5 ms·

> why Apple Mail can pull Gmail only every 15 minutes is beyond me ... It used to work, but Google removed Activesync support for free users a while back. you

by dan1234 10y ago

> why Apple Mail can pull Gmail only every 15 minutes is beyond me ... It used to work, but Google removed Activesync support for free users a while back. you need to use the Gmail app or upgrade to a paid Google Apps plan if you want push support.

profmonocle 10y ago
To be fair, Gmail does support the IMAP IDLE extension, which is the standard way of doing push email over IMAP. Mac mail supports it, and it works. (I actually get email notifications on my laptop before my Android phone.) iOS only supports email push with iCloud or with a Microsoft Exchange server. IMO, this is really on Apple for not supporting the IDLE extension on iOS, rather than Google for not supporting a proprietary protocol for their free users.
- ctrl_freak 10y ago
  > To be fair, Gmail does support the IMAP IDLE extension, which is the standard way of doing push email over IMAP. IDLE would become a major battery hog on the iPhone, which is why it was never implemented. I don't believe Android supports it natively either.
  - izacus 10y ago
    Why? It works the exact same way as Apple and Google push notification implementations do.
    - fuayenaha 10y ago
      It requires you to have an active connection to the server all the time.
      - swiley 10y ago
        That's just an entry in a table maintained by the kernel. "Active connection" doesn't nescisarily mean data is sent over it. Also, the other poster is right, this is exactly how the other push notifications work.
        fuayenaha 10y ago
        Of course, but the point is that you have only one connection open (the one to Apple or GCM), not one for each app, one for each imap account, etc. If you let anybody keep a connection alive continuosly you end up with a mess.
      - izacus 10y ago
        Just like Apple Push or Google FCM. How would that work otherwise if not with an idle connection? :)
        4ad 10y ago
        That is one connection for all apps, not n individual connections.
vetinari 10y ago
To be fair, Microsoft asked for licencing fees for ActiveSync used with Gmail. Of course, Google is not going to pay that for the free users, while Gapps users have that included in price (the legacy free Gapps users aren't getting ActiveSync either). There could be another way for Apple to support push email - they could support third party plug-ins providing protocol support for Mail.app, so Google could implement Gmail support, fastmail jmap support, etc. It is exactly this way, how Gmail app for Android supports ActiveSync.
gnicholas 10y ago
yep, and my (lame) workaround is to activate notifications for the Gmail app, which I never use. When I get a notification, I then open up the Mail app, which downloads the message. Clunky, but it works (as long as I remember to open the the Gmail app after restarting the phone, which is apparently required for the notifications to work).

by dan1234 10y ago

profmonocle 10y ago

To be fair, Gmail does support the IMAP IDLE extension, which is the standard way of doing push email over IMAP. Mac mail supports it, and it works. (I actually get email notifications on my laptop before my Android phone.) iOS only supports email push with iCloud or with a Microsoft Exchange server. IMO, this is really on Apple for not supporting the IDLE extension on iOS, rather than Google for not supporting a proprietary protocol for their free users.

ctrl_freak 10y ago
> To be fair, Gmail does support the IMAP IDLE extension, which is the standard way of doing push email over IMAP. IDLE would become a major battery hog on the iPhone, which is why it was never implemented. I don't believe Android supports it natively either.
- izacus 10y ago
  Why? It works the exact same way as Apple and Google push notification implementations do.
  - fuayenaha 10y ago
    It requires you to have an active connection to the server all the time.
    - swiley 10y ago
      That's just an entry in a table maintained by the kernel. "Active connection" doesn't nescisarily mean data is sent over it. Also, the other poster is right, this is exactly how the other push notifications work.
      - fuayenaha 10y ago
        Of course, but the point is that you have only one connection open (the one to Apple or GCM), not one for each app, one for each imap account, etc. If you let anybody keep a connection alive continuosly you end up with a mess.
    - izacus 10y ago
      Just like Apple Push or Google FCM. How would that work otherwise if not with an idle connection? :)
      - 4ad 10y ago
        That is one connection for all apps, not n individual connections.

vetinari 10y ago

To be fair, Microsoft asked for licencing fees for ActiveSync used with Gmail. Of course, Google is not going to pay that for the free users, while Gapps users have that included in price (the legacy free Gapps users aren't getting ActiveSync either). There could be another way for Apple to support push email - they could support third party plug-ins providing protocol support for Mail.app, so Google could implement Gmail support, fastmail jmap support, etc. It is exactly this way, how Gmail app for Android supports ActiveSync.

gnicholas 10y ago

yep, and my (lame) workaround is to activate notifications for the Gmail app, which I never use. When I get a notification, I then open up the Mail app, which downloads the message. Clunky, but it works (as long as I remember to open the the Gmail app after restarting the phone, which is apparently required for the notifications to work).