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Gmail ActiveSync going away

Xenomorph said:
I've been using Gmail for Mail and Calendar on iOS devices for over 3 years.

I've never once felt the need for "Push". In fact, I don't need my device constantly receiving email, killing the battery.
Turning off Push is one of the first things recommended to help save battery.
Click to expand...

Doesn't push just err, push mail to your phone once it's received on the server? Not sure why you think it kills the battery...
 
Xenomorph said:
I've been using Gmail for Mail and Calendar on iOS devices for over 3 years.

I've never once felt the need for "Push". In fact, I don't need my device constantly receiving email, killing the battery.
Turning off Push is one of the first things recommended to help save battery.
Click to expand...

You're forgetting two things:

1) There's a power saving through only having one connection that handles Mail, Contacts and Calendar

2) The alternative of IMAP Mail, CalDav Calendar and CardDav Contacts will result in three separate connections, with the latter two doing a "fetch" connection every 15-60 minutes, and there not being any changes most of the time.
 
Setup mine now with Gmail app for mail and CalDav/CardDav for calendar/contacts

Will see how it goes with battery life

The other providers don't quite work as well for me

Hotmail/Oulook no IMAP support on desktop so this is out
iCloud no push email or easy calendar/contact sync on non Apple devices
 
I've already sent feedback to Google and Apple regarding developing a solution to get Gmail Push through the native iOS Mail app. I imagine you should do the same.
 
Daveoc64 said:
That's an oxymoron.

You tell it to use EAS and it doesn't use EAS?

Is that what you're saying?

Presumably you mean that the "Microsoft Hotmail" option doesn't configure the account using EAS.

IMO, it's never been a good idea to add a Mail/Contacts/Calendar account in iOS by choosing one of the branded email accounts (unless you are adding an iCloud or MobileMe account).
Click to expand...

I'm saying that choosing Exchange in the mail setup for Hotmail and Outlook does NOT work. It defaults to a Hotmail-type mail.

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Daveoc64 said:
That's an oxymoron.

You tell it to use EAS and it doesn't use EAS?

Is that what you're saying?

Presumably you mean that the "Microsoft Hotmail" option doesn't configure the account using EAS.

IMO, it's never been a good idea to add a Mail/Contacts/Calendar account in iOS by choosing one of the branded email accounts (unless you are adding an iCloud or MobileMe account).
Click to expand...

Here's what I mean:

Choose Add Account in mail settings, choose Exchange and input email address and password, press next. But instead of being presented with the server input screen, it immediately goes to the completion screen with mail, calendar, contacts, reminder sliders.

Additionally when this is done, checking the mail app and going to Mailboxes at the bottom it shows the Hotmail icon instead of an Exchange icon for that account. This started early yesterday because I did setup the account via exchange late on Friday night and it behaved like a normal exchange setup.

Another twist..... Someone using iOS 5 is not seeing this problem only iOS 6.
 
I hit 10-11 hrs on my iPhone 5 with:
Google Active Sync Calendar
CardDAV contacts
IMAP Mail for editable drafts

It's already fantastic. Though I've switched to the GMail app now that I've discovered it has threading.
 
One slight problem/annoyance with using the Gmail app is that notifications of emails that have been read on another device aren't cleared, unlike with Mail app + EAS. :(
 
Daveoc64 said:
IMAP Idle isn't technically "push" - hence why it's a "power hog".

It just lets the email client stay connected to the server in an "idle" state, until a message is ready to be downloaded.
Click to expand...
EAS is also a power hog. Direct push only works because the client maintains an idle HTTP connection to the Exchange server until either the server sends a notification if there are new items to be received or the request times out, at which point the request is renewed and another idle connection is established. It doesn't make sense to allow EAS but not IMAP IDLE, even if EAS allows for more than just push email.
 
Well, they bought Sparrow too which kills that.

I use the Gmail app and I like it overall except for its reliance on being online to work - so on the subway I can't compose emails. The main reason being of course having the ability to archive and delete both.
 
whsbuss said:
Yeah that's true. Most people see Gmail in the setup and choose that. I hate waiting up to 15 minutes to get email. If/when I am refused exchange setup, I'll have to keep the Gmail app setup just for the notification. Then open the native mail app and d/l the gmail stuff. Wow - this will suck!!
Click to expand...

If you open the Mail app you can check mail immediately, any time.
 
xraydoc said:
This really kind of sucks. Because the wifi (and hard wired) network at works blocks POP and IMAP, but allows Exchange. I switched to Gmail from MobileMe way back when because I could continue to get personal email through the wifi network at work.

Now my choices - should I ever replace or upgrade my phone - are to forgo getting any personal email at work (not acceptable) or stick to cellular full time at work (battery killer). And that option isn't available at all for my iPad (wifi only).

This really kind of blows. I'm ok for now, but if/when I replace a device, I'm screwed.

