How good is the IMAP support?

[billd]

I'm considering the Droid because I want mobile email access with good IMAP support. How good is Android's support for IMAP? In particular, does it support sub-folders well?

 

[Jacqueline]

The current version of Android does support IMAP sub-folders. The reviews have shown that the mail client coming with the Droid has been polished, so it will be even better on the Droid.

One nice thing about Android is the fact that the phone is open, so you can choose to use a 3rd party mail application if it suits your needs better than the one that comes with the phone. I think you'll like the mail support you get with the Droid.

 

[billd]

Good news. Thanks.

 

[OhioAlan]

My wife got one yesterday and thus far we haven't been able to connect to our IMAP server - running on the mail server that comes with Leopard Server (the server hasn't been upgraded to snow leopard). We've tried all of the combinations of settings for incoming server, but continue to get the same error - "setup could not finish - unable to open connection to server." We've even turned on all of the IMAP security protocols on the server, including login, plain, clear, and changed the SSL setting for IMAP from require to use.

 

[ArXane]

Everytime I try to sync my imap mail account android has a fatal error and closes the mail app.

 

[cdtdelta]

I'm running my own mail server at home and didn't have any issues connecting via IMAP. The only problem I did have with the setup was not seeing the field where you put the mail server (that usually helps). And then I had to alter the SSL settings since I'm not using a public cert.

One complaint I do have, is how the h*** do you move a message from your inbox to another folder? I don't see any option to do that. And one would think that would be standard for a mail app (I really don't want to keep ALL my mail in the inbox).

CdtDelta

 

[OhioAlan]

we have a valid ssl certificate, but it just constantly fails to connect. I compared the settings to what I have on my iPhone and they look identical.

The iPhone settings are
Use SSL
authentication Password
IMAP Path Prefix - default of /
server port 993

Droid
SSL
Port 993
imap path prefix is blank (I've tried it with the /)

I even tried using wifi instead of 3g, and it still doesn't work.

 

[cdtdelta]

DO you have control of the IMAP server that you could look at the log files? It might tell you what the problem is.

CdtDelta

 

[OhioAlan]

This is what hte log says each time I try to connect

Nov 7 22:07:45 xserve imaps[75648]: starttls: TLSv1 with cipher AES256-SHA (256/256 bits new) no authentication

 

[cdtdelta]

An issue with the password maybe (shot in the dark, I'm pretty tired right now)? Maybe the SSL setting is fine but something is screwy with the password?

Do you get a different error message with the other types of encryption you can use? (SSL - accept any cert, etc)?

CdtDelta

 

[OhioAlan]

perhaps it's the "new" part? When I connect with the iPhone or from the mac, I get this in the log

Nov 7 22:10:29 xserve imaps[75737]: starttls: TLSv1 with cipher AES128-SHA (128/128 bits reused) no authentication

which is followed by a login message.

When I try it with either none or tls (port 143), I don't see anything in the log

 

[paullson]

One issue I have with the IMAP support is it seems to be lacking enhanced idle (push) support which sucks.

 

[billd]

So how do I access IMAP sub-folders?

 

[paullson]

If you click on the Menu button below the screen it will give you an option to show folders

 

[audioi]

I have had no issues using Imap on my Droid. I would like to see the mail app improved though.

 

[paullson]

Yeah the mail client is certainly not bad. It's just lacking some modern features. I'd love to be able to push E-Mail to my device via IMAP. I can only hope that feature is on the way. k9mail currently has a beta version out that supposedly supports IMAP push feature if anyone is interested in trying it, I'll probably try it out later today.

 

[billd]

If you click on the Menu button below the screen it will give you an option to show folders

Thanks!

 

[Redflea]

IMAP working fine for me...want IMAP push like w/my Blackberry on BIS, but Droid doesn't do that, so it's pull/polling unfortunately.

IMAP is also working fine for other co-workers using Droids.

 

[billd]

OK. I've got it showing sub-folders. However, I have some automated filtering going on that puts some things into certain folders. Is there a way for me to get notifications of new messages in certain sub-folders? It appears to be just for the inbox and I can't seem to find a way to do it for sub-folders.

 

[jfriend]

I was fairly disappointed in the Android 2.0 IMAP support on the Droid. While I can see my email in my inbox and other folders and I can reply or forward to any email, it seems to be missing all of the following standard email features:

Can't move a message from one folder to another (like from the inbox to another folder)

Doesn't support the notion of a Trash folder on the server so that when you delete an email it is moved to the server-based Trash folder.

Doesn't support the notion of a Sent Mail folder ont he server so that when you send an email, a copy of that email is placed in the server-based Sent Mail folder

Has a very rudimentary folder list that shows a flat list of all folders with the entire pathname of every folder rather than a classic hierarchical display of the folder hiearchy

Can't notify you of new email in folders. Like another poster in this thread, I use server-based filters to put all email from certain senders into certain folders. I'd like to be able to know when there is new email in those folders too.

Is there any work being done on the built-in IMAP support to improve it? Overall, I'm very impressed with the Droid and Android 2.0 - I was just surprised how rudimentary the IMAP support was.

 

[OhioAlan]

We still haven't solved our problems connecting to the IMAP server - does anyone have any idea of what we could try different, either on the phone, or on the Leopard Server?

 

[audioi]

Try K9 mail.
Has all the features and works great.

 

[colnago]

Try K9 mail.
Has all the features and works great.

I've been using K-9 for past 2-3 days, and solved all the issues from the native POP3 mail app. I'm not sure about IMAP accounts, but I have no sync nor delivery issues. If you use it, just be sure to look at the folder sync settings. They use a "class" system, to determine what is displayed, and what is synched...all new to me as far as the "Classes".

Things K-9 could use:

- Multi select (just because I have too many email accounts and less time)
- Message Move between folders
- Archive
- HTML support (sending)
- Undelete

Its cool how different color LED lights, depending on which account receives mail.

 

[audioi]

Imap works fine. I have 2 accounts Imap4

 

[mattymatt]

IMAP incoming server worked fine, but setting up the outgoing server still hasn't worked for me. I use TLS for outgoing. every time I get an error stating "TLS Required but not supported by server." Funny thing is though that it works just fine on the K-9 app. K-9 e-mails look bad when they are received by others though so I can't send e-mail through K-9 on my IMAP email because it looks like crap.