iPhone email or gmail app? Which do you use?

[andyACEcandy]

So with the gmail app, I can get push notifications but no top menu alert or anything... just the badge on the app of how many new emails I have.

With the iphone email, can I get push notifications? Or is the only way to get new emails is to open the iphone email and see if I have new emails? That's a bit pointless isn't it?

 

[takeshi74]

iPhone email or gmail app? Which do you use?

App but that's irrelevant unless your needs/wants are identical to mine.

With the iphone email, can I get push notifications?

If you set it up as ActiveSync (what people around here seem to call "as Exchange").

Or is the only way to get new emails is to open the iphone email and see if I have new emails? That's a bit pointless isn't it?

Depends who you ask. People do set up email to pull on demand so don't assume that your preference for a subjective matter like "the point" is universal.

 

[andyACEcandy]

Ah thanks, I setup the native email app as exchange and now have push notifications, notification on my lockscreen, and drop down menu along with a badge on the icon.

While I enjoy the look and feel of the gmail app, I just prefer getting these notifications other than just a badge on the icon.

I could see the notifications being a bit annoying though if one is to receive a lot of junkmail...

 

[mms13]

gmail app is terrible

 

[From A Buick 8]

So why is the gmail app so bad.

 

[Toby Ziegler]

So why is the gmail app so bad.

For me, it's because it doesn't support multiple accounts as of the last time I checked. Since my employer uses Google Apps and a Google server handles our email, it's kind of useless since I can't have my personal and work emails going at the same time.

 

[kicko]

The gmail is fine but i also wish it had banners. I have tested between using gmail-exchange and gmail app and what i see is exchange pushes a little faster. Plus if you have a 2nd email account it would then mean you opening 2 different apps, so it just seems to make more sense in that case to use the default apple mail app.

 

[iFiend]

iCloud

 

[eclipse01]

The gmail is fine but i also wish it had banners. I have tested between using gmail-exchange and gmail app and what i see is exchange pushes a little faster. Plus if you have a 2nd email account it would then mean you opening 2 different apps, so it just seems to make more sense in that case to use the default apple mail app.

this is why I dumped the app and went back to the regular mail app

 

[Bswartz95]

I had my Gmail set up through the Exchange account, but I wanted to keep my work email notifications separate, so I now use the Gmail app. The only thing I miss is the notification bar.

Edit: I still keep my Google contacts amd calendar synced through the Exchange server, I just turned off the mail and use the app instead.

 

[mrsir2009]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

I use apples mail app because in addition to my gmail account I have several other email accounts from different email providers. Plus it syncs with mail on my mac.

 

[BiggAW]

I'm using GMail right now, but I was using Mail for a while, as I didn't like the GMail app.

The biggest downside I see to the GMail apps is that you have to wait for it to refresh every time you get an email. The thing is, I really can't live without the star functionality, as otherwise I get emails on my iPhone, and then say I'll deal with them later and forget. Starring keeps them in my attention/ notes that I need to take action on them. It's also a little less click heavy than the native app, since it threads properly.

If the GMail app could refresh itself in the background every time a push was pushed, then I think it would be pretty awesome. I don't really mind the lack of banners and lock screen notifications, I just sort of know it's GMail if that stuff isn't there, and it reduces visual pollution a bit.

 

[gemnilocs]

I had my Gmail set up through the Exchange account, but I wanted to keep my work email notifications separate, so I now use the Gmail app. The only thing I miss is the notification bar.

Edit: I still keep my Google contacts amd calendar synced through the Exchange server, I just turned off the mail and use the app instead.

I did the exact same thing.

 

[ixodes]

Each of them have their own pro's & con's. I use both, that's what works well for me. The latest Gmail app is quite good.

 

[chuges]

The thing is, I really can't live without the star functionality, as otherwise I get emails on my iPhone, and then say I'll deal with them later and forget.

the native mail app sort of has support for starring now. if you open the email and hit "details" on the top right, then tap "mark" next to the email title, you have the option to Flag the email. Flagging doesn't do too much to differentiate the email when you're viewing it on the phone, but if you later go to gmail through your computer's browser, you'll find that Flagged emails automatically show up in the Starred section.

It's not that much help if you use your iphone as your primary way of handling emails, but if you only use it as a secondary, quick checker and use your computer to handle most of the real emailing, it really comes in handy.

 

[Calidude]

Gmail app is useless, and it will probably never become useful because Android needs something to make people switch.

 

[BiggAW]

the native mail app sort of has support for starring now. if you open the email and hit "details" on the top right, then tap "mark" next to the email title, you have the option to Flag the email. Flagging doesn't do too much to differentiate the email when you're viewing it on the phone, but if you later go to gmail through your computer's browser, you'll find that Flagged emails automatically show up in the Starred section.

It's not that much help if you use your iphone as your primary way of handling emails, but if you only use it as a secondary, quick checker and use your computer to handle most of the real emailing, it really comes in handy.

Good to know, but it's just still not as smooth as the native app.