[smt88]

EDIT: I was wrong. Gmail supports IMAP[1], so this is entirely Apple's fault if they're using POP instead of IMAP for accessing Gmail.

iPhone Mail uses POP, an open standard for email, to connect to Gmail. POP doesn't support push notifications. All POP clients (Gmail itself, Outlook, etc.) must use polling to find new emails.

You could blame Gmail for discontinuing IMAP support, or you could blame Apple for refusing to integrate with Gmail using their API (which supports push and is faster than POP).

Either way, this is a natural consequence of competition. Neither company wants it to be easy for you to use the other one's product.

1. https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en

[ThoAppelsin]

I am clearly blaming Gmail for discontinuing IMAP support, which seems to me clearly as a foul practice of abusing dominance over the market via introduction of non-standard ways, while also halting support for the standards. They would perish if they were to do this as a small company, and make benefit out of it by "pushing" their products as a bundle, just because a sizeable amount of people are dependent on their services.

[opless]

When did this happen?

I have things still happily using IMAP, in fact gmail on my iPhone is still showing IMAP-like folders, further more the gmail help still shows the IMAP configuration procedure[1].

[1]. https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en

[smt88]

Sorry, you are absolutely right. Gmail supports IMAP as a server.

Email discontinued support for importing emails from IMAP sources in Gmail itself. That's what I was thinking of.

[smt88]

Sorry, turns out it's 100% Apple's fault.

Why not use a third-party mail client?