Push email delays

[3460169]

I had an twitter chat with @AppleSupport last night and they set me up with a call with a supposed "Senior Specialist" tonight. Like many of you here I'd go almost the entire day without a notification; if I got them at all it would be in batches, for emails sent to me at scattered times throughout the day.

Today is different, though. Knowing I have the call coming up tonight I've been trying all day to reproduce this further, sending emails like a schizophrenic talking with his alternate self -- and every single one has elicited a push notification within seconds of sending the mail (I'm sending from Gmail to my iCloud account. The iCloud account is the only one configured in my iOS Mail.app)

I'm not holding my breath but maybe... it's quietly been fixed?

 

[Morac]

I've been having this problem for weeks. Originally wasn't getting any push emails from iCloud, but lately push email sometimes works and sometimes doesn't on a device by device basis. I have an iPad Air 2 and iPhone 7 Plus, both on iOS 10.1.1 and when I get an email at iCloud one of four things happens:

1. I don't get any push mail at all.
2. I get a push on only my Ipad (sometimes delayed a few minutes)
3. I get a push on only my iPhone.
4. I get a push on both devices.

I talked with Apple Support and I was told there are no problems with their system. They said this can happen if I have too many emails in my trash folder or I'm too far away from my router (both bogus answers). The recommendation I was to delete my iCloud mail account off my device and re-add it, which I'm pretty sure won't help since other iCloud related push notifications appear to work, like reminder syncing and the like. When I mentioned this thread I was told just because some people are complaining about a problem, doesn't mean it's a system problem.

At this point iCloud push email is actually working worse than Yahoo push email and than has frequent problems, but at least pushing Yahoo mail works most of the time. Pushing iCloud mail mostly does not work.

 

[whsbuss]

Given that they recreated the issue why do they need more logs? Also there are a number of people on Apple support communities that have done so already. A lot of good it's doing all of us.

Post the link to the community thread. I'd like to read through them.
[doublepost=1478109393][/doublepost]

I've been having this problem for weeks. Originally wasn't getting any push emails from iCloud, but lately push email sometimes works and sometimes doesn't on a device by device basis. I have an iPad Air 2 and iPhone 7 Plus, both on iOS 10.1.1 and when I get an email at iCloud one of four things happens:

1. I don't get any push mail at all.
2. I get a push notification on only my Ipad (sometimes delayed a few minutes)
3. I get a push notification on only my iPhone.
4. I get a push notification on both devices.

I talked with Apple Support and I was told there are no problems with their system. They said this can happen if I have too many emails in my trash folder or I'm too far away from my router (both bogus answers). The recommendation I was to delete my iCloud mail account off my device and re-add it, which I'm pretty sure won't help since other iCloud related push notifications appear to work, like reminder syncing and the like. When I mentioned this thread I was told just because some people are complaining about a problem, doesn't mean it's a system problem.

At this point iCloud push email is actually work than Yahoo push email and than had frequent problems, but at least pushing Yahoo mail works most of the time. Pushing iCloud mail mostly does not work.

What gets me is Apple support has indeed experienced this problem. Yet they say there's no problem with their systems and want logs. I sent another tip to some national news outlets..... hope they pick this up.

 

[epelba01]

https://discussions.apple.com/message/30895994?ac_cid=tw123456&replyId=30895994#30895994

A user by the name of bradleyw75 claims that he downloaded the latest IPSW and manually updated his device and it is now working.
Not quiet sure what IPSW is and what he really means by it. Passing it along. Hoping someone smarter than me can decipher it.

 

[starkillers]

https://discussions.apple.com/message/30895994?ac_cid=tw123456&replyId=30895994#30895994

A user by the name of bradleyw75 claims that he downloaded the latest IPSW and manually updated his device and it is now working.
Not quiet sure what IPSW is and what he really means by it. Passing it along. Hoping someone smarter than me can decipher it.

I wouldn't put much stock in that. This is an Apple server issue, not an IOS issue. He most likely experienced one of the "holy crap" it actually worked moments. Let's see the follow up in a day. I literally just had an email as I am writing this come in that was sent 23 minutes ago. And probably because it actually fetched it and not pushed.

 

[3460169]

https://discussions.apple.com/message/30895994?ac_cid=tw123456&replyId=30895994#30895994

A user by the name of bradleyw75 claims that he downloaded the latest IPSW and manually updated his device and it is now working.
Not quiet sure what IPSW is and what he really means by it. Passing it along. Hoping someone smarter than me can decipher it.

An IPSW is the iOS software image package. I believe "IPSW" literally means "iPhone Software".

