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imap synchronization on read/unread flag stopped with iOS 4.1, then 4.2

I use dreamhost imap on my mac and on my iphone. Until around the 4.1 timeframe there were no issues but around 4.1 on the iphone I noticed messages that I read on my mac are still marked as unread on my iPhone. I currently have something like 62 (out of 200 visible) unread messages on my iPhone. It's not predictable as far as I can tell which messages are unread. It's just a percentage of them.

Meanwhile my iPad had zero trouble.

Until the 4.2 update on the iPad. Now the iPad is exhibiting the exact same behavior as my iPhone, neither of which had trouble until the 4.1 timeframe.

gmail in imap mode works fine. However, clearly this is something that changed in the iphone software.

Anybody else seen this problem or have a fix/workaround? I've tried deleting my account and starting over. That works initially but quickly goes back.

BTW, it's happening to me and my wife and my friends also on dreamhost.

Macbook 2.4Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Nov 28, 2010 7:29 AM

49 replies

Mar 6, 2011 2:04 AM in response to John Young1

I have tried with SSL turned on and turned off, on port 143 and 993, and it makes no difference. The phone, as of the 4.x iOS does not stay in sync with dreamhost IMAP servers anymore. Really fed up but I agree the best thing to do is way to see if Apple fixes the bug they introduced in 4.x when they release 4.3. If it's still broken then I will renew my efforts to get this bug noticed and fixed.

Mar 10, 2011 1:47 AM in response to Jonathan Payne1

I think the 4.3 release of iOS has solved the problem. It might be too soon to tell but ... I think they fixed it. Sheesh - if only Apple would ever EVER respond to threads like this to give us a sign that they are working on it ... that would go a long way ...

Mar 10, 2011 2:18 PM in response to Jonathan Payne1

I made it through most of the day with 4.3, but now I have one email that's been read on the computer, and is showing as unread on the iPhone. Curiously, this bug only affects the iPhone. My iPad with 4.3 shows everything correctly. At least at this point.

Actually, it's pretty easy to test. I just marked two emails as unread in Apple mail, then refreshed the iPhone and iPad. They show up as being unread on the iPad and there is no change on the iPhone.

I have two Dreamhost accts set up on the iPhone. One has been working properly and the other has not. I just checked the port settings. The one that was working was on 993. The one that didn't, was on 143. When I changed it to 993, the mailbox synced properly and is now up to date. I'll keep an eye on it going forward.

Mar 10, 2011 3:35 PM in response to John Young1

Did you reset your account on your iphone?? I had to do that. I deleted it from my iphone and then resynced with itunes.

Meanwhile, I had ZERO trouble with my email all day until - get this - YOUR MESSAGE showed up in my box! That one got out of sync! But, I was able to mark it unread on my computer and then read again and the fixed on my iphone. There's definitely something very different in this area. I think the problem is probably fixed with possibly the occasional hiccup that probably can happen from time to time ... but I never used to notice because it was so uncommon.

Anyway, fingers still crossed.

Basseq

Level 1

4 points

Mar 15, 2011 3:01 PM in response to John Young1

iPad's getting updated to iOS 4.3 as we speak; I'll work with it for a week and see if the issue is solved. My iPhone 3G is no longer supported by upgrades, so I'm SOL until I upgrade (soon).

Basseq

Level 1

4 points

Mar 23, 2011 10:57 AM in response to Basseq

iOS 4.3 appears to have the same problems after a week or so of testing. It seems I have a simple choice of either trusting Google (ha!) with my e-mail or finding a new hosting provider. What a pain.

Mar 23, 2011 11:16 AM in response to Basseq

I will never go with google. I have found that it's much better than it used to be. For example, if I go into the mac Mail client and mark a chunk as unread and then mark them as read, and THEN update my phone, it fixes the ones on the phone.

So it's better but still messed up. VERY annoying that Apple got something this basic wrong and hasn't fixed it 4 or 5 months later...

Still I think I can live with the current limitations ...

Basseq

Level 1

4 points

Mar 23, 2011 11:39 AM in response to Jonathan Payne1

I'm still of the belief that there's something Dreamhost could do, considering that I connect to other IMAP servers on my iOS devices with no problems whatsoever.

I created a suggestion in the DH Panel, if anyone is interested:

https://panel.dreamhost.com/index.cgi?tree=home.sugg&category=_all&search=Addres s%20IMAP%20Sync%20Is

Apr 9, 2011 9:05 AM in response to Basseq

I just voted for the suggestion. Very frustrating. This is completely not working for me. ARGH!

