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IMAP accounts all set to "Fetch"

J

jkrutch

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 19, 2008
151
1
Unless I am missing something, the idea of IMAP vs. POP is the ability for IMAP to PUSH the messages to the mail client from the server versus having the device FETCH new messages. A message read or deleted on one device will result in that same message being read or deleted on another device. I have several email accounts that are set up as IMAP on my IP4.

In the mail settings, the "Fetch New Data" setting is set to Push, however, when I drill down to the next menu level and select advanced (where each individual mail account has its own settings), the only options are "Fetch" or "Manual".

The only exception is MobileMe which is correctly set to Push.

None of these other accounts are hosted with Exchange Server.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
 
jkrutch said:
Unless I am missing something, the idea of IMAP vs. POP is the ability for IMAP to PUSH the messages to the mail client from the server versus having the device FETCH new messages. A message read or deleted on one device will result in that same message being read or deleted on another device. I have several email accounts that are set up as IMAP on my IP4.

In the mail settings, the "Fetch New Data" setting is set to Push, however, when I drill down to the next menu level and select advanced (where each individual mail account has its own settings), the only options are "Fetch" or "Manual".

The only exception is MobileMe which is correctly set to Push.

None of these other accounts are hosted with Exchange Server.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Not sure what mail services you use but make sure IMAP is enabled on that end (i.e: On G-mail's settings site for your mail).
 
IMAP doesn't automatically mean Push. IMAP email can push, but not by default. From my experiences, such as with Gmail, the account must be setup as an exchange account in order to have genuine push capabilities (with the exception of MobileMe accounts).

Your phone will only allow a single exchange account with push.
 
The main different between those protocols is not the ability to push, POP protocol read the server and download the "message" to your client (meaning the message is gone from the server - there are modern server that allow you to keep a copy but this is separate from the pop protocol, this is done at the server that make a physical copy of your message once it is receive), while IMAP is like reading webmail (notice i said "like") IMAP just download a copy of the message to your client and leave all message instant on the server (also some modern IMAP client can send command back to the server to erase, archive, etc, manage the message at the server but also this is separate from the IMAP protocol)


While sudo PUSH is possible using IMAP, (this is done while checking the server [also know as FETCH] every pre-determine interval of time) and if there is new message it download a head of file with the info of changes, new message, etc. (without actually download a full copy with it is what happend when you actually check your email)

However that need to be supported by the server and Gmail doesn't do that with IMAP (for unknown reason, google have never explain while they don't like to support that sudo push on IMAP)
 
nospinguy said:
IMAP doesn't automatically mean Push. IMAP email can push, but not by default. From my experiences, such as with Gmail, the account must be setup as an exchange account in order to have genuine push capabilities (with the exception of MobileMe accounts).

Your phone will only allow a single exchange account with push.
Click to expand...

The issue here is that the iPhone doesn't support IMAP IDLE, which is the mechanism used to do mail "push". You can see this if you use a client that supports IMAP IDLE, like Thunderbird (with a mail server that also supports it, like gmail, of course); you can see mail arrive in real time.
 
maturola said:
While sudo PUSH is possible using IMAP, (this is done while checking the server [also know as FETCH] every pre-determine interval of time) and if there is new message it download a head of file with the info of changes, new message, etc. (without actually download a full copy with it is what happend when you actually check your email)
Click to expand...

No, that's not how IMAP "push" works (also known as "IMAP IDLE"). There is no "checking the server every pre-determine interval of time"; if both the client and server supports IMAP IDLE, the mail server just sends a message to the client whenever new mail arrives. There is no polling.

Read the RFC for protocol specs: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2177

However that need to be supported by the server and Gmail doesn't do that with IMAP (for unknown reason, google have never explain while they don't like to support that sudo push on IMAP)
Click to expand...

No, no, no. Gmail supports IMAP IDLE, and "push notifications" occur if you use any mail client that also supports IMAP IDLE.

The problem here is that the iPhone doesn't support it.
 
Thanks to everyone for the in-depth replies. I understand what's happening. At least it "sort-of" works. An email deleted on one device, is gone from the other, etc. There is communication between all the devices (MBP, IP4, iPad) and I'm no longer needing to keep track. It was fun converting all of my POP accounts to IMAP. ;)
 
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