Google ends support for less secure passwords in third-party apps (workaround)

[harlan4096]

If you use an application or service that requires a Google username and password, then you may not be able to use it anymore after September 30, 2024. This may impact third-party app access to Google, e.g. in email clients or Calendar apps.

There is a Google suggested option and another that still works, so read on to find out all about the change and how to deal with it.

Google announced that it is ending support for Less Secure Apps. This authentication method may be used by apps to integrate a Google account. Basic examples include email clients that accept the Google username and password, or Calendar apps that integrate the Google Calendar after authentication.

Google planned to introduce the change in 2020 already but postponed it because of the "impact of COVID-19".

The company is dropping support for Less Secure Apps, but that does not mean that third-party apps and services can't be used anymore. Google supports OAuth for authentication. If affected apps and services do support OAuth as well, users may switch to this authentication method to continue using their Google account.

 The email client Thunderbird, for instance, switched to Oauth authentication for Google Mail (Gmail) accounts back in 2022. Users were either migrated automatically or asked to complete the authentication process to regain access to their Gmail account in the email client.

One downside of using OAuth in Thunderbird is that it requires cookies to store the token on the user's device. This led to issues if cookies were not enabled in Thunderbird. Google is also ending support for Google Sync.
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