Connecting to Gmail IMAP PHP "Couldn't open stream"

Question

There are lots of people having similar issues but no one is answering their questions. I have IMAP enabled in PHP, Using all the correct information. I don't see where I'm going wrong.

Here's my code:

$hostname = '{imap.gmail.com:995/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert}'; 
$username = '[email protected]'; $password = 'password'; 
$inbox = imap_open($hostname,$username,$password) or die('Cannot connect to Gmail: ' . imap_last_error());

print_r(imap_errors());

Not returning any errors other than:

Warning: imap_open() [function.imap-open]: Couldn't open stream {imap.gmail.com:995/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert} in /home/a8066360/public_html/test/imap.php on line 6

Cannot connect to Gmail: Can't connect to gmail-imap.l.google.com, 995: Connection timed out

I've noticed that if I change the single quotes to `

shell_exec() has been disabled for security reasons...

Please help!!!

Depend

The last part is quite a non-sequitur, no? ` and ' are two very different things. – Goldenrod

@Goldenrod - I think they are, for strings only ' (single quote) and " (double quote) are allowed. – Murial

i'm brand new to php, but i saw someone else using the tacks in the same exact way in a tutorial i was folowing. – Depend

I have a cron job that accesses my gmail acct once every 5 minutes to pull emails. I get this error about once every 3 days. In my case, seems like an issue on gmail's end – Closehauled

Answer 1

You need port 993, the SSL IMAP port.

Port 995 is the SSL POP3 port.

Nomarchy

it's literally the same exact error I posted above. Same line and everything. different port. – Depend

Warning: imap_open() [function.imap-open]: Couldn't open stream {imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert} in /home/a8066360/public_html/test/imap.php on line 6 Cannot connect to Gmail: Can't connect to gmail-imap.l.google.com,993: Connection timed out – Depend

You may be firewalled? From that system, can you make a connection to imap.google.com? Try telnet imap.google.com 993. You won't be able to use it (since it's SSL), but you should be able to see if the connection succeeds. – Nomarchy

Answer 2

I think Gmail's IMAP can only be accessed on port 993.

$hostname = "{imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert}";

Crepitate

Answer 3

I had the same error and found a different solution. I have added debug info into host:

"{imap.gmail.com:993/debug/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert}INBOX"; 

When I read php error log, I found

Unknown: [ALERT] Please log in via your web browser: https://support.google.com/mail/accounts/answer/78754 (Failure) (errflg=1) in Unknown on line 0

Open link, and follow instructions. Search for

Your app might not support the latest security standards. Try changing a few settings to allow less secure apps access to your account.

Click on link and enable less secure app access.

Then it works for me.

Filterable

Great! Enabling less secure apps worked for me, thanks saved some time. – Knp

I am getting this error: "Too many login failures" on imap_open('{imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert}INBOX', $username, $password); – Misogamy

Answer 4

You have to enable the Google Enable Less Secure App option from Gmail account get connected.

And a requirement for this, you have to first disable your 2-step-verification from here:

google account -> settings -> security

Spoony

Answer 5

You can try the following code by giving a notls argument and connecting the server like follows, if SSL is not applied.

$hostname = '{imap.YOUR_DOMAIN.com:143/imap/notls}INBOX'; 
$username = 'YOUR_USERNAME';
$password = 'YOUR_PASSWORD';

$inbox = imap_open($hostname, $username, $password) or die('Cannot connect to Gmail: ' . imap_last_error());

If it will not throw any error, this means that you are succesfully connected to server then. I hope this helps.

Godoy

Answer 6

I had the same issue and I fixed it by unlocking the Google captcha.

Go to the following URL while signed in to the Google account : https://accounts.google.com/DisplayUnlockCaptcha

And click on the button.

Of course, you already had activated the access for less secure apps in the Security tab of your Google account settings ;).

It should work now !

Outdo

Answer 7

You can setup 2 step authentication and then assign an APP password to use in your requests (just replace your password with the one provided for the app, your normal password doesn't change.).

This will help your script run from any host without google blocking it (due to a change in login location).

Schroeder