Possible reasons for android device failing to receive google play games notifications?

Question

Regarding to TBMP Skeleton: Why are both onTurnBasedMatchReceived and onInvitationReceived not called on my physical device?

Initially I thought that the problem was something with my code, even thoough it made no sense, since it worked on my emulator just fine + its very similar to the one in tbmp skeleton sample.

Now I definitely think the problem is with my device, so id like to know what could be blocking notifications from Google Play Games.

In my emulator I get a ton of notifications from Google Play Games in the notification bar, but nothing in the physical device. The device is Xperia L 4.2.2.

EDIT: Yes, google play services notifications checkbox is checked. Here is my manifest:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        package="PACKAGE_NAME"
        android:versionCode="1"
        android:versionName="1.0" >

        <uses-sdk
            android:minSdkVersion="14"
            android:targetSdkVersion="19" />

        <application
            android:allowBackup="true"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
            <meta-data android:name="com.google.android.gms.games.APP_ID"
                android:value="@string/app_id" />
            <meta-data android:name="com.google.android.gms.version"
                android:value="@integer/google_play_services_version"/>
            <activity
                android:name="PACKAGE_NAME.MYACTIVITY"
                android:label="@string/app_name" >
                <intent-filter>
                    <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                    <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
                </intent-filter>
            </activity>
        </application>

    </manifest>

I've tried and searched everywhere for this, maybe someone else went through the same.

Answer 1

This 'bug' caused me A LOT of trouble when testing an app I'm developing.

It has something to do with what 'skm' said in his last comment, but not specifically about Gmail not being synced. In my case trying to sync Gmail didn't really "enable" syncing it just synced it once and kept being un-synced. So what I had to do was go into: Settings->Data Usage->[Three dots button]->Auto-sync data. Doing this enables syncing so you can actually sync stuff again, sync it all and then you can uncheck whatever you don't want to sync. And after this, notifications from Google Play Services will once again be able to get received.

Hope it helps anyone else!