Fix “Gmail is having authentication problems. Some features may not work.” Error

Some Gmail web client users may occasionally see a red error message at the top of their Gmail inbox that says “Gmail is having authentication problems. Some features may not work. Try logging in to fix the problem.”

The error can persist sometimes even on a logged in account, and if you have logged back into Gmail, as the error message suggests to do. So what’s going on, and how can you fix this error on Gmail.com with your web browser?

Other than the obvious potential issues with logging in (in which case the error message disappears after login), it appears the error is sometimes caused by content blockers or ad blockers, or certain browser settings that restrict Javascript. Additionally, this issue can appear transiently, meaning sometimes if you just wait a while and refresh the gmail.com web page, the error goes away on its own.

First you should try logging in to Gmail.com again, since that alone may do away with the error message, as suggested by the error message itself.

But if the problem is related to content blockers, you’ll continue to see the message, and you’ll likely want to take care of that.

Thus, an easy way to resolve the “Gmail is having authentication problems” error message is sometimes to disable any content blockers or ad blockers, specifically for the Gmail.com domain. This process can vary depending on which browser you are using and which content blocker you are using.

For Safari, right-click in the Gmail.com address bar and choose “Settings For This Website” and then click to disable “Content Blockers” from being used for the gmail.com domain.

For Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, disabling content blockers per website domain can be a bit different, depending on which plugin or extension you are using with the browser.

Once you refresh the webpage with the content blocker or ad blocker disabled, the “Gmail is having authentication problems” error message should be gone.

If you’ve encountered this issue and resolved it by disabling content blockers, or with another method, let us know in the comments.