Gmail IMAP the (New) Perfect iPhone Email Solution

Gmail IMAP the (New) Perfect iPhone Email Solution

GmaillogoNot long ago, I wrote about iPhone Email for Very Picky People, providing step-by-step instructions on how to use a Tuffmail account to create the perfect email account on the iPhone.

Apparently a lot of MadeByMark.com readers are persnickety, as this quickly became one of the most popular articles on the site.

Now, though, the great folks at Google have added IMAP access to Gmail … and this changes everything. Once I enabled IMAP access and followed Google’s instructions for connecting to my account via IMAP, I found myself in mobile email Nirvana:

– Messages I read are correctly marked as read on my iPhone, in my web-based Gmail, and my desktop Apple Mail application … all at once.

– If I delete a message from my Inbox on my iPhone, the message is tagged as a “deleted message” in Gmail and transferred to my “All Mail” folder. (In other words: deleting messages from my iPhone clears the clutter from my inbox, but doesn’t remove them from my Gmail archives.)

– Messages sent from my iPhone, my desktop, and my web client show up in the Gmail “Sent” folder.

The Gmail solution works without any special programming tricks or hidden account mumbo-jumbo. And while Tuffmail was inexpensive … Gmail is free, making it at once the most powerful, flexible, and affordable mail client on the planet.

Google, I think I love you.

GmaillogoNot long ago, I wrote about iPhone Email for Very Picky People, providing step-by-step instructions on how to use a Tuffmail account to create the perfect email account on the iPhone.

Apparently a lot of MadeByMark.com readers are persnickety, as this quickly became one of the most popular articles on the site.

Now, though, the great folks at Google have added IMAP access to Gmail … and this changes everything. Once I enabled IMAP access and followed Google’s instructions for connecting to my account via IMAP, I found myself in mobile email Nirvana:

– Messages I read are correctly marked as read on my iPhone, in my web-based Gmail, and my desktop Apple Mail application … all at once.

– If I delete a message from my Inbox on my iPhone, the message is tagged as a “deleted message” in Gmail and transferred to my “All Mail” folder. (In other words: deleting messages from my iPhone clears the clutter from my inbox, but doesn’t remove them from my Gmail archives.)

– Messages sent from my iPhone, my desktop, and my web client show up in the Gmail “Sent” folder.

The Gmail solution works without any special programming tricks or hidden account mumbo-jumbo. And while Tuffmail was inexpensive … Gmail is free, making it at once the most powerful, flexible, and affordable mail client on the planet.

Google, I think I love you.

Mark McElroy

I'm a husband, mystic, writer, media producer, creative director, tinkerer, blogger, reader, gadget lover, and pizza fiend.

3 comments

  • I tried this with great success until I noticed that emails sent from my iPhone to someone with Outlook had my gmail address in the “From” fields. It says something like “Sent from X on behalf of x@gmail.com“. Things look great on non-Outlook clients.

    Have you noticed this? Is there a setting I can change to eliminate it?

  • anyone have luck with changing the sendto domain? I just set it up for my touch and while it works great the sendto domain is gmail rather than the legacy one. Thanks in advance

  • Items sent from my standard gmail address (madebymark@gmail.com) do, in fact, arrive with the “Sent from X on behalf of x@gmail.com) message attached.

    I’ve recently started using Google Apps to host email for madebymark.com, and my mark@madebymark.com address — essentially, a gmail address branded with my own madebymark.com domain — does not incorporate the message.

    As far as I know, apart from switching to Google Apps with your own domain, there is no way to eliminate the “Sent on behalf of” message associated with the use of gmail.

Who Wrote This?

Mark McElroy

I'm a husband, mystic, writer, media producer, creative director, tinkerer, blogger, reader, gadget lover, and pizza fiend.

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