I'm thinking, since it probably mostly iOS devices (and the native email app) which use the Exchange Sync feature, that Google is doing this on purpose.
Click to expand...

For you it might be worth paying ~$7 a month for hosted exchange. I'm certainly considering it.
 
Daveoc64 said:
You're forgetting two things:

1) There's a power saving through only having one connection that handles Mail, Contacts and Calendar

2) The alternative of IMAP Mail, CalDav Calendar and CardDav Contacts will result in three separate connections, with the latter two doing a "fetch" connection every 15-60 minutes, and there not being any changes most of the time.
Click to expand...

then set CalDav and CardDav to manual instead of fetch.
 
I currently use GMail for mail, contacts and calendar. In the future I was thinking of moving contacts and calendaring back to iCloud due the end of ActiveSync support. I'm sure there are pros and cons to this. First problem that pops up in my mind is contacts syncing. Is there a solution which supports syncing of iCloud contacts to GMail contacts?
 
If you read the entire release on the Google blog they say that ActiveSync will continue to function with Google Apps for Business accounts. The simple solution for my customers (and me) that have the free Google Apps version (if they want "push") will be to upgrade for $5/month per email address.

A hosted Exchange account can be had for about the same price. I've tried Office 365 but had major issues with duplicating contacts when syncing to iOS about a year ago.

One can only speculate on the reasons for this move by Google. My guess is a new manager came in and said, "Why are we giving this away for free?"
 
BrianBaughn said:
One can only speculate on the reasons for this move by Google. My guess is a new manager came in and said, "Why are we giving this away for free?"
Click to expand...

I think a lot of this has to do with Google wanting people to use Android. IF they make it harder for other platforms to get their push e-mail, Android becomes more attractive. That's my speculation.
 
whsbuss said:
I'm saying that choosing Exchange in the mail setup for Hotmail and Outlook does NOT work. It defaults to a Hotmail-type mail.
Click to expand...

Right I see.

I have no idea what iOS 5 does, but in iOS 6, a "Hotmail" account is just an EAS account with a pretty icon.

There should be no difference in functionality.

I do think it's bad for iOS to override your choices when you're doing something like that - but that's just how iOS works.

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walie said:
then set CalDav and CardDav to manual instead of fetch.
Click to expand...

That is also problematic.

What if you set up a calendar event with an alert?

What if you can't get a signal and you need to check something?

If we decide "Manual" is acceptable, then we might as well just go back to the 90s and dial in once a day to check our AOL inbox.
 
Daveoc64 said:
Right I see.

I have no idea what iOS 5 does, but in iOS 6, a "Hotmail" account is just an EAS account with a pretty icon.

There should be no difference in functionality.

I do think it's bad for iOS to override your choices when you're doing something like that - but that's just how iOS works.

----------
Click to expand...


I agree that the user's setup shouldn't be overridden. However I did find a workaround for Outlook.com which sets up as exchange.
 
whsbuss said:
I agree that the user's setup shouldn't be overridden. However I did find a workaround for Outlook.com which sets up as exchange.
Click to expand...

I'll repeat: even as a "Hotmail" account, it uses Exchange.

The only difference is that it doesn't let you configure some of the settings.
 
In iOS 5, using the Hotmail option to set up your email would use POP. You had to do it through the Exchange option, and set the server to m.hotmail.com to use EAS.

In iOS 6, using the Hotmail option to set up your account uses EAS.
 
I found my Outlook.com account that I set up today on my iPhone 4 with iOS 6.0.1 wasn't pushing emails at first. After a quick google I found some people saying to change the sync days limit to something else and then back, and same with the max number of emails to show. That fixed it for me, dunno if it was just a coincidence though. That's probably what the OP meant when they said they found a workaround.
 
DollaTwentyFive said:
I think a lot of this has to do with Google wanting people to use Android. IF they make it harder for other platforms to get their push e-mail, Android becomes more attractive. That's my speculation.
Click to expand...

It's not really harder for iOS users to get push mail - it's just a question of whether you like the GMail app or not. Android users have a separate GMail app too, so it's not that different an experience overall.

Windows Phone users otoh (yes, a minority I know) are much more screwed. As far as I know there's no other way at this time to get push.
 
Lara F said:
It's not really harder for iOS users to get push mail - it's just a question of whether you like the GMail app or not. Android users have a separate GMail app too, so it's not that different an experience overall.

Windows Phone users otoh (yes, a minority I know) are much more screwed. As far as I know there's no other way at this time to get push.
Click to expand...

Minority now, but they are growing in numbers.

My daughter loves her windows phone so much that she doesn't want to use here upgrade on an iPhone5 :eek:
 
I think we're seeing a strategy from Google of creating very good iOS apps, making them work really well with the Google ecosystem but not necessarily playing well with Apple.

Get them dependent on the Google ecosystem then let them see how much better it would be on android. Even if they don't switch to Android at least they get the ad revenue
 
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