If an iOS user wants real push mail

estephan500 · 15 May 2012, 02:12 PM

I have read the thread about Push and its meanings and issues over in the fastmail forum. It got sort of academic and nitpicky, as opposed to arriving at clear practical advice.

I thought I would re-open the topic with a clearer goal:

If today a user of iOS wants to have good Push mail functionality (which I will define as: the user will be notified of a new arriving email, even if say 8 hours have passed since the last time their email client was touched or accessed) ... Then what combination of email providers, configurations, and/or client apps installed on their device will make this happen?

If you want to refer to protocols or esoteric knowledge in replying, please make it in service of a practical answer, not just a floating "gotcha." ...

What combination of email provider / config / iOS app will make push work as I have imagined it above?

THANKS MUCH! --Eric

estephan500 · 15 May 2012, 02:13 PM

Also, perhaps "which iOS device" is an issue. For example, i don't have an iPhone but rather an iPad and an iPod touch. If that makes a difference, that would be great to know also!

gcrouse · 16 May 2012, 05:32 AM

Use icloud email or Exchange/Activesync (e.g., google apps, Polarismail)

estephan500 · 16 May 2012, 07:36 AM

You suggested google. I had heard that advice before and configured my iOS mail to include my gmail account... there was no difference in performance with regards to push. I assume you are not saying that getting gmail via google apps us somehow different? Have you seen google have better push to ios, or had you simply heard that it would work?

awasmuth · 17 May 2012, 01:15 AM

Any mail provider with IMAP idle and on top NuevaSync for push. Using this since February, not a single missed mail, everything pushed instantly, even message flags (read, replied, forwarded, etc.).

Alex

George_B · 17 May 2012, 04:02 AM

I think I said this before, but I will re-post since I think it's useful.

Nobody out there can offer real push, except for Blackberry. Their stuff is patented, works at the carrier level and that's why Blackberry batteries last twice as long as iPhone/Android. A Blackberry maintains no data connection to the server and the tower can actually initiate connection to your device and notify it when new data needs to be 'pushed'.

IMAP IDLE is nothing more than an 'idle' connection that has to be maintained and therefore it uses just a tiny bit of data and current.

ActiveSync does the same except it also includes Calendar & Contacts.

Google Sync is nothing more than rebranded ActiveSync.

awasmuth · 17 May 2012, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by George_B

IMAP IDLE is nothing more than an 'idle' connection that has to be maintained and therefore it uses just a tiny bit of data and current.

Sorry if one could get the impression that I was proposing IMAP Idle as _the_ mobile push solution. NuevaSync has implemented ActiveSync so your iPhone/iPad/Android is connected to the NuevaSync servers with ActiveSync. NuevaSync is acting as a client to your IMAP mailbox and is using IMAP Idle to get notified about any changes which are then push immediately to your mobile device.

So think of NuevaSync as an intermediate layer comparable to a BlackBerry Enterprise Server. But for this to work your provider needs to be supporting IMAP Idle.

Cheers,
Alex

George_B · 17 May 2012, 04:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awasmuth

Sorry if one could get the impression that I was proposing IMAP Idle as _the_ mobile push solution. NuevaSync has implemented ActiveSync so your iPhone/iPad/Android is connected to the NuevaSync servers with ActiveSync. NuevaSync is acting as a client to your IMAP mailbox and is using IMAP Idle to get notified about any changes which are then push immediately to your mobile device.

So think of NuevaSync as an intermediate layer comparable to a BlackBerry Enterprise Server. But for this to work your provider needs to be supporting IMAP Idle.

Cheers,
Alex

but what would the benefit be of using NuevaSync ? If your provider supports IMAP IDLE you could connect to them directly. ActiveSync'ed e-mail has no advantage whatsoever over IMAP IDLE. If it's for Contacts/Calendar, then yes, it's a solution, but rather complicated if you ask me...

awasmuth · 17 May 2012, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by George_B

but what would the benefit be of using NuevaSync ? If your provider supports IMAP IDLE you could connect to them directly. ActiveSync'ed e-mail has no advantage whatsoever over IMAP IDLE. If it's for Contacts/Calendar, then yes, it's a solution, but rather complicated if you ask me...

The benefit is push email. iOS does not support IMAP IDLE (and if it would it would be a battery killer), so NuevaSync will add Exchange ActiveSync on top of your IMAP mailbox just as BES adds push email for BlackBerrys to your Exchange mailbox.