The latest IPSW from iTunes would be 10.1.1 and updating manually -- probably DFU mode, setting up as new? Not sure.


Anyway FWIW, I've been testing these notifications all day and ever single one has come through without an issue. This wasn't working properly yesterday and I did nothing my devices.

 

[starkillers]

An IPSW is the iOS software image package. I believe "IPSW" literally means "iPhone Software".

The latest IPSW from iTunes would be 10.1.1 and updating manually -- probably DFU mode, setting up as new? Not sure.


Anyway FWIW, I've been testing these notifications all day and ever single one has come through without an issue. This wasn't working properly yesterday and I did nothing my devices.

Remember, while you are testing, your phone must be asleep as that is when it happens. If you are using your phone or your phone is awake by a background app, it will indeed push. Too test, I suggest over the course of a day at random times do the following... Wake up your phone, manually refresh your email accounts, turn off the screen and let it sit for about a minute until the phone is actually asleep. Then send yourself a test email from another source (computer or tablet). Test this method over the course of the day, and see what comes through and what doesn't. If I were to take a guess, I'd say they push accurately about 25% of the time.

 

[epelba01]

Remember, while you are testing, your phone must be asleep as that is when it happens. If you are using your phone or your phone is awake by a background app, it will indeed push. Too test, I suggest over the course of a day at random times do the following... Wake up your phone, manually refresh your email accounts, turn off the screen and let it sit for about a minute until the phone is actually asleep. Then send yourself a test email from another source (computer or tablet). Test this method over the course of the day, and see what comes through and what doesn't. If I were to take a guess, I'd say they push accurately about 25% of the time.

I am glad it is working for you, however, it is not working here. I think just like was stated above, if the phone is awake, it will push.

 

[ATC]

Remember, while you are testing, your phone must be asleep as that is when it happens. If you are using your phone or your phone is awake by a background app, it will indeed push. Too test, I suggest over the course of a day at random times do the following... Wake up your phone, manually refresh your email accounts, turn off the screen and let it sit for about a minute until the phone is actually asleep. Then send yourself a test email from another source (computer or tablet). Test this method over the course of the day, and see what comes through and what doesn't. If I were to take a guess, I'd say they push accurately about 25% of the time.

FWIW, in my testing I found that the phone doesn't necessarily need to be asleep to reproduce the issue. In fact I remember the last call with my senior advisor he had me test it with my screen unlocked and the phone on and email still did not push to my device.

 

[whsbuss]

An IPSW is the iOS software image package. I believe "IPSW" literally means "iPhone Software".

The latest IPSW from iTunes would be 10.1.1 and updating manually -- probably DFU mode, setting up as new? Not sure.


Anyway FWIW, I've been testing these notifications all day and ever single one has come through without an issue. This wasn't working properly yesterday and I did nothing my devices.

Its not been perfect today but a lot have been pushed immediately.

 

[starkillers]

I am glad it is working for you, however, it is not working here. I think just like was stated above, if the phone is awake, it will push.

I said its about 25% of the time pushing accurately. I would hardly say 25% is considered working. Unless you meant to quote someone else, I am the one who mentioned it not working properly and how to test.

 

[3460169]

Remember, while you are testing, your phone must be asleep as that is when it happens. If you are using your phone or your phone is awake by a background app, it will indeed push. Too test, I suggest over the course of a day at random times do the following... Wake up your phone, manually refresh your email accounts, turn off the screen and let it sit for about a minute until the phone is actually asleep. Then send yourself a test email from another source (computer or tablet). Test this method over the course of the day, and see what comes through and what doesn't. If I were to take a guess, I'd say they push accurately about 25% of the time.

I have 19 mins of usage and 3h22m of standby since last full charge. Most of those 19 mins were while I was at lunch. Otherwise the phone's been on the desk, along with my tablet, idle nearly all of the work day thus far while I'm tapping away on the desktop. I was trying to make a conscious effort once every half hour or so to shoot myself an email from Gmail's web client, but have only been able to send 5 so far between 1130-1430EDT. All notifications have come through on both iPhone and iPad.

But lo and behold: the sixth attempt (as I'm writing this) has failed. So much for optimism. :/

 

[starkillers]

I have 19 mins of usage and 3h22m of standby since last full charge. Most of those 19 mins were while I was at lunch. Otherwise the phone's been on the desk, along with my tablet, idle nearly all of the work day thus far while I'm tapping away on the desktop. I was trying to make a conscious effort once every half hour or so to shoot myself an email from Gmail's web client, but have only been able to send 5 so far between 1130-1430EDT. All notifications have come through on both iPhone and iPad.

