If your Android sync is not working it can be frustrating. You may be waiting for an important message or an email to come through and all your get is a heart-sinking sync error.
Your Android phone’s ability to sync is an essential function, and if it is not working then it really affects how useful your phone is.
Sync issues may point to much bigger problems with your phone, however, in the majority of cases, when syncing is not working on Android devices it can be fixed in a matter of minutes.
If you’re currently experiencing sync errors on your Android, then here are seven top tips for fixing the problem.
1. Make Sure That You Have a Connection
In order for your phone to sync with the server and download any emails and other messages, you’ll need to have a connection to the internet. This can either be through Wi-Fi or through mobile data.
Before you panic about your phone not working, check that you have a strong enough connection for your phone to download messages.
Your phone may be showing that it has a connection to a mobile network, for example, it could say 4G or 5G next to the signal strength bars. However, if you’ve used all of the data on your monthly plan, you won’t be able to make use of this data.
Get in touch with your provider to ensure that you have enough data to be able to sync your device, alternatively, find a Wi-Fi network that you can connect to.
2. Check That Sync is Enabled
The cause of your phone not being able to sync maybe that your sync has become disabled. This could have happened because of an update, or it may have been altered by accident.
Try re-enabling the option to sync your phone to try and fix it.
Alternatively, if you arrive at the sync settings and notice that they are switched on, try turning them off and back on again. By disabling and re-enabling your sync settings, you may be able to trigger your sync into working again.
To access your sync settings, head to Settings and then Sync.
3. Reboot Your Device
Sometimes a process may have stalled on your device. To get it working again, you could try simply rebooting your phone.
Turning your phone off and back on again might be all that you need to do to flush out the problem that you’re experiencing.
4. Update Your Phone
Depending on the age, make, and model of your Android device, there may be an update available.
Android operating systems will vary dramatically and many manufacturers will have their own operating systems working on top of the stock version of Android. This could mean that your updates will come through at different times than other Android.
To find out whether there is an update that you can download, open up Settings and tap About Phone, and then tap System Update.
Updating your device can take a lot of battery power and data so make sure that you’re connected via Wi-Fi and that your device is plugged into the mains.
Once you have updated your operating system, you should restart your device.
5. Update Your Apps
If you have specific apps that are failing to sync then there may be a problem with the app. It may be that the app’s developers already know that there is a problem and have already worked on a solution.
To update the apps in question, head to the Play Store and under the menu on the side click on My Apps & Games and select the app that you would like to update.
Once you get to the app, select it and hit Update.
Alternatively, you could update all of the apps on your device in one go by hitting Update All at the top of your My Apps page.
6. Check to Make Sure the Server isn’t Down
Google and many of the app makers take downtime very seriously. Many will go out of their way to make sure that their services never go down. There are times when there might be a service outage. This is usually due to unforeseen circumstances.
To find out if a service is down, you could use Down Detector. This website carries information about whether there are outages on any major sites. It’ll highlight the specific type of problems that people are reporting, and where these outages are.
If you know that the problem is with the app’s servers, then you know that you need to wait for them to come back online and your sync function should start to work again.
7. Check Your Time and Date Settings
On your Android device, it is advisable that you have the time and the timezone both set to update automatically. If you don’t have these set, it can affect your sync function.
To do this, open up your Settings and press Additional Settings and then Date & Time
If you are unable to set your device to automatically update the time and date settings, you can manually set these. It is essential that you make sure that the right time and date are set though, or you will continue to see the error message ‘sync is currently experiencing problems.’
What Else Might Cause Your Sync Error?
If you have tried all of these things and you are still experiencing the same sync error message, then you may need to uninstall the specific app that is not updating and reinstall it.
If the sync error is occurring across multiple apps you could try to clear the cache or check that your battery performance is not affecting the ability to sync your device.
Still, having problems? It may be a more severe problem that will take a bit more digging to fix. Why not let us take a look at it? Get in touch today to find out how we can help you.
