phpmailer username & password not accepted

Question

I have never received the following error when working with PHPMailer:

2021-11-23 03:10:20 SERVER -> CLIENT: 535-5.7.8 Username and Password not accepted.
2021-11-23 03:10:20 SMTP ERROR: Password command failed: 535-5.7.8 Username and Password not accepted.

I am indeed entering the correct username and password. Here is the code:

<?php

use phpmailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
require_once '../phpmailer/PHPMailer.php';
require_once '../phpmailer/SMTP.php';
require_once '../phpmailer/Exception.php';

$mail = new PHPMailer;    
$mail->SMTPDebug = 4;  
                    
$mail->isSMTP();                                        
$mail->Host = 'smtp.gmail.com';                             
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;       
$mail->Username = '[email protected]';
$mail->Password = 'somepassword';
$mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';                                                       
$mail->Port = 25;    
                    
$mail->setFrom('[email protected]', 'Mailer');
$mail->addAddress('[email protected]', 'Receiver');      
$mail->addReplyTo('[email protected]', 'No Reply');
$mail->Body = $body;

$mail->isHTML(true);

if($mail->send()){
  echo "Email sent";
} else {
  echo "Error: There was an error sending email " . $mail->ErrorInfo;;
}

?>

I have tried to user the answer found here: Username and Password not accepted

And here: Username and Password not accepted

No luck.

I am using the correct username and password.

I changed the port to 465 and got the following error:

2021-11-23 03:20:20 Connection: opening to smtp.gmail.com:465, timeout=300, options=array()<br>
2021-11-23 03:20:20 Connection: opened<br>
2021-11-23 03:20:30 SMTP INBOUND: &quot;&quot;<br>
2021-11-23 03:20:30 SERVER -&gt; CLIENT: <br>
2021-11-23 03:20:30 Connection: closing due to error<br>
2021-11-23 03:20:30 Connection: closed<br>
SMTP connect() failed. 
https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/wiki/Troubleshooting<br>
Error: There was an error sending email SMTP connect() failed. 
https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/wiki/Troubleshooting

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

I was able to solve my problem by going here:

https://myaccount.google.com/u/0/lesssecureapps

And set the Allow Secure Apps to On.

Once I made this update, I was able to send the email.

Answer 2

After May 30, 2022, Google required some changes for SMTP to work.

So, I did a step-by-step of what must be done to work:

1 - Access: https://myaccount.google.com/security?hl=en

2 - Turn on 2-Factor Authentication

3 - Create a password in Apps

4 - Copy the Password App Created in your - PHP MAILER - $mail->password = '########';

5 - Name APP Pass