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iOS 9 Users Having Issues With POP Email Accounts and Attachments

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Since iOS 9 was released to the public on September 16, some users with POP email accounts have been having trouble opening emails with attachments. There's a 22 page thread on the Apple discussion forums covering the issue, which currently has more than 200 replies from users who are all experiencing the same problem.

Customers with a wide range of devices are receiving a "Message not yet downloaded from server" error whenever they attempt to open an email message with an attachment. The problem appears to be affecting Apple customers who have POP email accounts and is causing issues with both new and old emails.
I am having exactly the same issue. Many of my old mails on my iPad just saying not yet downloaded from the server. I am using a pop account on both my iPad and windows live mail. I have tried deleting my email accounts and adding back in. Even some emails that were received this morning are now showing as not being downloaded from the server.
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Deleting email accounts and adding them back in does not fix the issue, but downloading an alternate email program from the App Store seems to have worked for many users as a temporary fix. Turning off Wi-Fi also allows some users to read their previously downloaded emails and access attachments, but images are not viewable.

One customer experiencing issues received a response from Apple's engineering team, suggesting the email issue occurs when an email account has been configured to remove a copy of emails on the server. This has left some wondering whether the behavior is an intended function or a bug, but while leaving messages on the server solves some of the problem, sent and trash emails remain unaccessible. The requirement to leave messages on the server also defeats the purpose of a POP email account.
This issue usually starts if one of the devices/computers that was setup with this email account has been configured to remove a copy of emails on the server. If this is the case, the customer will need to check the settings of all the devices and computers that are running this email account.

iOS leaves messages on the POP3 server by default. iOS never stores email permanently, whether POP3 or IMAP. If they are removed from the server by another device then this issue can occur.

A test that you may want to do to confirm this is to have the customer produce the error by opening one affected mail on the iOS device, and then locate that specific email on his webmail. If not found, then the device is behaving as expected. If found, please try to forward it to the same mailbox and see if the same issue occurs.
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While these email problems have been plaguing users since iOS 9 was released, Apple did not fix the problem in iOS 9.0.1 or iOS 9.0.2, the two minor bug fix updates that have been released to the public since September 16. It is not clear if iOS 9.1, the first major update to iOS, fixes the issue, and Apple has not given any statement on whether some kind of fix is planned or if there's been an intentional change to the way POP email accounts work on iOS in iOS 9.

Article Link: iOS 9 Users Having Issues With POP Email Accounts and Attachments
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/10/09/ios-9-pop-email-account-issues/
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bpeeps

bpeeps

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I have at least one crash a day on iOS9. Don't know if that's from apps not being optimized or iOS9 in general. For those still on stock app, Outlook is a good alternative to Mail.
 
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MyNameIsURL

MyNameIsURL

macrumors newbie
Oct 9, 2015
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TEG said:
"iOS never stores email permanently, whether POP3 or IMAP." - I call Shenanigans. If it didn't store email permanently, then why does mail take over 2GB of storage on my phone, especially since we cannot set a length of time to store messages locally?
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I've had the same mail on my iPhone for years, well some if it. Pretty sure that one isn't true.
 
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MyNameIsURL

MyNameIsURL

macrumors newbie
Oct 9, 2015
16
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Australia
bpeeps said:
I have at least one crash a day on iOS9. Don't know if that's from apps not being optimized or iOS9 in general. For those still on stock app, Outlook is a good alternative to Mail.
Click to expand...

Not all Apps have been updated yet, so that's probably why.
 
A

ArcaneDevice

macrumors 6502a
Nov 10, 2003
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outside the crazy house, NC
TEG said:
"iOS never stores email permanently, whether POP3 or IMAP." - I call Shenanigans. If it didn't store email permanently, then why does mail take over 2GB of storage on my phone, especially since we cannot set a length of time to store messages locally?
Click to expand...

Yep, this is Apple PR damage control bull. Only my Mac is set to download email from the server, and if I viewed on an iPad before that happened the email was still visible under iOS8 even if it could not pull the contents from the server on demand.
 
mdlooker

mdlooker

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Mar 7, 2011
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I think so long as data isn't lost/deleted indiscriminately then its an issue that can be fixed over time. No big deal I wouldn't think.
 
Westside guy

Westside guy

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Oct 15, 2003
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Okay, first: This definitely needs to get fixed. POP3 is (unfortunately) still used by a lot of people. Even more unfortunately, some people don't have a choice.

But users who are currently still using POP3 really should move to IMAP if they can. POP3 is fundamentally designed to have one server account -> mail on one device. There are some hacks (e.g. "leave messages on server") to get around that, but it's a really outdated model.
 
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Yumbo

macrumors 6502
Oct 1, 2011
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The large usage by mail is attachments.
My IMAP mail on the 6s only uses 19MB for an account that has 60,000 messages.

My previous 5s with same account only has 13MB.

Perhaps POP retains more.
 
azwheels

azwheels

macrumors newbie
Sep 8, 2010
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Phoenix Az.
I have this problem too, even with old mail I had on my devices before IOS 9 came out.. My ISP told me to move IMAP.

The way I had my devices configured was to keep mail on server even if I delete a copy from from my devices, then I could to my desktop it would remove the mail from there. Now with IMAP its configured to remove mail every where when I delete it from a device. Which I hate, I wish I could get it to stay on server till I get to my desktop.
 
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2457282

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I used Pop when i had mail on my desktop. Now that I have a desktop, a tablet, and a phone Pop makes no sense, especially if I used Pop on all three, that would be horrible. I use Imap as most do these days so that I can access my mail from anywhere. At home I will archive mail to my computer occasionally to keep the web storage down and the number of emails to search low. Using Pop on a mobile device kind of misses the whole mobile part of it in my opinion.
 
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gijoeinla

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Sep 19, 2011
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Los Angeles, CA
One thing I am noticing is that I emailed a friend with an Android (i know, I know) an email that I pasted a photo in from my 6s+ and he kept getting a blank page... Granted -- knowing him (because it's a "City of Los Angeles" employee phone) its software itself is wayyyyyy outdated...Just wondering if anyone else is noticing this issue with other Android owners...
 
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