Why You Want IMAP Over POP3

Wondering what's up with your email system? Learn the difference between POP (it sucks) and IMAP (it rocks)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• email
• systems
• exchange
• pop
• imap
• sync
• mobile
• iphone

[Rusty5158]

I wish you would do more "how to"/ "info" videos...you are pleasant to listen too and you are easy to understand

[adriarichards]

@Rusty5158 I will be doing more How To videos! Make sure to check out the most recent one I did on how to network your printer to the network!

[Fordgt401965]

This video couldn't be more misleading, you say with pop "if something happened to the hard drive their all lost"??? That's why you click "leave a copy on the server, that way it is both downloaded and stored on the server. With IMAP (which sucks) the only back up you have is what's on the server and relying on a server is asking to have your data lost. With POP3 (which rocks) you can have the best of both worlds, a copy on the hard drive and on the server, IMAP is dangerous.

[adriarichards]

@Fordgt401965 Interesting you describe it that way but IMAP is more reliable because in many cases you not only have larger storage capacity but also the ability to undo deletions. For example, with Gmail and Google Apps, you have 30 days to pull things from the trash.

Meanwhile, with POP3, you can't tell when you've read something on your iPhone already so you end up marking the same messages as "read" on your computer. That's a waste of time and productivity

[jshow420]

it's not awesome to have IMAP. If your phone crashes and loses all your email it's no longer accessible. I feel like a lot of what you said is non-sense you don't even understand. PoP3 will always be better.

[adriarichards]

@jshow420 Thankfully, I've worked with email servers for 10+ years on both the server and client sides. IMAP allows your clients (like Outlook, Thunderbird) or devices (like iPhones, Android and Blackberries) to stay in sync with the server version. That's why so many people love using their Gmail with their iPhones AND IMAP :)

[J2897Tutorials]

I prefer POP3.

[lg123xyz]

@jshow420 are you retarded? "if your phone crashes you lose all your emails?", if your phone or any other device crashes that's when you really want IMAP so you can get up and running in no time.

[Winrockful]

@jshow420 I agree. IMAP may have some minor advantages, but they're not important for the average user, since the emails can indeed be left on the server with POP3.

I think an advantage of POP3 can be enhanced data security: If someone hacks into the server or your personal account, he can't read your emails if they aren't on the server (were deleted after you downloaded them)! An advantage over webbased email, too.

[adriarichards]

@Resistoon you can download your email but then it's stuck on the computer or device unless you tell it to retain a copy on the server. POP3 is a copy while IMAP has intelligence to check against the server and knows if you've read an email or not.