When all the information has been entered, press “Next.” On the next screen, enter m. in the “Server” field and reenter your Gmail email address in the “Username” field. Select “Microsoft Exchange,” enter your Gmail email address and password in the correct fields, and press “Next.”
To set up Gmail with Exchange, unlock your iOS device and head to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account. Since then, iPhone users have had the option to set up access to their Google email, contacts, and calendars via Exchange, a platform that provides relatively faster push of emails and solves most of the quirkiness of Gmail on IMAP. IMAP is a great email protocol and a large improvement over legacy POP services, but there are some problems with using Gmail via IMAP, including duplication of draft messages when stored on the server and relatively slow push of new messages.Ī better alternative is Exchange ActiveSync, which Google licensed from Microsoft in 2010 for use on mobile platforms that connect to Google’s services.
Using the built-in “Gmail” option in iOS sets up Gmail with the IMAP protocol, but there is a better method. Gmail is an excellent free email service that can be configured automatically in iOS and OS X.
