exactus wrote:
The world is moving to email on mobiles. FM needs to invest some time and money in getting a solid, easy-to-install application for mobiles. I want to use a FM solution, not Google's.

Yes, I agree. I don't use the Android app for business but do depend on it daily. I've tried many of the more popular email apps in the play store and although many offer an up-to-date user interface, they fall short in other areas. E.g.:

User Interface
-- Combining social media features in the main UI
-- Automatically sorting and/or storing social and promotional messages

Security
-- Storing email content on their servers or leased storage such as Amazon Web Services
-- In some cases email and contacts are scanned for analyzing various shopping trends or other marketing purposes

I'm looking for a solid app that offers the same basic functionality, keeps up to date with the relevant Android features and UI and has dedicated support so that bugs can be addressed in a timely fashion.

Re:
 

Greetings! I am so excited to have found the answer to this question! I've been looking for the explanation elsewhere.

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