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I am trying to add a Google account using System Preferences > Internet Accounts.

I already tried the following.

  • able to reproduce this in 10.12.3 and 10.12.2.

  • disabled OTP, same issue

  • able to reproduce in Macbook Air and Macbook Pro

  • same issue with both Gmail account (tried two) and Google Apps account

  • I am not using any iCloud

  • it appears to be similar to this issue but the fix does not work: Can't login with Google using Internet Accounts

  • adding LinkedIn works

  • I already tried to VPN to California and Singapore to check if something is wrong with Google mirrors

  • creating a new user account and adding the Google account from there, same issue

  • as advised by Apple Support tried https://www.google.com/accounts/UnlockCaptcha

It gets stuck right after a successful login. I took a screenshot.

stuck login

Anybody experiencing the same issue?

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f01
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    Same here, with Mac OS 10.12.3 on multiple machines with multiple google accounts. I also created new local accounts on the machines to see if it's a keychain problem. Wondering if it's a macos problem or a google problem? Or something in our network? – wessel Feb 10 '17 at 09:09
  • My theory is it is a change in Google auth and Apple has to react. Or one of them aims for world domination! – f01 Feb 10 '17 at 09:27
  • I am talking to Apple support right now and it is funny how they try to blame it on Google when there is no proof that Google login is failing. Funny and sad world we live in today! – f01 Feb 10 '17 at 10:23
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    Yep same issue exactly on both my macs. I was able to set up my iPhone etc just fine but both macs just hang with the grey screen as pictured after accepting my email address and password. – Dave Sag Feb 10 '17 at 10:26
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    https://discussions.apple.com/message/31380393?ac_cid=tw123456#31380393 – wessel Feb 10 '17 at 11:45
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    In a chat with google they said "It's a workaround for now and is still under the works by our technicians. We appreciate your patience for now." And the workaround was a suggestion to add the google account in apple mail via "Other Mail Account" . Which works, but you will miss calendar sync of course – wessel Feb 10 '17 at 13:25
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    Looks like google fixed it! – wessel Feb 10 '17 at 18:07
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    I have a workaround for this issue as described here. Hope it helps. – developius Feb 10 '17 at 22:41
  • @wesselI agree. I was able to add now without any tweak! Thanks – f01 Feb 11 '17 at 03:48
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    I have faced this issue current and tried many methods but all failed. – GhostFlying Feb 15 '17 at 05:01
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    No. Problem persists. – Jürgen Simon Feb 15 '17 at 19:13
  • Try contacting both Google and Apple support. Show them this page. They need not collect data because it is easily reproducible. – f01 Feb 16 '17 at 02:05
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    I have the exact same problem have tried to delete the account and related passwords in keychain but it's not working. When I add a new account it get stoked in the last dialog where you can choose the apps – Martin Andersen Jan 23 '18 at 06:22
  • I encountered this issue as well, OS X 10.12.6. I kept retrying the login steps (had to close-reopen system preferences) and it worked after about 6 tries. – Jacob Mouka Mar 30 '18 at 15:59
  • I have this problem and NONE of the proposed solutions on this page have helped. – Neil Bartlett Apr 19 '18 at 13:10
  • I added Google accounts from System Preferences -> Internet accounts and it worked! – Reza Babaei Jun 26 '21 at 17:14

3 Answers3

32

I found that if you have a default browser other than Safari you will face this issue.

  • Solution one: When you see it stuck, start Safari and it will magically work.
  • Alternative solution: Change default browser to Safari
ZuzEL
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    Opening safari worked a charm! – Peter Warrington Jan 17 '22 at 16:42
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    Yes, but first you need to close Safari (Command + Q). – Dyorgio Feb 16 '22 at 11:55
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    Closing and then opening Safari was the weirdest solution ever; really didn't look like it was going to work until ti did. I thought it was going to populate the little popup browser but no… the (new) window that opened when I opened Safari was the one prompting me for my Google sign-in. – ijoseph Mar 23 '22 at 01:00
  • Changing the default browser to Safari worked for me! I have 2FA on my account if that matters. – Jace Browning Jan 04 '23 at 17:21
  • Can't believe, but "Closing and then opening Safari" was the solution. Once I opened Safari after closing - popup appeared. – igormukhingmailcom Oct 10 '23 at 03:19
18

Combining part of your solution and part of the solution from Can't login with Google using Internet Accounts, I got mine to work again by:

  • Opening Keychain Access > login and searching for 'google', then deleting all the 'accountsync' and 'oauth' entries. The resulted in my Google account being removed from System Preferences > Internet Accounts.
  • Completing this: https://www.google.com/accounts/UnlockCaptcha

I was then able to go to System Preferences > Internet Accounts and add my Google account back. It showed the spinny wheel on the gray screen for a second, then disappeared and I was in! Mail and Calendar show my Google data now.

I have 2-factor auth enabled.

Another solution to this would be to login to your GMail account via another program that access's macOS's shared accounts, like Calendar.app.

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Sarah Vessels
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  • I was able to add now without any tweak. Do you think Google or Apple fixed it already? – f01 Feb 11 '17 at 03:47
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    Tried this myself, still getting problems for it – Peter Fox Feb 15 '17 at 14:47
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    Also reporting issues with this solution on fresh install of sierra – Randall Ma Feb 15 '17 at 18:16
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    Precisely the same problem. Again Apple is breaking essential functionality without as much as whoopsie daisy. Ever since Jobs died, quality is on the decline. Cook's not up to the job. – Jürgen Simon Feb 15 '17 at 18:59
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    Same issue as well :(. The suggested fix of removing the entries in Key Chain ended up removing the account from my other MB. Now re-adding isn't working on either of them ... – Felix Geisendörfer Feb 15 '17 at 20:07
  • Update 10 hours later: adding an internet account through Contacts.app worked. Looks like the iCloud sync is working intermittently. Maybe try again? – Randall Ma Feb 16 '17 at 04:37
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    This worked for me with two differences. First, I had to manually delete the google accounts after doing the steps above, then restart my mac, then add. It finally worked after that. – Sisi Dec 03 '17 at 16:02
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    On MacOS Sierra (10.12.6), I encountered this problem. This answer worked for me. Note that you may have multiple keychains. I deleted only the Google objects that were in the 'login' keychain. For me, these were: oath-refresh-token (spelled just like that), oauth-expiry-date, and oauth-token. I went to Preferences - Internet Accounts, and saw Google, BUT this time, after entering my credentials (with 2FA), the login completes! – Rick Umali Jan 10 '18 at 17:24
  • for me going to https://www.google.com/accounts/UnlockCaptcha was enough, thanks! – Andrzej Martyna Feb 09 '19 at 17:26
  • The solution for me was to lock, then unlock the login keychain. Then it doesn't hang at the grey screen anymore. – Lawson Apr 13 '19 at 00:16
  • @Sisi , you were right, I tried it the first time without restarting and it didn't work out. Restarting after deleting the google/oauth from Keychain worked fine ! – aayoubi Sep 15 '19 at 10:59
1

I had the same issue, here's how I solved it:

  • removed all internet accounts (including icloud and game center).
  • double-checked I was logged out from my apple account
  • shut down computer
  • start computer
  • login to apple icloud again
  • login to google again

I tried deleting all passwords from keychain: no change.

vvo
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