Cant stop emails from downloading iPhone 3G

If Fetch is set to Manual and Push is off the phone will only download email when the mail app is open. So you are either not closing the mail app, or you are opening it periodically. "Manual" means "fetch email when I open the mail app".

If you don't even want that go to Settings/Mail,contacts & calendar and turn off the mail account.

HighLife420 wrote:
thanks for the help...

im not opening the mail program at all...however, i noticed when i opened my SMS window, sometimes if im on Wifi, it will connect and check my mail.

If i go and turn off the account in settings, and i do need to check the mail, will i need to enter all the info again or will it save the settings (SMTP, POP3, User/pass etc etc).

No, you can turn it off and on. It will save your settings. I have never seen this problem; I only get mail on my manual accounts when I open Mail; not when I open SMS.

If your phone is jailbroken all bets are off, of course.

I don't understand what is happening on your phone. It certainly doesn't happen on mine. I have 2 POP3 accounts, 1 IMAP and one Exchange account. I have Fetch OFF and Push on. I get my Exchange mail in real time whether the mail app is open or not. I do not get any other mail until I open the mail app. I don't get mail when I open Contacts, don't get mail when I text.

The only thing I can think of is that your phone is jailbroken and allows multiple apps to run at the same time, one of them being mail.

BTW, what is so terrible about getting mail? If you are in the US and on AT&T you have unlimited data, so it isn't costing you anything.

The only reason I asked if it was jailbroken is because a jailbroken phone can do what you describe.

I'm not sure what you mean about opening contacts via the iphone page vs the springboard. What are these?

Jailbroken phones can run apps in background, among other things. So mail could run at the same time with other apps. When phones do odd things that most people don't see the first thought is that the phone isn't normal.

I tried to duplicate the issue you posted. I sent an email to a POP3 account, then opened the brown Contacts icon. The phone did not retrieve the email.

I then sent an email to an IMAP account on the phone, and opened Contacts. Again, the phone did not retrieve the email.

Next I sent an email to an Exchange push account I have on the iPhone. This time the badge on the mail app showed 1 message, which is what I would expect. I again opened Contacts and the phone did not retrieve any email.

Finally, I opened the mail app. The POP and IMAP messages were downloaded after I opened mail, not before. The Exchange push message was already there.

So I don't see why your phone is acting differently. All I can suggest at this point is to do a Restore as a new phone, then recreated your email accounts if you are sure push, notifications, and Fetch are all off.

One thing you may be seeing is if you open email, then close it, mail will continue to be downloaded after it is closed. This is the only app that works that way. If you had a lot of backlogged email this could take some time.

Unfortunately, short of turning off accounts in Settings there is no way to selective download email from accounts. Once you open mail they will all download.

I used a first generation iPhone for over a year, and I've used my 3G for over a year now, and I've never experienced the same.

I don't believe this is common. If this were common, there would be many posts here reporting the same, which I haven't seen.

Since restoring your iPhone with iTunes as a new iPhone or not from your iPhone's backup has not resolved this, the iPhone includes a one year warranty. You can call AppleCare at (800) 694-7466, or make an appointment at an Apple store if there is one nearby.