Adding a gmail account in the iOS Mail app fails although all my credentials are correct?

I don't use Safari on any of my devices. Believing that since gmail is optimized for Chrome it would work for account authentication I wound up messing around for over an hour trying to add a new email. Nope.

Wouldn't work.

The procedure failed repeatedly with a 'cookies are disabled' error message. After struggling for some time I figured out the problem.

In iOS, adding a gmail account will not work unless:

1. Safari is set as your default browser (Settings/Apps/Safari/Default Browser App/ (Safari) &
2. Safari is set to allow Cookies (Settings/Apps/Safari/Advanced/*Set 'Block All Cookies' to off*

Hope this saves you a little time.