Gmail is back after suffering widespread outage

Gmail on the Galaxy Note 10
Gmail on the Galaxy Note 10 (Image credit: Android Central)

Update, August 20, (7:40 am ET): Google has resolved the problem with Gmail for everyone.

Update, August 20 (6:10 am ET): Gmail service has now been restored for some users.

What you need to know

  • A large number of users are reporting issues connecting to G Suite services, including Gmail and Google Drive.
  • Data from DownDetector shows the problem is affecting users in India, Australia, Japan, the United States, and a few other countries.
  • Google is currently investigating the issue expects to resolve it soon.

Thousands of users across the world are reporting issues with Gmail, Google Drive, and a few other G Suite services. As confirmed by the Google apps status page, services affected by the outage include Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Keep, Google Sites, Google Slides, Google Groups, and Google Voice. The issues started around 12 PM ET and haven't been resolved yet. A similar outage happened in March this year, when Gmail, Drive, YouTube, and other Google services went down for a few hours in some countries.

While most users seem to be having trouble attaching files in Gmail, some aren't even able to send emails. People are also seeing an error message when trying to upload files to Google Drive. There are issues with downloading and sharing files as well on Google Drive. A small number of users claim to be facing issues uploading videos on YouTube too, although the issue doesn't seem to be widespread at this point.

According to the outage map on DownDetector, the problem is affecting users in several countries across the world, including India, Australia, Japan, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.

Google says it is currently investigating reports of issues with Gmail and will "provide more information shortly."

Gmail Outage Map

Source: Downdetector (Image credit: Source: Downdetector)

Update, August 20 (7:40 am ET) — Google has resolved all issues with Gmail and other G Suite services.

The problem with Gmail should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. System reliability is a top priority at Google. We are making continuous improvements to make our systems better.

Google has confirmed that the problem with Gmail and other G Suite services have now been resolved.

Update, August 20 (6:10 am ET) — Gmail service partially restored

Google says it has restored Gmail service for some users and expects the issue to be resolved for everyone "in the near future."

Babu Mohan
News Writer