Enable Gmail Push Support on the iPhone
I’ve always been a GMail fanboy – excluding one feature: push support for the iPhone. I can’t explain why, but it really irks me when Allie is notified instantly when she receives a new Yahoo email – probably from Old Navy – while I must wait 15 minutes for the iPhone to further drain my battery and fetch new emails. I should note that typically, I don’t last that long before manually refreshing, but that’s neither here nor there! Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Settings
First, on your iPhone, go into Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and delete your current Gmail account; we’ll be creating a new one.
Step 2: Microsoft Exchange
Next, while still in “Mail, Contacts, Calendars,” click “Add Account.” This time, rather than “Gmail,” choose “Microsoft Exchange.”
- Email field : Your full Gmail email address
- Domain field : Leave blank
- Username field : Your full Gmail email address
- Password field : Duh…enter your password!
When you’ve filled out those fields, click “Next.” You might receive an alert that says, “Unable to Verify Certificate.” Just click Okay.
Step 3: New Server Field
Now, the page will reload, and you’ll see a new Server textbox. Type m.google.com, and click “Next” again. Within the next screen, just make sure that “Mail” is selected, and you’re done! Super easy!
Keep in Mind
- You might notice a decrease in battery life.
- You can only use one Exchange account at a time on the iPhone.
- Is immediate notification necessarily a good thing? I’m not sure about you, but I feel split a second wave of anxiety every time I hear that beep!
Comments
Jeremy said...
An important thing to note is that the iPhone only supports one Exchange account at a time, so if you do have it connected to an Exchange server for work or something like that, you won’t be able to add a second for GMail.
posted on December 5, 2009
admin said...
@Jeremy – Good point. I forgot to mention that. In my case, I have about three different Gmail accounts (personal, work, work). So, I import all my emails into one base account, and then use that address. I’ll update the article, and make reference to that note. Thx!
posted on December 5, 2009
Andreas Stehn said...
Thanks for this, this was way useful, i also notices that it also works with Google Calendar and the builtin calendar in the iPhone. You can add appointmensts and so on in Google Calendar and they will be pushed to your phone and vice versa.
posted on December 5, 2009
Anton Ranestam said...
Thank you very much.
Now I can relax and stop checking my e-mail every 15 mins after an e-mail that is supposed to arrive.
posted on December 6, 2009
Harsha M V said...
awesome. thanx a lot jeffrey.
posted on December 6, 2009
Siddharth said...
I just enabled push notifications using the method mentioned above but the strain on the battery sounds worrisome. I get hardly a day’s use out of a full charge. How much of a hit can I expect with push enabled?
posted on December 6, 2009
admin said...
@Siddharth – It depends on how often you check your email. You will save a bit using the Push method, given the fact that you won’t have to manually update X times per day. But yeah – even without Push notifications, my iPhone won’t make it through an entire day. I hope they fix that.
P.S. Your article goes up tomorrow!
posted on December 6, 2009
Max said...
what about Gpush?
http://www.itunes.com/app/GPush
posted on December 11, 2009
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[...] list of tools that you can add and delete at your discretion. If you’re like me and you have Gmail push emailset up and synchronised iPhone and Google calendars then you shouldn’t need to use Google [...]
posted on January 24, 2010