Fetch or Push?

Apple recommends turning off push to optimize the battery life:

"Turn off push mail: If you have a push mail account such as Yahoo!, MobileMe or Microsoft Exchange, turn off push when you don’t need it. Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and set Push to Off. Messages sent to your push email accounts will now be received on your phone based on the global Fetch setting rather than as they arrive."

http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

What? Why would fetch be the better setting? Fetch is no different than checking manually; fetch simply adds automated regularity, e.g. every half hour, every hour. Which means the phone will be asking all five servers "Any mail yet?" every half hour, or whatever you set it to, whether there is mail or not.

But with push, the phone doesn't ask the servers if there is mail. If a server gets new mail for you, the server talks to the phone, and "pushes" out the mail to the phone. So unlike fetch, there is server-to-phone communication only when there is mail.

It seems to me that because there is no needless server polling, "push" would be the much more energy-efficient setting.

Fetch will likely be better along with automatically checking for new mail every 30 minutes or every hour. You can always to a manual check in between.

Are you accessing an email account that supports Push access?

Well, I stand corrected. What's odd is that when I tried switching from push to fetch, my battery percentage was consistently less at the end of the day. I wonder if how much mail you receive makes a difference?

But regardless of what happened to me, I can't argue what it is that Apple recommends, and that is to use fetch.

Maybe I'll just add the comment, "Your mileage may vary." 🙂

You're welcome.

There is a general Push access setting that is separate from the email account setting for Push access with an email account that supports Push access for received messages. The general Push access setting must be on to sync contacts and calendar events over the air with a MobileMe account automatically, and for the Find My iPhone feature with a MobileMe account. You can enable or disable Push access for received messages separately with a MobileMe account and with any other account that supports Push access for received messages.

Push access for received messages is supported with a MobileMe account, an Exchange account accessed via ActiveSync, and with a Yahoo account that is created with the Yahoo account preset.

I have a MobileMe account, and I use a number of 3rd party apps that provide Push notifications, but I don't have Push access enabled for received messages with my MobileMe account. My Fetch setting for my 2 email accounts is for the accounts to be automatically checked for new messages every 30 minutes.

My settings are as follows:

At Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data, Push is on. Below the Fetch section, I have every 30 minutes selected.

Select Advanced, and for my MobileMe Contacts/Calendars, Push is selected. For my MobileMe email account, Fetch is selected. (This is where you can select Push access separately for received messages with your MobileMe account.) And for my 2nd email account that doesn't support Push access, I have Fetch selected.

In order for the Find My iPhone feature to work, you must have Push on at Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data > Push > On.

In theory, yes.

Push access was/is designed for smart phones with battery consumption in mind, and for those who must have every single email delivered right when it is received at the incoming mail server.

This has turned out not to be the case for many who have push access enabled for an email account that supports push access.

It depends on how much mail you receive. If you are just receiving a few per hour than you are probably correct, or at least it will break even. But if you are receiving 40 or 50 emails spread across an hour then the phone is activating, and using power, each time an email is sent to it, and it would use more battery life.