Hey everyone, I’m pulling my hair out trying to set up email sending through Gmail SMTP on my local machine. I’ve got a CodeIgniter project and I’ve tried every suggestion I could find online, but no luck so far.
I’ve set up my config like this:
$mailSettings = [
'protocol' => 'smtp',
'smtp_host' => 'smtp.gmail.com',
'smtp_port' => 465,
'smtp_user' => '[email protected]',
'smtp_pass' => 'mypassword',
'mailtype' => 'html',
'charset' => 'utf-8',
'smtp_crypto' => 'ssl',
'smtp_auth' => true
];
$this->load->library('email', $mailSettings);
$this->email->from('[email protected]', 'Sender Name');
$this->email->to('[email protected]');
$this->email->subject('Test Email');
$this->email->message('This is a test');
if (!$this->email->send()) {
echo $this->email->print_debugger();
} else {
echo 'Email sent successfully!';
}
But I keep getting authentication errors. I’ve already enabled less secure app access in my Google account and tried the captcha unlock thing.
Any ideas what I might be missing? Also, how different will this be when I move to a live server? Thanks in advance!
hey sophialee92, i’ve run into this too. have u tried using an app password instead of ur regular gmail pw? go to ur google account settings, turn on 2-step verification, then make an app password. use that in ur config instead.
also, try port 587 and tls instead of ssl. thats worked for me b4. good luck!
Having dealt with similar issues, I’d suggest double-checking your Google account settings. Make sure you’ve enabled ‘Allow less secure apps’ and that you’re using the correct password. Sometimes, Google’s security measures can block these attempts. Try generating an app-specific password for your application instead of using your regular Gmail password. This often resolves authentication problems.
Also, consider adjusting your SMTP configuration. Try changing the port to 587 and using ‘tls’ instead of ‘ssl’ for the smtp_crypto setting. This combination tends to work more reliably in my experience.
Regarding deployment, the process should be similar on a live server. However, ensure your hosting provider allows outgoing SMTP connections on the required ports. Some shared hosts restrict this for security reasons.
I’ve been through this headache before and understand the frustration it brings. In my experience, using Google’s App Passwords rather than the regular Gmail password resolved the authentication issues. First, you need to enable 2-Step Verification on your Google Account, then generate an app password from your account settings and use that password in your SMTP configuration. I also found it helpful to change the SMTP port to 587 and use tls instead of ssl for a more secure connection. When moving to a live server, the setup remains similar, but be sure to verify that your host permits outgoing SMTP connections on these ports.