Blackberry-wanna-get-GMail-filter ......... The business that I work for gave me a Blackberry. I can get my work e-mails no problem. Is it possible to add my personal GMail account seperately? If yes, is there any potential for IT at my company to access my GMail?

April 6, 2009 8:29 PM

Blackberry-wanna-get-GMail-filter ......... The business that I work for gave me a Blackberry. I can get my work e-mails no problem. Is it possible to add my personal GMail account seperately? If yes, is there any potential for IT at my company to access my GMail?
posted by Dave. to technology (11 answers total)

The blackberry gmail application is pretty great. It requires a login and doesn't store much locally so you should be able to keep your gmail data separate and private.
posted by eisenkr at 8:31 PM on April 6, 2009

Short of picking up your blackberry and reading your emails, there's no way for your IT dept. to read your gmail emails. I've always just configured Gmail Accounts using the Blackberry Web Client (it's carrier specific, so I can't give you URLs.) Regardless, configuration is very simple. Google has easy-to-follow instructions
posted by orville sash at 8:43 PM on April 6, 2009

The entire Google package for Blackberry is pretty neat (although Yahoo's package is really really neat). Has your IT department locked down your BB? If not, I would download the Google pack immediately.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:48 PM on April 6, 2009

Short of picking up your blackberry and reading your emails

Which they're almost certainly entitled to do. If there's something you don't want your company to see, don't send it to a piece of hardware they own.

I'm just sayin'.
posted by Cyrano at 9:29 PM on April 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

Orville, thanks!


I setup GMail working no problem. But when I choose "messages" icon on th Blackberry I expect it to show only my work emails. Instead, I get a combination of both my work email and GMail stuff. Is there any setting to separate the 2 accounts?
posted by Dave. at 9:30 PM on April 6, 2009

@Dave

You can setup two different icons on the blackberry. One for Gmail account and one for your business account. I am not sure the exact instructions, but the information can certainly be found on crackberry forums.

If I remember when you add an email account using your carriers BIS website, it will create an icon specifically for that email address (ie your gmail account). There should also already be a separate one for your business email. Then there is another folder that has all notifications (texts, email account(s), voicemail notifications, etc). If you cant see all the icons you have to press the blackberry key and 'show all'.

If that doesnt work visit the crackberry forums
posted by schindyguy at 11:36 PM on April 6, 2009

Technically, I don't believe IT can use the BES to read your personal email*. However, it is corporate property, and legally they can read whatever they want on it, just like your work PC. I would definitely check to make sure your company's okay with you having your personal email on their phone.

*They can use the BES to read just about everything else remotely. Call logs, SMSes, phone book, calendar, PINs, all that can be logged by the BES
posted by ConstantineXVI at 5:07 AM on April 7, 2009

*They can use the BES to read just about everything else remotely. Call logs, SMSes, phone book, calendar, PINs, all that can be logged by the BES

This is all assuming that his IT department has set him up using BES and not BIS. a lot of companies that don't want to pay for the BES user licenses, or configure a server in their office to manage their emails just configure the Blackberry Webclient to receive emails from the work domain.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, there are two ways to configure email on a blackberry. One is called Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) and it's configured the same as the way your gmail email is configured. You can usually authenticate these addresses via the blackberry webclient (which is provider specific) on the internet.

The other way is Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES). This is when your IT department has a mail server in house and software provided by Blackberry installed as well, which does all the email authentication. With BES, the IT department at your work has much more granular control on not only your email, but the way that your blackberry behaves, what aspects of the device you have access to, etc. They can also do all of the things that ConstantineXVI noted above.

Cyrano and Constantine are right, of course. If this is owned by your office, they're technically allowed to take it back whenever they want. However, I assume that if your relationship with the company is good enough that they buy you a piece of hardware like this, they're not clamoring to repossess it at regular intervals and read your gmail interactions. They will not be able to read your gmail email remotely, nor will configuring gmail on your blackberry enable them to locate your password or other personal information contained therein.
posted by orville sash at 8:47 AM on April 7, 2009

To reiterate what eisenkr wrote earlier in case it's been overlooked:

Rather than accessing your Gmail account via the Blackberry mail app, you can also install Google's Gmail mail client on your phone instead. This very clearly segregates your Gmail account from your work account since they are two separate, very different applications. And, depending on your Blackberry, you may well prefer the Gmail app's look & feel. (Also, if you use BIS, this wouldn't be visible to your IT department if they access your account on your wireless provider's aweb site AFAIK.)

I use BB mail app for my Gmail rather than the Gmail client -- but it's good to know your options.
posted by NailsTheCat at 12:26 PM on April 7, 2009

Your BES email will only go into Messages, your Gmail if you added it via BIS will go into Messages AND the icon you should have labeled with your Gmail email address. That, you can't change. Were if me, I'd remove Gmail from my BIS account and just install the Gmail app. Assuming that your BES admin allows you to download OTA (over the air). That way your two email addresses are a little more separate.
posted by heavenstobetsy at 6:14 PM on April 7, 2009

Conclusion ...

Mefi rules again!

Adding the GMail account via the BB "personal e-mail" option worked but it commingled my work and personal e-mails together when selecting the "messages" icon on the BB. That was not acceptable to me.

Everyone one of the responses to this mefi question were educational, especially those referring to the GMail application (eisinker's and nailsthecat's). That GMail application is the ultimate answer/solution to the original question.

Orville, thanks for all the excellent information.
posted by Dave. at 7:39 PM on April 7, 2009