Rails email myself with actionmailer and activemodel, SMTPAuthenticationError

Question

I'm trying to generate a form so visitors can send an email to a fixed address without cluttering the database. When I test the form, rails returns this error...

Net::SMTPAuthenticationError in ContactsController#create 

It appears the answer is to allow access to gmail for less secure apps. How can I retain the functionality without lowering security?

controllers/contacts_controller.rb

class ContactsController < ApplicationController
  def new
    @contact = Contact.new
  end

  def create
    @contact = Contact.new(params[:contact])
    if @contact.valid?
      ContactMailer.contact_submit(@contact).deliver
      flash[:notice] = "Thank you for your email, I'll respond shortly"
      redirect_to new_contact_path
    else
      render :new
    end
  end
end

mailers/contact_mailer.rb

class ContactMailer < ActionMailer::Base
  default to: "#{ENV['GMAIL_USERNAME']}@gmail.com"

  def contact_submit(msg)
    @msg = msg
    mail(from: @msg.email, name: @msg.name, message: @msg.message)
  end
end

models/contact.rb

class Contact
  include ActiveModel::Validations
  include ActiveModel::Conversion
  extend ActiveModel::Naming

  attr_accessor :name, :email, :message

  validates_format_of :email, :with => /\A([\w\.%\+\-]+)@([\w\-]+\.)+([\w]{2,})\z/i
  validates_presence_of :message
  validates_presence_of :name

  def initialize(attributes = {})
    attributes.each do |name, value|
      send("#{name}=", value)
    end
  end

  def persisted?
    false
  end
end

config/environments/development.rb

  config.action_mailer.default_url_options = { host: 'localhost', port: 3000 }
  config.action_mailer.delivery_method = :smtp
  config.action_mailer.perform_deliveries = true
  config.action_mailer.default :charset => 'utf-8'
  config.action_mailer.smtp_settings = {
    address: 'smtp.gmail.com',
    port: 587,
    domain: 'localhost:3000',
    user_name: ENV['GMAIL_USERNAME'],
    password: ENV['GMAIL_PASSWORD'],
    authentication: 'plain',
    enable_starttls_auto: true
  }

config/environments/production.rb

  config.action_mailer.default_url_options = { host: ENV['WEBSITE'] }
  config.action_mailer.delivery_method = :smtp
  config.action_mailer.smtp_settings = {
    address: 'smtp.gmail.com',
    port: 587,
    domain: ENV['WEBSITE'],
    user_name: ENV['GMAIL_USERNAME'],
    password: ENV['GMAIL_PASSWORD'],
    authentication: 'plain',
    enable_starttls_auto: true
  }

Answer 1

Did you configure your SMTP Settings in ActiveMailer?

Furthermore you will very likely run into a Spam Problem when you just use a random email address from with the google smtp server.

The better idea is to use a fixed sender address (e.g. your own one) and put the original address in the text. That's how most email forms work.

Edit: According to another StackOverflow answer, you need to enable less secure apps in your email settings.