Gmail Finally Gets IMAP

[Edward Kirk]

When it was first introduced, IMAP was big news for iPhone users, but unfortunately Gmail users were left out of the loop. Now it appears that Google has finally come to their senses and are now providing IMAP support for Gmail accounts.<!--break-->

For Gmail users, this means better support for Gmail in Mail.app, Thunderbird and Entourage. More importantly, it also means a much better mail experience with the iPhone.

Gmail was nice enough to include <a href="https://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=77702" target="_blank">these</a> handy startup instructions for anyone looking to get IMAP going on their iPhone.

Interestingly, the first step is to not choose the Gmail button, but instead use the one marked "Other...". Apparently this is a bug they're still working out.

If you use Gmail and you give this a try, good luck. Let us know how it goes.

[via <a href="http://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/23/gmail-flips-the-switch-on-imap-support/" target="_blank">TUAW</a>]

[*andyk]

And why is this good? It isn't PUSH is it?

[*anon]

My Gmail account doesn't have IMAP.. Is this supposed to be enabled for all gmail accounts? Mine still only shows POP under settings.

[diveman3]

for some reason, i dont think my gmail account has been updated to be capable of enabling IMAP. anyone having similar problems when they look in settings?

[anemic]

I don't see the IMAP in the google settings. Do I have to do something special or is this just not implemented on all accounts?

[Spoon]

It seems that they're rolling it out gradually. Hopefully we'll all get it by the end of this week. I don't have it yet, but i'm excited.

And why is this good? It isn't PUSH is it?

Do you even know what IMAP is??! PUSH is great, but IMAP is WORLDS better than POP.

[emanuel]

maybe you have to switch to english language first. I did not have the option in german. after I activated IMAP I was able to switch back to german and it still is active!

I'm really glad about this. it even works with my own gmail hosted domain.

all the folders I have on gmail are on my iphone now and if a message is read or deleted it is synced from iphone to gmail and back

niccceeee

thanks for the message about this feature

[bwilliams18]

i have multiple gmail accounts for various reasons and only one which is the oldest one has imap how interesting

[samething]

I don't see the IMAP in the google settings. Do I have to do something special or is this just not implemented on all accounts?

i am not sure, but i can confirm that i have 2 gmail accounts and neither one has the option to "enable IMAP".

[mkreilein]

Go to Gmail, click on "What's new" and you'll see this in the IMAP Access area...

Don't fret if you don't see "IMAP Access" yet under the Settings menu. We're rolling it out to everyone over the next few days.

[Andrew Barbaccia]

This is really great!

For those who don't know - IMAP lets your phone communicate back to the web server messages you read, what folder you place them in, which ones you delete etc. Your gmail inbox will now stay in sync with you iphone, outlook, etc.

It took them long enough but it works great.

Just follow the directions they posted - took 2 minutes to get working.

[David Chartier]

While Gmail's primary userbase arguably consists of a significant number of power users who usually go for features like IMAP, it's still a pretty hard and unparalleled thing to provide. While most services still charge for even POP access, IMAP is a bit tougher to manage—and Google's provided it completely free.

That's a big deal.

[Travis Balone]

Comon, guys, I don't have IMAP yet and I'm about to call Mr. Google and tell him to go eff himself. I have a strong feeling I used to have this IMAP access on my computer and someone hacked into it and turned it back off, probably those jerks from the Tuesday Night Tech Show. They are on Ustream all the time talking to me about dumb technology stories and they are not funny in any way. I also think they are some sort of hackers, because as I said, my Gmail IMAP access is nowhere to be found. POUGE OVER!

[bwilliams18]

Comon, guys, I don't have IMAP yet and I'm about to call Mr. Google and tell him to go eff himself. I have a strong feeling I used to have this IMAP access on my computer and someone hacked into it and turned it back off, probably those jerks from the Tuesday Night Tech Show. They are on Ustream all the time talking to me about dumb technology stories and they are not funny in any way. I also think they are some sort of hackers, because as I said, my Gmail IMAP access is nowhere to be found. POUGE OVER!

do you have any pacience someone just said it would come out this week read b4 u post

[anemic]

i am not sure, but i can confirm that i have 2 gmail accounts and neither one has the option to "enable IMAP".

Just got IMAP today on gmail. Works great, much better then pop.

[imagine engine]

Checked my email settings and found IMAP by default already enabled. It works great on my iPhone and is an even lower cost and competitive solution than RIM Blackberry push email service.