New to iPhone from BlackBerry - Email delays until fetching

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Level 1

5 points

New to iPhone from BlackBerry - Email delays until fetching

Hi,

Just took delivery of my sparkly new iPhone. Been with BlackBerry for as long as I can remember, but now got a chance to change over to iPhone and grabbed the opportunity.

OK. So first point of note for me is, with my BlackBerry I used to get notified of e-mails whenever they came through - Even if the screen had switched off I was always assured that the BlackBerry would notify me soon as an e-mail or MSN message came through, with an audible noise or the status light would change to flashing red if on silent/vibrate only - - - I do not seem to be able to set up this status on the new iPhone, is it possible ?

Is it possible to make the screen turn off to save battery life, but the phone to still be ready to receive MSN or E-Mail messages ? Seems to me that when the screen locks, it´s actually going to sleep fully.

MBP, iMac i3, MacMini, MacBook, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Mar 30, 2011 11:19 AM

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Answer 1

JoeZinVA

Level 2

431 points

Mar 30, 2011 11:31 AM in response to BonTrade

The iPhone does not come with an LED indicator unfortunately. The rest of the smartphones do, but Apple has chosen not to include it in all four generations. I doubt it will be included in future generations either.

You can increase your ringer to maximum before locking and if you have your phone out of pocket, it will chime if you have a new email. If you have your iPhone on vibration mode, it'll vibrate.
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You can download applications such as Boxcar which will send you a push notification when it has detected you have received a new email or social account updates (Facebook, Twitter, etc).

Your screen will light up and Boxcar will state you have received an email or MSN alert.
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As far as MSN goes, if you have Microsoft's hotmail app installed and it is still running in the background, you will receive push notifications. However if you are offline or closed the app from the multitasking bar, it probably won't send notifications.

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Answer 2

BonTrade Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 30, 2011 1:18 PM in response to JoeZinVA

Yes, sorry for being a little unclear there - I realize there wasn´t a status LED indicator, I was just mentioning it for no good reason (lol)...

The point was that I am not getting notified of mails even if the app remains open and forefront (unless I put the PIN in and then the app checks mail and downloads them straight away, soon as phone is off "sleep". That´s obviously no good to me, can´t keep checking it every 5mins... something must be set wrong, any ideas ?

OK on the MSN app, I was using some 3rd party thing, and it wasn´t working properly, I downloaded the MS Hotmail App version from iTunes and it started notifying straight away, long as I keep that app forefront (note: has to be forefront, even if running still in background, open with multitasking, it does not notify, has to be forefront app!)

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Answer 3

Mar 30, 2011 1:47 PM in response to BonTrade

What PIN are you entering when checking for new email each time?

Who is the email account provider?

With the iPhone, push access for received messages is supported with a Yahoo account created with the Yahoo account preset, with a MobileMe account, and with an Exchange account. If you are not accessing an account with push access, what is your Fetch setting for automatically checking the account for new messages? Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data.

Regarding the MSN app, it is up to the app developer for an app to have it running in the background when not being actively used or when not in the forefront. More than likely the app is in a suspended state or quit when not being actively used and not in the forefront. If suspended in that situation, the app developer must provide and support push access for app functions when the app is not being used and not in the forefront. Is the app available when selecting Notifications at Settings > Notifications? If so, what notification settings are available for the app and are they enabled? That is where the push notification settings are located for the app - the type of notification such as badges, alerts, sounds.

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Answer 4

BonTrade Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 30, 2011 1:56 PM in response to Allan Sampson

The PIN is the one I have to put in to get the screen unlocked, after sliding the lock to the right.....

Email accounts are from gmail and my own server..

Fetch is set to 15minutes, but nothing comes because by then the screen has turned off.

Understand regarding the MSN app - It is set for "sound on" (when app is open) but only works when in the forefront. Mail is the important thing for the moment anyway....

A related question on the mail, which was going to come next (after getting the receiving sorted) was whether it is possible to "fetch" more regularly than 15mins ?

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Answer 5

Mar 30, 2011 2:06 PM in response to BonTrade

Push access for received email with an account that supports push access and fetch should work regardless if your iPhone is locked and if the screen is off or if the Mail app is not in the forefront. It always has with my iPhone.

The quickest automatic Fetch setting is every 15 minutes. If there were additional Fetch options, they would be in the same location.

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Answer 6

KC7GNM

Level 4

2,904 points

Mar 30, 2011 4:49 PM in response to BonTrade

Then it means that the MSN app is not optimized for multitasking and when it is closed it is only frozen and not still running. Yahoo messenger works even when the app is closed by using the push notifications.

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Answer 7

D1337

Level 1

20 points

Mar 31, 2011 8:03 PM in response to KC7GNM

I have my gmail setup as an IMAP account and it pushes to my phone instantly. Same as it does my Macbook and my Imac. If I delete something one on it is synched within seconds on all three. Same with all the other functions.

Mobile Me works that way by default I guess as I never set anything up and it has worked ever since that service has been offered.

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Answer 8

Mar 31, 2011 8:44 PM in response to D1337

I have my gmail setup as an IMAP account and it pushes to my phone instantly.

Copied from my first post in this thread.

+With the iPhone, push access for received messages is supported with a Yahoo account created with the Yahoo account preset, with a MobileMe account, and with an Exchange account.+

Unless you are accessing your Gmail account as an Exchange account with the iPhone's Mail app, push access for received messages is not supported. If supported, you would have an option to turn Push access on or off for the account on your iPhone. No such setting exists unless you are accessing the account as an Exchange account.

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