Really slow synchronization

[whitneyq]

I'm a Pro user, and love the app, but I'm having real problems with the time it takes to get mail through IMAP sync.

Trying to figure out the problem, I set up one computer with a MacMail client using IMAP and the other with a MacMail client using POP. Both get email at about the same time.

But, on my phone, AquaMail takes several hours to sync and download mail, even when I manually sync. I'm not just being impatient. For example, it's now 3:24pm, but the last email I received on my phone was at 12:06pm.  Forcing a manual sync, one more email, from 12:10 appears in my inbox. But I can see at least 4 more messages on the server that have not appeared on my phone.

This is typical. I've tracked these delays at different times of day and so on.
It's crazy that to see a message I know has been sent to me, I have to go to my service's webmail.

I'm set to use both 3G and WIFI to collect mail.


Is there a setting that I've overlooked??
Android ICS on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus S3

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Ok, so is it

1) slow sync -- i.e. you press refresh, and it keeps spinning and working for a long time

2) the app does not check mail as often as it should

3) messages that exist on the server don't arrive into the app when you check mail in manual mode

Sounds like it's a combination of 2 and 3.

For 2) - does the device have network connectivity when it's screen is off? Are you using battery-saving apps and turn off your data connection (for example), or anything else that may affect the device's Internet connection(s)?

For 3) - is this a GoDaddy hosted account, by any chance?

[whitneyq]

It is a combination of

1) slow sync - spins for a long time, but nothing happens
and
3) messages on server don't arrive.

2) works just fine. it's checking on schedule

And YES it's a GoDaddy account.
I've contacted them, but they were (as I feared) not only no help, but insist that it's not their problem. I'm happy to hear you ask, because maybe that means it's a known problem with a known solution

Another symptom is that sometimes I see the notification that there are unread messages in my Inbox and Smart Inbox, but when I go to look, all messages are marked as read.

Settings:
Scheduled mail checking ON
Use WIFI only off
Enable IMAP Push ON
Use WIFI only off
System: Sync even when auto-sync is off
Check when app is active ON
Mail check interval: 15 minutes

[whitneyq]

Correction to 1)

Sometimes it spins for long time
But sometimes it seems to work very quickly

But it's now over 24 hours behind in displaying messages.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Hi,

I'll be blunt. GoDaddy's IMAP servers are <censored>.

I've seen logs where the server reported "no" unread messages, and then returned a whole bunch of unread messages.

Or the server not returning any messages to the app, skipping something like the first 1000 (this took a long time, too).

Now, I've also had reports of it working just fine. So it's a hit and miss.

I would be happy to investigate if you recorded a debug log of you checking mail in this account, the instructions are under Support here: http://www.aqua-mail.com/?page_id=232

Please be sure to enable "include raw data" so I can see what's going on.
 

[whitneyq]

Well..

If you want the data, I'll be happy to send you a log, but your experience matches my best guess about what was going on. It was just too weird and erratic to be my phone company or the mail app.

Providers who just point the finger at everyone else don't endear themselves to me!

This seems to be reason enough to switch email server providers.

I wanted to give software, settings, etc one try before giving up. The good news is that it led me to AquaMail, which I like very much.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Hi,

Yes, I'd be happy to look at the log if you sent one... and then I could be more specific about what's going on...

( A story found on K-9 Mail's support group:

A few of their mail servers have broken IMAP IDLE (push), even though it's listed in server capabilities...

GoDaddy's support says that IMAP IDLE is not supported, and have no explanation for why the actual servers advertise it to apps...

)