Aug 21, 2011 8:18 AM in response to Jonathan Payne1

I have had this issue for years - but I didn't own an iOS device. There is something wonky beyond just iPhones.

I found that if I checked my email using DH's web-based Squirrel Mail at work and come home to check my email via Mac Mail (10.6), none of the messages that I read at work would show up in my Inbox. Even clicking "get new mail" did not work! You had to quit Mac Mail and reload for all of those messages to appear; your account was dead until the reload.

FYI, Squirrel Mail uses IMAP to connect to DH's mail servers. Ergo, another IMAP client.

I took the advice offered way-up above in this thread and deleted my IMAP mail account from Mac Mail and recreated it under a different name ("dream" instead of "dreamhost" - to force the Mac to not use old settings). Now, it appears to work. I can read or delete in either place and it gets sync'd properly. I purchased an iPad yesterday and the sync'ing appears to work well on it too (between all three sources).

I'm not sure if the issue is Apple or DH. But, for now, it appears to work for me.

Oct 2, 2011 12:29 PM in response to Jonathan Payne1

I have been waiting anxiously for the next release of iOS which promises to be big.

However, um, I have a feeling Dreamhost did something because ... as far as I can tell my email has been nicely synced for a few days now. Maybe longer.

Anybody else who was having problems notice the change?

Dec 7, 2012 12:34 AM in response to Jonathan Payne1

Hooray! With a tremendous amount of support and patience from Apple, and a clue to what changed in the 4.0 time frame, I was able to find the bug report in the IMAP servers used by Dreamhost and send them a convincing enough email that they took the time to confirm the issue at long last! Previously and for the past couple of years Dreamhost has been saying that it was Apple's fault, and in a sense it was, because Apple started using an IMAP feature that is designed to make the whole IMAP synchronization a lot more efficient. Unfortunately dreamhost's IMAP server (dovecot) was buggy.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that dreamhost has confirmed the problem AND the fix, and will be deploying new IMAP servers across their infrastructure as soon as they can finishing testing it.

Dec 8, 2012 7:34 AM in response to Jonathan Payne1

Finally! Have you followed up with Dreamhost on a postmortem? This issue was years in the making at it seems like it could have been handled better. Why did it take so long? Even if the final analysis of the process breakdown is private to DH, at least they can learn from this. Also, is there a public direct link to the DH bug report that you would be willing to share?

Dec 8, 2012 8:34 AM in response to veggiespam

There is no DH bug report. I filed a bug with Apple. They responded immediately and multiple times. I am impressed as they are a big company with lots of users.

Dreamhost was initially told (by me and others) that the problem started when iOS 4 was shipped. So they ran with that because, really, the alternative was much harder. I hope they will live and learn from this. The simple lesson is, Just because somebody else's change causes a problem, it doesn't mean that it is not the fault of DH. Meanwhile, the bug was fixed in April 2012 (in the dovecot IMAP server) which was well over a year after I first reported the problem. So it was going to be slow going anyway. If I had contacted Apple and given them my logs way back at the beginning, they would have told me the important information and perhaps the dovecot group would have fixed the problem sooner.

Finally, DH hasn't fixed the problem yet. They need to upgrade all their IMAP servers to the right version of dovecot. They will likely be catious. I for one will not believe this is fixed until they tell me that they have deployed the new servers and I *never* see the problem again. Fingers crossed.

I'd send you a pointer to the apple bug report but I cannot seem to use their site right now due to a bug, so I cannot even look it up.

Jan 4, 2013 7:42 AM in response to Jonathan Payne1

Thank you Jonathan Payne1. I've been following you on this thread for a long time now -- and hopefully it's your persistence that will finally help to get this fixed.

I should note that in December 2012 I opened a ticket with DH about this. Their final response (on Dec 7) was:

I apologize for the belated response. Is your iPhone up to date on its

iOS if not possibly that could be the reason. Also just to be sure you

are using IMAP correct? If not be sure to set it to be IMAP instead of

POP. If everything is up to date though and setting are correct then I

would suggest possibly contacting iPhone support forums to see what fixes

they might have because your IMAP client on your phone should be syncing

with our servers without any problems.

imap synchronization on read/unread flag stopped with iOS 4.1, then 4.2