Tired of being late to the party due to email messages that arrive belated on your iOS device? With push email, you can be notified the second an email arrives. Read on to find out how to set up a Google Apps accounts that supports push email by using the Microsoft Exchange features in iOS. We'll show you how to convert your existing IMAP Gmail accounts into IMAP Push accounts.
First, navigate to Settings > Mail, Contacts, and Calendars > Add Account.
On this screen, select "Microsoft Exchange" instead of the typically-pressed "Gmail" button.
On the resulting form, type in your full email address in both the Email and Username fields, and then enter your Password. Leave the Domain field blank. You can enter a more useful name for the email account in the Description field (we chose "Gmail") -- this is the name that will appear in the Mail app. When you have finished filling out the form, tap the Next button.
After a few seconds of verification, the form will be updated with a Server field. Enter "m.google.com" (without quotes) in the field and tap Next again.
On the next screen, you will be able to enable or disable the Mail, Contacts, and Calendars that are stored in your Gmail/Google account. Tap Save when you're done.
After a few seconds, your account will be added and you should be able to receive email messages almost instantly after they are sent to you. If you notice that messages are being received slowly, you may want to check that Push is turned ON in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data.
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vterm
December 28, 2011 at 2:37pm
Cory, thanks for clarifying this!
I am using Snow Leopard Server for my company's IMAP accounts, and messages always
arrive instantly on desktops, iPhones and iPads, so i was under the impression that Push equals IMAP.
I discovered today though that SLS indeed supports Push, although it didn't work at first...
But it works fine with the latest version of SLS and iOS 5.
Thanks again.(Edit: Sorry, i forgot to press reply, and message appeared out of the discussion)
jon8994
December 27, 2011 at 11:51pm
Great article. I set up my Gmail account to an exchange and emails are coming in pretty instantly as described. However, I’ve noticed that if I “flag” an email on my iPhone or MacBook Pro it does not sync across to flag it on all the devices. Am I missing some other setting?
vterm
December 27, 2011 at 6:18pm
Excuse me Cory,
but please explain this to me...
What is the difference between push and IMAP?
I was under the impression that they are exactly the same thing!
IMAP is the technical term for the more fancy, commercial term "Push"
If you just setup any plain IMAP account (like gmail or MobileMe) and set the Fetch New Data to Push,
then you get exactly the same result with what you describe above....Or maybe i am missing something?
corybohon
December 27, 2011 at 7:56pm
Hi vterm,
IMAP (or Internet message access protocol) is a way for your email client to directly interact with messages on the server (view, move, organize, and delete). With IMAP, messages are usually not stored locally, but are dynamically pulled and read from the server.
Push is essentially an extension of the IMAP protocol (commonly referred to as IMAP 4), and often called Push-IMAP. It allows for more constant communication with the server; with Push, you get the same benefits of IMAP coupled with IMAP IDLE, which is a technology that allows for the instant-alert system that Push provides.
From Wikipedia's IMAP IDLE article (goo.gl/qH0CZ): "The IDLE feature allows IMAP e-mail users to immediately receive any mailbox changes without having to undertake any action such as clicking on a refresh button, or having the e-mail client automatically and repeatedly ask the server for new messages."
