Email notification/alert on phone

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Rickles

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#207527 31-Dec-2016 14:49

I'm aware of, and seen working, where Gmail accounts can be set up to send an alert/notification to a mobile phone, and the same can be set up within Facebook etc.

Can such be achieved using a local ISP, e.g. Voda, Spark etc?

Jase2985

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#1696837 31-Dec-2016 15:13

what do you mean, you phone alerts you when you get an email/facebook message?

or do you mean you get a txt/sms message?

richms

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#1696840 31-Dec-2016 15:34

The app on the phone alerts you. All you have to do is set the email account up on the phone and you will get alerts on new emails unless you have background data disabled.

Richard rich.ms

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#1696841 31-Dec-2016 15:35

Just the email client alerts you, It's nothing special

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Rickles

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#1696872 31-Dec-2016 17:51

>you phone alerts you when you get an email/facebook message? or do you mean you get a txt/sms message?<

I guess it is an alert, the phone pings/bongs?

>The app on the phone alerts you. All you have to do is set the email account up on the phone and you will get alerts on new emails<

Ahhh, of course, obvious when one thinks about it

Rickles

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#1696919 31-Dec-2016 21:32

OK, silly question time - I get that the phone can sound an alert when an email is received, just like the desktop version of "you have mail" that is triggered as the email is received.

However, with, say, Gmail, people using its web-based service only don't actually get an email received on their phone, they go to the web site to read/reply. So, to receive the alert must one actually have the emails downloaded?

blakamin

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#1696920 31-Dec-2016 21:36

Install the gmail app for your particular phone OS if you want alerts on your phone.

Rickles

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#1696921 31-Dec-2016 21:45

>Install the gmail app for your particular phone OS if you want alerts on your phone<

Sure, I get that, but I'm trying to see how Gmail sends its message essentially saying 'there is mail waiting on our server for you'. Presumably Gmail has to send something, even if just a header with the email in question being retained on the server?

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richms

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#1696928 31-Dec-2016 21:54

The software connects to the mail server and monitors the mailbox. Same as a desktop mail client does.

There is also the option for sending notifications back thru the phone OS's own cloud, both iphone and android have systems in place to push notifications to the handset without your app being active on the device, but I have no idea how much is using that and how much is just it sitting with a connection to the server in an open state.

Richard rich.ms

Rickles

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#1696933 31-Dec-2016 22:08

>The software connects to the mail server and monitors the mailbox. Same as a desktop mail client does.<

Thanks Rich, but with a desktop client usually the emails are transferred to the local machine, whereas with a phone it seems that the app connects, takes a look around, and reports back if emails are waiting to be collected/read etc. I was interested in what stops the emails being downloaded.

blakamin

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#1696934 31-Dec-2016 22:10

They are downloaded. They also remain on the server (in the case of gmail anyway). You have the choice of deleting, archiving, marking as read/unread as you would on a browser.

Rickles

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#1696935 31-Dec-2016 22:16

Thanks Mick, makes sense now.

What about the case of being notified that there has been a Facebook message or update?

blakamin

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#1696936 31-Dec-2016 22:18

Same thing really. Notifications get pushed, with the mobile apps you get the notification or message (facebook messenger is its own app) as if you had a browser window open.

richms

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#1696937 31-Dec-2016 22:19

Rickles:

>The software connects to the mail server and monitors the mailbox. Same as a desktop mail client does.<

Thanks Rich, but with a desktop client usually the emails are transferred to the local machine, whereas with a phone it seems that the app connects, takes a look around, and reports back if emails are waiting to be collected/read etc. I was interested in what stops the emails being downloaded.

In the dark ages of pop3 mail, yeah that is how desktop mail worked but in the 20+ years since that things have moved on. Even imap cant handle the volumes that people expect to be able to put in their mailboxes reliably now. Google have their own protocol, outlook.com have theirs which I think is somewhat the same as microsoft exchange but am not 100% sure. They all just connect, refresh headers and then sit there waiting on new stuff to come down to it, but imap largly still works if the client is smart enough to not try to sync everything.

You can set the client to either download mail as it sees them or to just get the header and download it when you open it, and for some clients you can set it to be different for wifi/4g/roaming

Gmail works better because it has search in the protocol so when you search the inbox for "harvey norman order" or whatver that is done on the server. Other clients will only search what they have which is slower and not as useful.

Richard rich.ms

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#1696946 31-Dec-2016 22:27

Worth noting that gmail stopped providing push notifications to the iOS mail client some time ago. You can use their app to get around this, or if you really must use the built in client, switch to another provider and set gmail to forward all your mail there.

Personally I just don't have time critical emails being sent to my gmail account.

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