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As of now, I’m no longer able to relay outbound emails through Gmail’s SMTP servers (smtp.gmail.com) because Google has disabled access for Less secure apps.

Previously, I was using basic authentication (username/password) to send emails via Google’s SMTP service. This approach has now stopped working, and I understand that Google now requires OAuth2 or App Passwords (which are only available for accounts with 2FA enabled).

Questions:

  • Is there a reliable workaround to continue relaying emails through Gmail SMTP?
  • What is the current best practice for sending email from a server using a Gmail account (for system alerts, contact forms, etc.)?
  • Are people switching to other SMTP relay services (like SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES) as a result of these changes?

Any guidance or shared experience would be appreciated. I’d prefer to keep the setup lightweight if possible.

Greg Askew
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alexus
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1 Answers1

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The Less Secure Apps option has been disabled, but App Passwords are still accepted.

The account you're sending through must have 2FA enabled. Once it does you can create an app password and enter that where you would the normal account password.

Grant
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