The perfect (G)mail-on-iPhone solution?

October 4, 2010 6:54 AM

What is your preffered Gmail on iPhone (& Mac) solution? IMAP vs. webmail solutions + todo/marking options.

It is 2010 and I still haven't found the perfect (G)mail-on-iPhone solution.

Currently I use IMAP on Mail.app but I find it slow; also, search works better on the webmail.

Bonus question: how can I put a Gmail message on any todo app available for iPhone? Sometimes I read e-mail on iPhone when I am around, and would like to mark a message to alert me later.

posted by Think [Instrumental] to computers & internet (7 answers total)

I've been using Gmail over Exchange which syncs the contacts, calendar, and mail. I have two exchange accounts on my phone (work and gmail) and they work great. Plus the spotlight search hits that account like all my other accounts.
posted by msbutah at 7:52 AM on October 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

I like push gmail, it's kinda a work around using exchange but it's nice to hear a ding whenever a new message arrives, plus anything you do on your calendars (iphone cal + google cal) auto syncs back and forth instantly.

Push Gmail
posted by glenno86 at 7:55 AM on October 4, 2010

I'm with @msbutah, I use the standard mail app with Microsoft Exchange and it works perfectly.

As far as your second question, I'd merely create a gmail folder/label called "To Do" and move any message that will need follow up at a later time and date to that folder.

Of course, then you have to remember to occasionally check that folder :)
posted by willmize at 9:58 AM on October 4, 2010

I use IMAP for email and Exchange ActiveSync for calendar and contacts. Seems to work okay although a little slow on my iPhone 3G.

On the desktop, I run windows so it's probably of no interest to you. However I have found, annoyingly, that you cannot point Outlook to Gmail's exchange server (m.google.com).

I have no idea why not but it completely destroys my hope of having access to calendar and contacts through Outlook.
posted by mr_silver at 10:52 AM on October 4, 2010

What isn't working for you about the built-in Mail app? I've been using it with Gmail IMAP push for quite a while now, on a 3GS and on a 4, and it isn't any slower than any other IMAP account I have set up on the same device.

I don't understand why you'd want to introduce Exchange at any point in the system when it works just fine natively without doing that.

My only real complaint with it, personally, is that the Mail app doesn't handle nested folders well - all are expanded by default, which is kind of a pain as I have a lot of old email archived in nested folders, so there's a lot of scrolling to get past it all.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:06 AM on October 4, 2010

I have no idea why not
Gmail doesn't do Exchange, it does ActiveSync, which there are only mobile clients for.
posted by bonaldi at 3:35 PM on October 4, 2010

Thanks all.

I think will give webmail a try: Mailplane on iMac + native Google app on iPhone. Any hints?
posted by Think [Instrumental] at 1:30 PM on October 5, 2010