Can I "fix" her Gmail account this way?
ALB123
Enthusiast - Level 1

My mother got a Galaxy S8 on April 20th with me...Best. Phone. Ever.

Against my better judgement, I allowed my mother to do the initial device setup.  Today she started receiving messages that she needed to put in her Gmail password again to "authorize" her account with this device/program.  She kept swiping them away for fear of a Malware installation attempt.  When I arrived we acknowledged the 5th or 6th same notification and it was legit, but I still don't know why Gmail worked just fine on her device until today (from April 21).

Here is what I discovered:

She didn't put her Gmail address in during device setup.  Instead, she waited until the process was over and went into Settings > Accounts and added her Gmail address as a generic "Email" account rather than correctly selecting to add a "Google Account".  So, she receives her emails and can access them through both the GMail app and the default EMail app.  Occasionally, there are some odd sync issues, so I would rather she were on a proper "Google Account" setup. 

So, my question is, If I remove her bla_blah@gmail.com Email account and then select to put a proper "Google Account" on her device with the same blah_blah@gmail.com account, will I be facing a disaster?  I began the process of removing the generic email account and I paused when the pop-up said that I would lose all contacts and photos, etc. associated with that account.  That's when I decided to come here and ask.  Will removing the generic Email account erase anything that won't be put back on her device as soon as I add her Gmail Account properly?

If it were my device I'd just roll the dice and do it, but considering it's her phone...ya know?

Thanks for any help that can be offered.

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Re: Can I "fix" her Gmail account this way?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

ALB123- Thank you for reaching out to us regarding the concern for your mothers email. I know I would be skeptical myself if I received a message stating “all contacts and photos would be removed” upon deleting the generic email. We are here to help guide you towards the best option to get this fixed. The good news is, you were already on the right path. As we do recommend that you do remove/ delete the generic email and have her sign in properly through the Google account set up. Your mother will not lose any photos or contacts with the generic email removal because once she signs in through the Google account set up all of her information would automatically sync back into her phone upon sign in. Please use this link as a guided flow to be able to set up her Google account http://vz.to/2qaaSjM. Please keep us up to date on the progress.

SylviaT_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

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