can I use a POP email account on an iPhone

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Level 1

44 points

can I use a POP email account on an iPhone

I have a POP email account. I use it on my iMac. My Mail settings are to delete emails as soon as I've downloaded them.

Can I set up my email account on my iPhone? Can the two devices synch my email? i.e. if I send an email from my iMac will this email show up in my iPhone sent mailbox / if I delete an email from my phone will it also be deleted from my iMac / will emails sent to me go to both devices?

Remember this isn't an IMAP account with emails residing on a server, but a POP account that neither stores sent or received emails.

Thanks for any help

iPhone 5, iOS 6.0.1

Posted on Mar 6, 2013 12:21 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Mar 6, 2013 12:23 PM in response to Sparky Marky

Sure, you can use a POP account. But, there is no way to keep mail in sync with a POP account. POP was never designed to keep mail in sync.

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Answer 2

randers4

Level 9

63,519 points

Mar 6, 2013 12:25 PM in response to Sparky Marky

You can set up your POP account on your phone, but you'll need to change your settings to not delete incoming mail from the server if you want to retreive the same email on your phone too. Also, POP accounts don't "sync" changes made on one device to the server or other devices. You need an IMAP or Exchange account to do that.

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Answer 3

Sparky Marky Author

Level 1

44 points

Mar 6, 2013 12:27 PM in response to wjosten

so if send an email from my phone that email will not show up in my sent mailbox on my iMac? etc etc?

That *****. I'm thinking I need to change from a POP to an IMAP so that everything syncs??

Thanks

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Answer 4

paulcb

Level 6

19,239 points

Mar 6, 2013 12:28 PM in response to Sparky Marky

I'm thinking I need to change from a POP to an IMAP so that everything syncs??

Correct

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Answer 5

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,141 points

Mar 6, 2013 12:29 PM in response to Sparky Marky

POP does not provide for synchronization between clients. Only IMAP or Exchange accounts do that. By default, POP will delete from the server as soon as it's downloaded, meaning that if your computer downloads it, it can not be downloaded to your phone and vice versa. It is possible to configure some POP mail clients not to delete messages from the server after downloading, but not all servers will honor this request.

POP is generally considered obsolete. Especially in the world of mobile devices and multiple computers.

If your email provider does not support IMAP, you may want to look for a new one.

You could conceivably use a free service that supports IMAP, like gmail, to gather in the mail from the mail service you're using now.

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Answer 6

Sparky Marky Author

Level 1

44 points

Mar 6, 2013 12:33 PM in response to KiltedTim

Thanks everyone for the help. I'll contact my ISP and see if they can change from POP to IMAP.

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Answer 7

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Mar 6, 2013 1:26 PM in response to KiltedTim

KiltedTim wrote:

Only IMAP or Exchange accounts do that. By default, POP will delete from the server as soon as it's downloaded, meaning that if your computer downloads it, it can not be downloaded to your phone and vice versa. It is possible to configure some POP mail clients not to delete messages from the server after downloading, but not all servers will honor this request.

except some servers will not delete, even if requested.

I use POP with both Comcast and my local ISP and I can only delete emails from the server with my Mac Mail.

If I view/delete email on my iPhone/iPad, it never gets deleted.

Then I open Mail on the Mac, I have to wade through emails again.

So I quit looking on my iPhone (unless I am waitng for something specific).

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Answer 8

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,141 points

Mar 6, 2013 1:35 PM in response to Chris CA

Yet another good reason not to use POP.

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