Gmail bug on Android disables the ability to empty trash, spam folders

Ben Schoon | Feb 26 2020 - 6:57 am PT

Whether you work online or not, we all get a ton of emails daily. If you’re trying to achieve “Inbox Zero,” though, there’s currently a slight hurdle on Gmail’s Android app. A bug on Gmail for Android is removing the ability to empty the trash or spam folders.

Highlighted by Android Police, Gmail for Android is currently being affected by an issue that disables the ability to empty the trash or spam folders. Both of these folders, notably, automatically delete emails over time, but there’s currently no way to manually purge them.

Previously, Gmail would show a message in the trash or spam folders on its Android app that simply said “Empty trash now.” As of the latest update, those messages are gone, and there’s no other way to completely clear these folders from the app. Even manually selecting emails in the folder won’t show a permanent delete option.

Luckily, this isn’t something Google actually meant to remove. A bug in Gmail v2020.02.02 removes those “empty” messages, as Google confirmed on its support forums. Importantly, though, this isn’t affecting all users. I’m on that same version and the message is still appearing on my device.

Before — After

For the time being, there are a couple of options to get around this weird display bug. The first, obviously, is just to empty your trash/spam folders from Gmail’s web client. The other is to simply change the rotation on your device to landscape and back again, causing the message to reappear. Opening an email can also trigger the message to reappear. You’ll have to do that every time you enter these folders, though.

More than likely, this will be fixed in the very near future.