Q: Annoying imap.gmail.com is not responding.

Apple has got nothing to do with that. Google has multiple e-mail and relay servers, during e-mail set up your phone negotiates address of the server to connect and connects to that server. At some point Google (or any other mail provider) puts server under maintenance or even takes offline. You phone loses connection to mail. You delete account and re add account, Phone renegotiates itself another server. Troubleshooting is simple and straight forward, needs to be done with other e-mail providers just as well. If you search here you will find whiners, like you with yahoo, road runner(message different, cause they are pop servers) or Hotmail as well. I had to do that with my Hotmail on my computer two days ago, instructions where found on Microsoft site. Instead of deleting account I had to uncheck some things in Internet options of Internet Explorer and then change those back. Apple also does not respond to messages on that forum, users here help each other. If you d like to feedback apple here is the place.

apple.com/feedback

Thanks for your reply re the problem with the Google email account.  BUT please note that the problem IN MY CASE was not only for the Google email account, but also for the email account with my university employer.  Both problems emerged the same day. The later persisted even when I removed the Google email account,.  Whereas Google is constanting updating its system, ,y employer does so only about once a month, and always with 24 hours notification.  Same for my internet service provider, which is of course part of all this.  So, this leaves me with the best guess that the problem emerged with an Apple update of iOS 6. 

I don't remember if it started happening when bumping up to iOS6, but to see that these companies do not address the problem and you have to find out how to fix it through a hidden forum it is pretty idiotic and disrupting.

Also having this problem. Gmail not working with Apple Mail or MailMate. So very irritating.

Two things I did, one was change my PW and signed up for the two step verification for google and then I updated my IPhone 4 with IOS6.01.  I have been screwed with my gmail on my phone ever since.  I am about ready to switch phones in May because this is total ********.  I have tried all these fixes and nothing is working and my sanity is now in question. Is this my PW?  Is this my screen name? This is rediculous and to read here this crap has been going on since 2011?  I had no idea about this problem till I got it.  Apple/Google get your **** together and fix this!

How daft it this?

I switched from EDGE to 3G and then my Gmail worked again. (This was after deleting and re-creating the account, which made no difference.)

I am having the same issue now. I get the message: cannot access the imap.gmail.com server now. Check account settings.

Account settings have never changed.

continues to be a problem... no 3G connection = no mail (***?)

I had the same problem today - spent a couple of hours looking through forums for answers - but nothing helped. So this is what I did. I opened Mailboxes on my iPhone and deleted my account. Then I went into settings - Mail, Contacts, Calendars - and opened Add Account. I then put my details in again to create an account. Then went back to Mailboxes and everything is working again including all the emails that were there originally. I have no idea what happened but it's working normally again now.

I had the same problem today - spent a couple of hours looking through forums for answers - but nothing helped. So this is what I did. I opened Mailboxes on my iPhone and deleted my account. Then I went into settings - Mail, Contacts, Calendars - and opened Add Account. I then put my details in again to create an account. Then went back to Mailboxes and everything is working again including all the emails that were there originally. I have no idea what happened but it's working normally again now.

Richard, just for you I repost my post a few posts higher then yours. The whiners part s got nothing to do with you, just for people who tends to blame Apple for everything.

Apple has got nothing to do with that. Google has multiple e-mail and relay servers, during e-mail set up your phone negotiates address of the server to connect and connects to that server. At some point Google (or any other mail provider) puts server under maintenance or even takes offline. You phone loses connection to mail. You delete account and re add account, Phone renegotiates itself another server. Troubleshooting is simple and straight forward, needs to be done with other e-mail providers just as well. If you search here you will find whiners, like you with yahoo, road runner(message different, cause they are pop servers) or Hotmail as well. I had to do that with my Hotmail on my computer two days ago, instructions where found on Microsoft site. Instead of deleting account I had to uncheck some things in Internet options of Internet Explorer and then change those back. Apple also does not respond to messages on that forum, users here help each other. If you d like to feedback apple here is the place.

apple.com/feedback

Fromsouth. This is a legit complaint from users. If that's the way pop3 and imap accounts are negotiated these days, Apple should adapt and make it visible, transparent. Don't know who do you think you are to call people who leave comments because they are experiencing problems with apple stuff as whiners.  Apple gets pretty wrong a lot of times.

Anything else is more transparent that message that mail server is not responding?

Same problem here only on iPad - but with imap.primus.ca (Mac mail works fine) - since the latest iOS update - sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, mostly doesn't. Works fine on iPhone5 and MBA late 2012. Yesterday ended up deleting mail account from iPad and reinstalling through iTunes. That sorted the problem out for 24 hrs, since this afternoon the same issue. A pain.

Just  a reminder to check that an Application Specific password has been setup in Gmail.