Is there any way to securely have a gmail account use an email alias with mail.app in iOS 11?

[inaka]

Hey all, is there any way to securely have a gmail account use an email alias with mail.app on iOS?

(Example, the "from" email is different than the gmail email address itself and looks like it's coming from your domain, i.e. the actual gmail account is “mike@gmail.com" and I want the email to look like it's coming from my domain like “mike@mydomain.com")

I have done this in the past by logging into gmail from my computer and setting up an IMAP default email alias from my domain.

(Now all emails from that account are from my domain by default instead of the actual gmail account when using gmail's web interface, sweet. Works like a charm. I can do this in MacOS as well with mail. Great)
​

However, it doesn't work with iOS's mail.app unless I change the gmail setup to "allow less secure apps" and don't setup the iOS email account as "google" from the start, but instead manually setup the imap account as "Other" using "imap.gmail.com" and "smtp.gmail.com" and so on. But that's not secure since it requires the less secure app option to be enabled on the gmail account.
A workaround is to use the Gmail.app on iOS instead of mail.app which does correctly does send email from the default email alias, but with iOS's built-in mail.app, I see no way to do this.

Anyone know if this is possible with mail.app on iOS 11?

 

[Rian Gray]

You can try app-specific password, which would allow you to bypass (or does not require to tick) the 'less secure app' option.

But in truth, at least from what I've read, Google is merely enforcing users to either use app-specific password (which is more hassle) or it's own email app. Google's own support page explains Apple's pre-installed mail app on iPhone or iPad with "version 6 or below" does not meet the security standard. But all I can gather from this sentence is that as long as you are running iOS 7 or higher (as mail app has existed since the first iPhone OS, I am assuming version num has also been incremental with the OS numbering) you wouldn't be facing any real risks.

 

[inaka]

You can try app-specific password, which would allow you to bypass (or does not require to tick) the 'less secure app' option.

But in truth, at least from what I've read, Google is merely enforcing users to either use app-specific password (which is more hassle) or it's own email app. Google's own support page explains Apple's pre-installed mail app on iPhone or iPad with "version 6 or below" does not meet the security standard. But all I can gather from this sentence is that as long as you are running iOS 7 or higher (as mail app has existed since the first iPhone OS, I am assuming version num has also been incremental with the OS numbering) you wouldn't be facing any real risks.

Thank you for your reply. It's such a shame that the MacOS version of Mail (application) allows for gmail aliases, but the iOS version of mail.app does not. Such a bummer . I don't mind the gmail app, but I have multiple gmail accounts, and it's not very efficient to toggle back and forth between accounts with the iOS gmail.app.

My current workaround is to just view all iOS mail with the mail.app, and then when I have to reply, I reply with the iOS gmail.app since it support aliases. Such a hassle, but it works as email aliases are fairly crucial to my business branding etc. Sigh.

 

[posguy99]

Thank you for your reply. It's such a shame that the MacOS version of Mail (application) allows for gmail aliases, but the iOS version of mail.app does not.

I must be missing something, or is there something non-standard about how Google does aliases? Myself, I have nine different aliases configured in the iOS Mail.app, but Google isn't the back end, Fastmail is.

 

[Shirasaki]

I have the opposite problem. I have one old outlook email address. I have changed its alias to another one long ago, but iOS still shows the old email address. Maybe I need to delete account and set up as new to avoid clutter. Outlook does a bit better job on supporting aliases.

 

[b416]

Hey all, is there any way to securely have a gmail account use an email alias with mail.app on iOS?

(Example, the "from" email is different than the gmail email address itself and looks like it's coming from your domain, i.e. the actual gmail account is “mike@gmail.com" and I want the email to look like it's coming from my domain like “mike@mydomain.com")

I have done this in the past by logging into gmail from my computer and setting up an IMAP default email alias from my domain.

(Now all emails from that account are from my domain by default instead of the actual gmail account when using gmail's web interface, sweet. Works like a charm. I can do this in MacOS as well with mail. Great)
​

However, it doesn't work with iOS's mail.app unless I change the gmail setup to "allow less secure apps" and don't setup the iOS email account as "google" from the start, but instead manually setup the imap account as "Other" using "imap.gmail.com" and "smtp.gmail.com" and so on. But that's not secure since it requires the less secure app option to be enabled on the gmail account.
A workaround is to use the Gmail.app on iOS instead of mail.app which does correctly does send email from the default email alias, but with iOS's built-in mail.app, I see no way to do this.

Anyone know if this is possible with mail.app on iOS 11?

I use gmail as back end, with a registered domain, as part of Google Apps (it used to be free, now it costs a couple of dollars per user). All my mail goes through gmail servers both ways, with @mydomain.com adresses, works with every mail app, no need for aliases...

 

[simonmet]

I must be missing something, or is there something non-standard about how Google does aliases? Myself, I have nine different aliases configured in the iOS Mail.app, but Google isn't the back end, Fastmail is.

Fastmail is awesome!

 

[posguy99]

Fastmail is awesome!

Well, as they always say, when the product is free, you are the product. I'm just not interested in Google's experimentations with how email is supposed to work. I have a couple of GMail addresses, but they're just forwarded to Fastmail. The world would not end if they went away, I just use them for throwaways.

 

[jagooch]

I use gmail as back end, with a registered domain, as part of Google Apps (it used to be free, now it costs a couple of dollars per user). All my mail goes through gmail servers both ways, with @mydomain.com adresses, works with every mail app, no need for aliases...

I am considering doing this. Does it work on both iOS and MacOS devices( ie iOS Mail and Apple Mail apps ) ?