iPhone Mail does not poll IMAP subfolders for server-side processed e-mail

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iPhone Mail does not poll IMAP subfolders for server-side processed e-mail

The iPhone Mail app does not check for new e-mails that have been moved automatically by server-side rules from the INBOX to IMAP sub-folders; it only checks for new e-mails in the INBOX folder. As a result, the overall new e-mail count is off and one has to manually open each and every subfolder to force a resync and show any new e-mails they may contain, which can be extremely tedious and frustrating.

I have been unable to find any workaround for the iPhone Mail app though. In both cases this is a lack of basic IMAP functionality.

Please contribute to this thread if you are experiencing the same issue in order to make it more prominent, and thus increase its odds of being either fixed in a later update or worked around by someone smarter than me. 😀

If this issue has already been fixed, then I apologize and humbly request guidance on how to apply a resolution.

iPhone 3GS, iOS 4

Posted on Apr 2, 2011 5:26 AM

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Answer 1

cscordo Author

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Apr 4, 2011 5:57 AM in response to cscordo

*bump for Monday morning crew*

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Answer 2

Apr 4, 2011 6:03 AM in response to cscordo

I had to check myself on my IMAP account, and you are correct. The iPhone only retrieves INBOX automatically, and I don't see any way to change that. It's interesting that on Exchange accounts there is a Setup option to specify the folders to sync automatically, but not for IMAP.

You can Send iPhone feedback to Apple.

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Answer 3

cscordo Author

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Apr 4, 2011 6:09 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Right- how hard would it to have IMAP features behave like Exchange features?

We use SmarterMail Enterprise as our corporate mail server and just began equipping folks with iPhones. We noticed this limitation when users began complaining of "missing" emails. In reality, these were emails that had been put in sub-folders by their mail rules!

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Answer 4

Apr 4, 2011 6:41 AM in response to cscordo

I don't think it would be difficult for Apple to add the capability, but you would have to convince them that they should. The Exchange implementation is perfect; you can select the folders to update automatically and the ones to ignore.

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Answer 5

Randy Fast

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1,426 points

Apr 4, 2011 6:47 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

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Answer 6

Apr 4, 2011 6:50 AM in response to Randy Fast

That link was in my first reply 🙂

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Answer 7

cscordo Author

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Apr 4, 2011 7:00 AM in response to cscordo

Yes, I have sent feedback through that form.

I was also unsure if there was a simple solution to this, so was looking for user contributions. Apparently this issue was first reported back in 2008 with many contributors. I am surprised it has not been resolved by now.

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Answer 8

Apr 24, 2012 6:24 AM in response to cscordo

This is rediculous, 4 years and no solution?? Seems like Apple is intentionally screwing business users that don't use proprietary stuff like MS Exchange or Cisco VPN. The generic L2TP VPN functionality is similarly crippled (VPN does not persist across locks requiring manually enabling it EVERY TIME you unlock and making it useless). People have been complaining about that for years too, and I can only conclude it's by design.

If you're a hipster and need to Facebook and twitter all's fine. If you are a business and want to pay through the nose for an Exchange server license and Cisco hardware for reliable VPN it's all dandy too.

But if you would like to use your rediculously expensive phone to use open standards, forget it. They implement it so they can claim support in the specs, but intentionally cripple it so it's basically useless for an advanced user. Surely this is to push people to MS and Cisco products (in return for a kickback or for instance usage of Cisco's trademark 'ios').

I for one will be returning all 80 iPhones we bought for our employees since I consider them defective, and there isn't a hint of a fix.

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Answer 9

TabithaL

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Apr 9, 2013 12:17 AM in response to raphidae'

Well, I recently got an iPad and have been searching for a solution to this problem too. I've noticed postings going back as far as early 2007 about it, and yet still nothing, coming up to the middle of 2013.

Completely ridiculous, indeed.

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Answer 10

Jan 9, 2014 12:17 AM in response to TabithaL

Well I guess there's not a lot of point in me continuing to look for a solution to this problem on my iPad 😟.

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Answer 11

TabithaL

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Jan 11, 2014 11:37 AM in response to kevinw-uk

Not particularly. Was hoping iOS 7 would maybe solve it, but apparently not. Sigh.

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Answer 12

Jan 11, 2014 11:48 AM in response to TabithaL

I paid for and installed IbisMail as that does poll the sub-folders.

Unfortunately it appears Apple has told them to remove fetch/push from the application so it only refreshes the In Box when it first has focus or the refresh button is 'pressed'. Shame really as it looks quite a decent application apart from that. [sigh] You'd think Apple would want to have a decent mail application on their devices but apparently not.

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