And answering Eric's question; If you want push email for iOS then you can get

- an Exchange server with ActiveSync
- me.com (iCloud)
- yahoo.com
- Google with their ActiveSync implementation (GoogleSync)
- a mail provider who already implements ActiveSync
- a mail provider with IMAP IDLE plus NuevaSync (if you don't want to change your existing provider and only want to add ActiveSync push email)

Cheers,
Alex

George_B · 17 May 2012, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awasmuth

The benefit is push email. iOS does not support IMAP IDLE (and if it would it would be a battery killer)

Ah ok. Didn't know iOS didn't support IMAP IDLE.

In any case, ActiveSync offers no advantage over IMAP IDLE when it comes to battery usage. Both maintain active connections or can be configured to check e-mail every X minutes instead so the drain on the battery is the same.

jdtaylor · 18 May 2012, 12:37 AM

I agree, don't use push just poll for emails every say 15-30 minutes that saves a lot of battery, I discovered this to my benefit when using my mobiles discovering keeping it on a constant push eat the battery and it won't do your data allowances any good.

estephan500 · 19 May 2012, 12:00 AM

This is clear and useful. Especially appreciate the nuevasync recommendation and awasmuth's list in reply to my question.

You know, once I had tested yahoo by configuring my iPad's iOS mail client to my yahoo mail accoint... and I could swear it did not push... But I can try that again.

Thx
Eric

15 May 2012, 02:12 PM	#1
estephan500 Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 22	If an iOS user wants real push mail I have read the thread about Push and its meanings and issues over in the fastmail forum. It got sort of academic and nitpicky, as opposed to arriving at clear practical advice. I thought I would re-open the topic with a clearer goal: If today a user of iOS wants to have good Push mail functionality (which I will define as: the user will be notified of a new arriving email, even if say 8 hours have passed since the last time their email client was touched or accessed) ... Then what combination of email providers, configurations, and/or client apps installed on their device will make this happen? If you want to refer to protocols or esoteric knowledge in replying, please make it in service of a practical answer, not just a floating "gotcha." ... What combination of email provider / config / iOS app will make push work as I have imagined it above? THANKS MUCH! --Eric

15 May 2012, 02:13 PM	#2
estephan500 Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 22	Also, if "which device" is an issue... Also, perhaps "which iOS device" is an issue. For example, i don't have an iPhone but rather an iPad and an iPod touch. If that makes a difference, that would be great to know also!

19 May 2012, 12:00 AM	#12
estephan500 Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 22	Great, much thanks! This is clear and useful. Especially appreciate the nuevasync recommendation and awasmuth's list in reply to my question. You know, once I had tested yahoo by configuring my iPad's iOS mail client to my yahoo mail accoint... and I could swear it did not push... But I can try that again. Thx Eric

16 May 2012, 05:32 AM	#3
gcrouse Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 18	Use icloud email or Exchange/Activesync (e.g., google apps, Polarismail)

16 May 2012, 07:36 AM	#4
estephan500 Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 22	You suggested google. I had heard that advice before and configured my iOS mail to include my gmail account... there was no difference in performance with regards to push. I assume you are not saying that getting gmail via google apps us somehow different? Have you seen google have better push to ios, or had you simply heard that it would work?

17 May 2012, 01:15 AM	#5
awasmuth Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Germany Posts: 151	Any mail provider with IMAP idle and on top NuevaSync for push. Using this since February, not a single missed mail, everything pushed instantly, even message flags (read, replied, forwarded, etc.). Alex

17 May 2012, 04:02 AM	#6
George_B Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 704 Representative of: PolarisMail.com	I think I said this before, but I will re-post since I think it's useful. Nobody out there can offer real push, except for Blackberry. Their stuff is patented, works at the carrier level and that's why Blackberry batteries last twice as long as iPhone/Android. A Blackberry maintains no data connection to the server and the tower can actually initiate connection to your device and notify it when new data needs to be 'pushed'. IMAP IDLE is nothing more than an 'idle' connection that has to be maintained and therefore it uses just a tiny bit of data and current. ActiveSync does the same except it also includes Calendar & Contacts. Google Sync is nothing more than rebranded ActiveSync.

18 May 2012, 12:37 AM	#11
jdtaylor Master of the @ Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,693	I agree, don't use push just poll for emails every say 15-30 minutes that saves a lot of battery, I discovered this to my benefit when using my mobiles discovering keeping it on a constant push eat the battery and it won't do your data allowances any good.