Samsung S8 Oreo - GMail reports unread emails squared?
CHARRINGTON68
Enthusiast - Level 2

Recently updated my phone to Android Oreo, which added the notification dots feature. I've noticed that my GMail app is incorrectly reporting the number of unread emails for anything over 1. It looks like it is squaring the number (multiplying unread times unread). So if I have 2 unread, it reports 4, 3 unread, it reports 9, etc. What's going on here? It seems that would take some pretty deliberate programming to make it do that, rather than reporting the actual number of unread messages. Anyone else seeing this issue?

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Re: Samsung S8 Oreo - GMail reports unread emails squared?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

CHARRINGTON68, that definitely is odd. I know it's important to display the correct number of unread emails. What make/model phone do you have? Do your unread emails reflect correctly on a desktop version?

 

TracyB_VZW

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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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Re: Samsung S8 Oreo - GMail reports unread emails squared?
CHARRINGTON68
Enthusiast - Level 2

I have Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SM-G955U).

Number of unread emails does show correctly in desktop gmail client.

To be clear, the number of unread emails does show properly INSIDE the

GMail app. It is just the notification dot on the home screen icon which is

showing incorrect value.

On Wed, Mar 28, 2018, 10:05 AM vzw_customer_support <

Re: Samsung S8 Oreo - GMail reports unread emails squared?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

CHARRINGTON68, I know I would find that just as puzzling. Glad to see that the number of unread email messages reflects properly through the email app itself. I sometimes notice a discrepancy when my account is reflecting a few of my other inboxes too. I looked into potential issues involving Oreo and the notification dot feature; Our device team found that most issues occurring after the update were resolved with a factory reset. This helped get these features stabilized and displaying correctly. 

 

I recommend backing up your content that you need, and then wiping your phone. 

 

https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-211247/

 

Please keep us posted. Thank you.

 

NicandroN__VZW

 

Follow us on twitter @VZWSupport

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Re: Samsung S8 Oreo - GMail reports unread emails squared?
CHARRINGTON68
Enthusiast - Level 2

This is an extreme solution.

Do you have a page that shows how to successfully and fully backup the entire device without having to purchase separate software. The page you linked above indicates that the reset wipes out

  • Contacts
  • Email accounts
  • System and app data
  • App settings
  • Downloaded apps
  • Media (Music, pictures and videos, etc.)

I know my contacts and email are backed up by Google, but how do I back up ALL of the other information on the phone? There's nearly a year worth of customized app settings, system settings, etc. How do I accurately back up all of this information AND restore it properly after the reset?

If that cannot be done, then I will live with the mis-represented notification until you can properly fix your software.

Re: Samsung S8 Oreo - GMail reports unread emails squared?
CHARRINGTON68
Enthusiast - Level 2

So I may have this at least partially figured out. Since Verizon couldn't (or wouldn't) give me any details on how to properly backup all of my data, I tried several debugging steps directly with Gmail, most of which failed to resolve the issue. What did eventually work was going into Settings->Apps->Gmail, then clicking the 3-dot menu in upper right, and click "Uninstall updates". This went back to the factory version of the app, and then the notification dot started to display the correct number of unread emails all the time. My phone has since done an auto-update back to the current version of the Gmail app and the problem has returned.

So it looks like the problem is with the Gmail app itself.

It seems that if I have some unread emails already, when it downloads some new ones, it takes the number of unread already on the phone and multiplies by the number of new ones and that is the number it displays. I can't absolutely verify this is what is happening, or why, but it seems fairly accurate. Google, you need to fix your app. I will be posting this on a Google forum when I figure out which one it needs to go on.

Re: Samsung S8 Oreo - GMail reports unread emails squared?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

@Charrington68 We definitely want you to be able to use your Gmail application without having issues.  Thanks for sharing those additional details. Unfortunately there isn't an option to back up your customized app settings/system settings after a factory reset. It truly sounds as if this issue is related directly to the Gmail application software. As you mentioned please reach out to Google support, so they can look into this issue further.

JoelD_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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