But lo and behold: the sixth attempt (as I'm writing this) has failed. So much for optimism. :/

I think Apple is playing with our emotions... LOL But yeah, it appears to work in short spurts, no rhyme or reason. But disappointed in the fact that they refuse to acknowledge or address this situation.

 

[slippy]

My wife and I have both been having this problem since early October or so. She started using Outlook last week as she's been unhappy with a couple things in the Mail app since iOS 10.

 

[Darshizzle]

ive noticed "increased" push activity today! prolly %15 of all emails have been pushed....the remaining %85 get dragged in with the emails that actually push.
if others are seeing this increased activity, its possible apple is tweeking the servers.

I would still fire their engineers' posteriors for incompetence/ inability to work the problem to solution.

IMHO!

 

[Morac]

I am glad it is working for you, however, it is not working here. I think just like was stated above, if the phone is awake, it will push.

Not from my experience. The phone can be awake and I'll never get a push.

 

[whsbuss]

Not from my experience. The phone can be awake and I'll never get a push.

I've had that happen at times too. I agree with another poster this started the 1st week of October but took a few days to understand what was happening. Nothing is perfect, but 15-20% push sure is less than I expect from the almighty Apple.

 

[Darshizzle]

I've had that happen at times too. I agree with another poster this started the 1st week of October but took a few days to understand what was happening. Nothing is perfect, but 15-20% push sure is less than I expect from the almighty Apple.

agreed! %20 is a hard fail.

My point was that there seems to be activity on the servers.......my mac mail app was showing unable to connect to its imap-06 server! Something is up if mac cant connect!

We may be having an affect......dont stop complaining/ pushing the Death Star's buttons

Gotta go pick up my BB dtek60!

 

[ATC]

I haven't noticed anything different on this front today. Push still not working. Apple just left me another voicemail at home saying nothing new to report from engineering. smh

 

[whsbuss]

I haven't noticed anything different on this front today. Push still not working. Apple just left me another voicemail at home saying nothing new to report from engineering. smh

Oh the pessimist in me says that's not a good sign. Then again maybe they are working on it. Nothing yet from the media

 

[epelba01]

So the same Senior iOS Advisor (Joe Donlin) called me today. During our conversation I asked him whether he advised the engineering team that he himself was able to recreate the issue on his coworkers device, and his answer was that due to privacy reasons he is not able to comment. This is just outrageous that their senior tech recreates the problem and engineering is likely not aware. So upsetting. I hope that some of the executives are reading their emails and are aware how stupid all of this sounds.

 

[RansZ28]

I wouldn't put much stock in that. This is an Apple server issue, not an IOS issue. He most likely experienced one of the "holy crap" it actually worked moments. Let's see the follow up in a day. I literally just had an email as I am writing this come in that was sent 23 minutes ago. And probably because it actually fetched it and not pushed.

Not an iOS? Remember that push services will stay in que to push until it's received or receiver request it. Meaning if all you have is an iPhone and it's turned off, the push email will stay in que and continue to push until it's received (device turned on). The iOS device could be an issue as well. Meaning while the mail app is not in use it's dormant and not waiting to receive. Mail app with push should never be in a dormant state to receive data.
Only Apple knows what they have set up and the issue(s) that are within.

 

[Darshizzle]

Not an iOS? Remember that push services will stay in que to push until it's received or receiver request it. Meaning if all you have is an iPhone and it's turned off, the push email will stay in que and continue to push until it's received (device turned on). The iOS device could be an issue as well. Meaning while the mail app is not in use it's dormant and not waiting to receive. Mail app with push should never be in a dormant state to receive data.
Only Apple knows what they have set up and the issue(s) that are within.

https://tidbits.com/article/13344

 

[RansZ28]

https://tidbits.com/article/13344

Nice read.

 

[Morac]

https://tidbits.com/article/13344

That article describes push as how it works for apps. For the iOS Mail program it works slightly differently. For mail servers that support push mail in the iOS Mail app (iCloud, Yahoo, Outlook, etc), when a new mail arrives at the server, the server sends a message to Apple's Push Notification server as described in the article, but it doesn't get sent to the iOS device as a normal push notification.

When a mail server push notification comes in, it triggers the iOS Mail app to go out and fetch all new Mail for that server's inbox via IMAP. That's why when push mail is working correctly, you can actually put the phone in airplane mode after mail is pushed to the iOS device and open the app and read the mail. This is actually easy to see if the Mail app is already open when new mail arrives as you'll see it download all the new Mail for that server.

That differs to how the article describes it, which is sending a push notification containing a brief summary of the email. That's how third party apps like Yahoo Mail and Gmail work, but the native Mail app is special.