Gmail push notifications very erratic on iPhone and iPad

hi!

i have a gmail account but i use altamail to get more control over it and also it's good for push notifications

so personally havent had any experience with this, will be interesting to see if you get any further responses

Jmho. Three reasons for any email problems.

1 problem with device - easily eliminated in that case, since two devices.

2. Problem with network - easily eliminated as well, since no problems with your exchange.

3. Problem with provider server- troubleshooting may have two ways

A. Do nothing -enough people complain they probably work on that already

B. open ticket with google.

Being techie, just in case I would still remove and re add account on one device. May auto negotiate to the server that does not have problems.

I'd advise you to use the official Gmail app instead of Mail for your Google account on your iPhone. This should fix (avoid) the issue permanently.

Thanks for the heads up about Google sync going away. I had no idea. Now the question on my mind is: what constitutes "setting up a new device"? If an existing user removes an exchange-sync'd account from their iPhone, can they add it back as long as it is exactly on the same iPhone? Or, once you remove it, you're screwed? I have no idea how the sync protocol works; i.e. how it determines a "new" device. Could a device be perceived as new after updating iOS versions? Anyone know?

I'm not sure if any of you use the gmail exchange support which WAS the only way you could sync email and calendar events and get push notifications for years. Well it's going away, actually it's gone for new sync users. For instance, you can not set up a new phone the way I have my phone set up if you are setting up a new sync account. However, google's article...

http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en-uk&hlrm=en&answer=2716936

...clearly states that if you were an existing sync customer, you should have no problems. Well, I guess they are sort of trying to "push" people to the new CardDAV. I guess I'll bite and try it out tonight. I am a very old google sync user (iphone 3G, 4 and 4S) and have not changed anything, so from this article I should be fine. Well, I'm not.

I'll definitely try the "new" way and let you all know tonight (or tomorrow morning) how it's going.

Thanks again for the replies.

Support for exchange active sync was dropped by Google for free accounts on Jan 30 of 2013. Apple was prepared for that since November of last year, you can check date on that article.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4872?viewlocale=en_US

Since Gmail still using Card Dav protocol, it allows new devices to sync Contacts. Google mail account takes care of emails and calendars sync by itself. It does have to do with push (you dead on), cause exchange supports push on whole other level, but it has nothing to do with your case. The information that I gave in my first post still stands. It looks like you think you know more then all people that responded to you, but (sorry, still feeling entitled to my humble opinion) you will see your push fixed by itself. Even funnier if you will make some change and it will coincide with google server back online. You will come here and provide us with your "fix".

Perhaps it will be something like "I just changed show emails from 100 to 200."😉

@applenascent.

The way it works is simple. We do not realize, but google server actually knows what device is connecting to their server to pick mail. I had to replace my wife's ipad on Feb 7. Even when I restored from the icloud back up that for all intents and purposes made that ipad very similar - the account was still there, but simple gmail without exchange. Deleting account and re adding as exchange didn't provide solution. It just showed up as gmail. They even changed server name from m.google.com to google.com.

BTW it is quite possible that aTanasi's trick will fix the problem. I had to start running yahoo and gmail apps running on the background. I do not use them, but if there is a problem with account, like security kicks in harder, app is more capable to address that issue and informs me of what is wrong. I still find native mail app more pleasant, but thanks and credit to aTanasi.

@the_One: you're not alone, I am facing the same weird behaviour. Using my Gmail (Apps for Business) account on a different iOS devices makes no difference; e-mail push notifications are not working with the Apple Mail App. Even a manual refresh does not always download new messages, have you seen this too?

Configuring a different Gmail account (again, Apps for Business) on my iPhone works flawless.

By the way, calendar items and Contacts are still pushed to my iPhone, it's only the native Apple Mail App showing this strange behaviour.

The Google Gmail App doesn't work for mee too, although it gives me push notifications. I hate it when I have to manually refresh my inbox after receiving a new mail notification. The native Apple Mail App works different when using the Exchange ActiveSync protocol (downloads messages automatically).

It seems like we are in the same boat. I am talking with Google for about two weeks now, but still there is no good news. This morning I sent my Gmail account details to the Google engineer, that's my last hope.

Believe me or not, occasionally the e-mail push notifications seem to work for a short period of time (let's say a few minutes). It happens every few days.

As I said, Calendar and Contacts sync fine - very quick by the way. I can imagine why push notifications stop working (lots of reasons), but I don't understand at all why even a manual refresh does not download new messages. I am starting to think it's not a push notification issue at all, but a syncing issue.

I've started having the same problem few days ago. I have my Gmail account setup via Exchange for years and didn't do any restores or deleted/added account again

I sometimes get email notifications instantly but most of the time I won't get them untill few minutes (if at all). Last I tried, it took 27 minutes!

Is Google trying to screw us all ? At least they should stick to their promise for not changing things for existing accounts

I've tried Gmail app and it is never instant for email notifications like the native iOS Mail.app

Should I change the server from m.ggogle.com to google.com in Exchange ?

Nothing will help unfortunately, they just want to charge for exchange support. I do run Gmail app on the background without even opening it. It pushes way better for me, but I had to replace my ipad in April and it is no more native mail exchange support on any new device. I hear reports left and right it stops pushing for many people. Only reason I don't care much - my main e-mail is Hotmail and thanks Microsoft - exchange is lovely. Mr Softie is winning that game, while a year ago I would say Google is.

I find it really weird that Contacts and Calender still sync instantly. It is only email push notifications that doesn't work.

Shouldn't they all be affected if ActiveSync wasn't working in Exchange for me ?

I also tried setting an IMAP Gmail account and for my surprise it was pushing emails with 2-8 minutes delay

Google sent me an update last week:

"The support engineers are aware of this issue and are currently investigating our server-side logs for more information. While we don't have more detail at this time, the team has a list of affected users and is going to attempt to determine the root cause and develop a fix."

Please guys, contact Google Enterprise support to let them know you're having the same problems. That might help them fixing this annoying issue.

Just got another update from Google. Ik you're affected too, please let them know by clicking the 'I am affected by this issue' button:

"We've posted this issue to our Known Issues page at http://support.google.com/a/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=known_issues.cs. You can find the issue titled 'Intermittent Google Sync push notification failures' under 'Email Clients and Mobile Devices'. Our mobile teams are currently working to resolve this issue as soon as possible, although no ETA for a solution has been set. We certainly appreciate your continued patience."