Google Apps Review blocked sign-in attempt problem and solution

When using SMTP Pro’s Self Test function against our development Google Apps inbox, I noticed it repeatedly blocked outgoing emails, with the slightly cryptic error “5.7.14 Please log in via your web browser and 5.7.14 then try again”

I logged into the inbox to find an email with the subject “Review blocked sign-in attempt” telling me I was using “an app that doesn’t meet modern security standards”. I’m not sure what these modern security standards are (it talks about them here) but lo and behold all of Google’s apps are apparently compliant.

To allow these ‘less secure’ ones through you can click “REVIEW YOUR DEVICES NOW” in the email, click the back arrow in the title bar to go to the Sign-in and Security page.

Scroll to the bottom and set “Allow less secure apps” to “ON”.

It might be worth disabling this when you’re done testing.