IMAP-IDLE urgently needed on iOS as well

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Level 1

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IMAP-IDLE urgently needed on iOS as well

There is a mail provider called Posteo. I contacted the support team because I was confused about why I was receiving mail notifications on macOS but not on iOS.

They explained that while macOS supports IMAP-IDLE, iOS does not support it, which is why my notifications from Posteo are not being received on iOS.

It is unclear why push support is inconsistent within Apple's ecosystem. If it works on macOS, it is urgently needed on iOS as well. I have seen other topics regarding the same issue and provider.

Is there any known workaround to get the notifications on iOS as well?

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Reply from Support Team:

"We offer push via IMAP-IDLE, which iOS unfortunately does not support. We do not wish to use the iOS push feature, because Apple requests and saves user information, which is undesirable in terms of privacy. We regret to inform that Apple does not offer any other push alternatives that we could use.

However, macOS does support IMAP-IDLE."

iPhone 13, iOS 17

Posted on Dec 13, 2023 4:59 AM

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Answer 1

edclange

Level 5

4,860 points

Dec 13, 2023 9:33 AM in response to szabosa

The IMAP4 IDLE command requires a device to maintain a constant network socket connection to the IMAP server. This is easy for a computer, since they have constant power and nowadays they usually have a constant internet connection.

A mobile device does not have the luxury of constantly maintaining network connections. That is unreliable when moving between cell towers and would kill battery life.

Since Apple already provides a way of using their own reliable push notification infrastructure, they have no incentive to resolve the inherent problems with native IMAP notification on mobile devices. The fact that your email provider is reluctant to use iOS push notifications is not likely to change Apple's opinion on the matter.

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IMAP-IDLE urgently needed on iOS as well

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