Persistent incoming server network errors, but manual refresh fixes it?

[leledumbo]

The background sync doesn't seem to work since the last 2 (or 3?) updates. However, opening the app and refresh manually fixes it. Full reinstallation has ever been done, but has no effect. Log for today is attached (I see some crashes inside), first line contains link to video demonstrating the behavior (since I'm not allowed to post external links).

[StR]

The logs indicate one and the same error for all accounts:
"***** ERROR: Unable to connect to [imap.mail.yahoo.com:993, sslStrict]
java.net.UnknownHostException: Unable to resolve host "imap.mail.yahoo.com": No address associated with hostname"

***** ERROR: Unable to connect to [imap.gmail.com:993, sslStrict]
java.net.UnknownHostException: Unable to resolve host "imap.gmail.com": No address associated with hostname

This appears to be at the system level. It looks like something in your phone does not permit to do network communication in the background.
If I were you, I'd think what battery/memory managing apps you've installed or (re)configured.
Also, think if you changed anything in the system settings that determines the policies for apps running in the background.

By any chance, is your Android version 6.x ?

[leledumbo]

This appears to be at the system level. It looks like something in your phone does not permit to do network communication in the background.
If I were you, I'd think what battery/memory managing apps you've installed or (re)configured.
Also, think if you changed anything in the system settings that determines the policies for apps running in the background.

Should be something specific and new for AquaMail then, since any other apps that require background sync works just fine. Even AquaMail works until few recent updates. Gotta check app info.

By any chance, is your Android version 6.x ?

Nope, still 5.1.

Already had faced that.
Please check that Google Play app is enabled to work in the background.

How does it relate to Google Play? But OK, I'll check.

[StR]

Should be something specific and new for AquaMail then, since any other apps that require background sync works just fine. Even AquaMail works until few recent updates. Gotta check app info.

Sorry, but there have been many-many similar cases here on this forum, when people were confident that the only thing that has changed was the Aquamail update. Only to recall later on: "Oh, yes, I changed [this] little setting, and didn't expect it would affect anything".

And with the logs indicating the error coming from the system  (i.e. outside of Aquamail's own functionality), you need to look for the external reasons.

One thing to check though: AquaMail settings -> Network -> make sure "DNS resolution" is enabled (checked).

[leledumbo]

Sorry, but there have been many-many similar cases here on this forum, when people were confident that the only thing that has changed was the Aquamail update. Only to recall later on: "Oh, yes, I changed [this] little setting, and didn't expect it would affect anything".

I'll be sure that I'm not one of them

And with the logs indicating the error coming from the system  (i.e. outside of Aquamail's own functionality), you need to look for the external reasons.

Yup, still searching info about the exception and similar cases.

One thing to check though: AquaMail settings -> Network -> make sure "DNS resolution" is enabled (checked).

Already checked.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Yes, the app is trying to do DNS resolution, calling this completely standard Android runtime function:

https://developer.android.com/reference/java/net/InetAddress.html#getAllByName(java.lang.String)

And your Android system software tells the app "no, I don't know anything about imap.mail.yahoo.com".

A system level DNS failure.

Not an issue with the app at all.

---

And Aqua is not unique or alone in using this function to get the IP addresses of whatever servers it needs to connect to.

---

Oh, I see it now, yes.

Your phone is a Xieskeraleplik (how the hell do you spell that?) running MIUI.

There have been several reports recently specific to MIUI:

- Apparently it has some sort of "battery optimizer" thing built-in

- Which prevents apps from accessing the network when in the background

- And in fact this occurs in the log a lot, I've seen this in other users' logs too:

Active network info: [type: WIFI[], state: DISCONNECTED/BLOCKED

- This is somewhere in system settings, I can't advise on where exactly

THE KICKER:

- Several users who were having this exact issue, and found and turned this "battery optimizer" off (which then resolved the issues seen in AquaMail) -- swore on their mother's graves that they've never before seen this setting or knew where it was in the system settings app.

My theory is that MIUI recently started enabling it automatically, without telling anyone (the device owners).

And then I'm sure they've whitelisted Gmail and a few other apps. Apparently not AquaMail though.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Information on MIUI and its "battery optimizer" blocking network access now added to the FAQ:

http://www.aqua-mail.com/?page_id=227

[coriander]

I have just started getting this error message in the last few days on my Samsung S7 edge, but only on wifi. The native Email app with @ icon fails silently, but Google Mail and Google Inbox send/receive perfectly. All other data, twitter, browsing, this forum works ok.

Aquamail works perfectly if i turn off wifi and use 3G/4G, which is expensive as I'm roaming.  Turn on wifi and immediately get red exclamation mark.

Android version is 6.0.1 and AQM is 1.6.2.7.

My win10 laptop logs into same wifi and emails all work ok.

Does this help debugging?

[StR]

What is your email server? Is it Gmail?
Gmail can block access from some network if it thinks the location of that is far from where you usually access your mail. And this can be mail-client-specific. E.g. Thunderbird might not be affected if you enabled 2-step authentication for it.

As far as I remember,  if you touch that red notice, Aquamail will show you the actual error.
Can you post what it says?

[Kostya Vasilyev]

It's not 2-step auth or OAUTH2 -- we're not getting this far.

Your phone's Internet access is limited

-- only allows web type traffic and blocks (presumably) traffic to mail ports (IMAP is 993, SMTP is 465).

-- since you mention "The native Email app with @ icon fails" (silently or not...) - this confirms that it's not a bug in AquaMail

[Kostya Vasilyev]

And reading between the lines here:

"Aquamail works perfectly if i turn off wifi and use 3G/4G, which is expensive as I'm roaming"

Roaming -> traveling -> the WiFi is at a hotel?

Hotels / airports / restaurants etc. often allow only web browsing traffic, blocking everything else (e.g. mail traffic, IMAP / SMTP). To them this is "as intended" (their idea of computer security perhaps?)

[amw65]

Hello, please allow me to step in here.
Uptil yesterday morning (July 31) Aqua Mail worked fine. Right now, in the same situation (at home) I am getting this error too.
I have spent quite some time now to figure out myself how to solve this. Went over the account settings many times.
They didn't change.

Aqua Mail has been set up with 2 accounts: 1 gmail.com and 1 outlook.com.

When I send a 'test-email'  to myself, from Outlook 2013 (desktop), to both accounts, the gmail account syncs without problem. The sync date states 'today'.

Outlook has an issue.

Now, here it comes: when I do a refresh, the mail arrives, i.e. the testmails arrive in Outlook, but... immediately thereafter I get this "Network Error".
I am writing this in a thread about "Persistent incoming server network errors" because that was an error I got at first launch of Aqua Mail, this morning.
Probably the same culprit?

On my desktop I am using
incoming: pop-mail.outlook.com port 995 encrypted SSL
and
outgoing mail: smtp-mail.outlook.com port 587, TLS
(I strongly prefer pop, I am not going to change that)

on my tablet
incoming: imap-mail.outlook.com port 993 encrypted SSL
and
outgoing mail: smtp-mail.outlook.com port 587, STARTTLS (strict check) - override when on WiFi DISabled
(no idea whether or not to tag that, don't know what it is used for, I tagged it as a try, but it doesn't make any difference)

Note: when I change imap-mail.outlook.com into po-mail.outlook.com it takes minutes to refresh and eventually results into an error.

Surely this could be solved without re-installing?
Somewhere I read that this  "message comes up when the app has been unable to connect to the incoming (or outgoing) mail server for 12 hours in a row."
Can't believe I need to re-install Aqua Mail when I haven't touched my tablet for 12 hours..

I have been using a few other apps before, like Gmail, Outlook, K-9, but I like Aqua Mail the most.

=

Later:
FWIW and whilst I don't know anything about this kind of stuff(!)...
I discovered that under my gmail account->Account Options->IMAP push is enabled
but under Outlook.com this is greyed out.
Again, have no idea whether or not it has something to do with it and, if so, why it has
been disabled, after it worked fine before.
=

[StR]

While I am not sure what is actual problem in your case, I would like to address couple of issues.
1. You can just replace the server settings for the account that is created as an IMAP account with the POP3 server information.
So, what you've tried to do predictably results in an error:

Note: when I change imap-mail.outlook.com into po-mail.outlook.com it takes minutes to refresh and eventually results into an error.

2.

on my tablet
...
outgoing mail: smtp-mail.outlook.com port 587, STARTTLS (strict check) - override when on WiFi DISabled
(no idea whether or not to tag that, don't know what it is used for, I tagged it as a try, but it doesn't make any difference)

My general recommendation with Aquamail: It has numerous configuration options. But it has very reasonable default settings. (And both are the strengths of this app.) 
So, unless you know what the specific option does, it is best to configure the absolute minimum of options.
Spefically for this "override when  on WiFi", - unless you need to use a different SMTP server when you are connected to WiFi, leave that option unchecked (disabled).


Re: "Persistent incoming server network errors"
This is not a specific error, but it is the notification for the app having problems connecting to the incoming server. Different reasons for the problem can cause connection problems, and all they will eventually produce this notification.

Whether PUSH for IMAP is enabled or disabled, it doesn't matter.

The symptoms you've described could be caused by several different problems:
1. Incorrectly entered server information or login credentials (such as a typo).
2. Some problems on the provider's server (outlook.com).
3. Network problems, when due to something happening with your network, your Android (the OS itself) cannot resolve the server or to connect to it. For example, I've seen people from various parts of the US (California, Southern states, ..) reporting intermittent problems with the DNS (name server) lookups from Suddenlink (one of the major ISPs) DNS servers.
You can check how your device works on a different network.

HTH.

Kostya, Aquamail sole developer, will probably have more ideas.

[amw65]

Thanks for the above. I am using Aqua Mail in its default settings. He Outlook details, well, I don't change anything and whilst adding the account, all goes well.
It is saved without isues. I have been trying to change pop into imap, but it took a few minutes (spinning circle) and resulted in an error. So, that wasn't option.
Tried it a few times.

When I opened the tablet this morning, everything was working fine. Beats me...

So, in the end, I have no idea what the cause was of the issues.

A (very) 'long shot' as they say, not more than a wild guess: Outlook gets you an error if too many times mail is being retrieved thru their POP3 server.
One then has to wait for, say, 5 minutes or so, before giving another attempt. GMail's POP3 has no such error, just Outlook. Try 4-5 times in a row to contact the POP3 server and it will get an error ' Exceeded login limit for 15 minutes'   or so.

Maybe this has been causing the issue.

[StR]

I am glad your problem went away.

I have been trying to change pop into imap, but it took a few minutes (spinning circle) and resulted in an error. So, that wasn't option.
Tried it a few times.

You cannot change an account that was created to connect via POP3 to connect via IMAP. The only way to do that is to create a new IMAP account (with the same credentials, but choosing IMAP instead). And with Outlook.com, Aquamail chooses the correct settings for the service automatically and easily.
Once you've created the IMAP account, you can delete the POP3 account (in Aquamail, not on the server ;-) ).


Re: Outlook outage
Yes, a timeout can be the reason for your problem. Also, it could be just an intermittent glitch on their server...