Mail sent or deleted in computer often does not show in iPhone folders

Michael Graubart · Jul 15, 2014

I have an iPhone 3G and a Mac mini with Mountain Lion. At home my phone connects via the BT Home Hub wi-fi.

I am not using iCloud, because my phone is too old a model. I sync by cable via iTunes.

I have discovered that if I send an e-mail from the Mac Mail app, or I delete a previously-received e-mail from Mail on the Mac, it will be in the Sent folder or the Trash folder on the Mac, but very often it will not be in the corresponding folder on the iPhone.

Can this be due to my mobile phone network (T-Mobile)? Surely it should not be, if I am using BT wi-fi?

Can anyone offer an explanation, please?

xrayeyes · Jul 15, 2014

Depends on your email service and whether or not you have it set up as IMAP or POP. Most web based mail services such as yahoo, gmail, outlook.com, etc will cross devices.

Michael Graubart · Jul 16, 2014

I have three e-mail accounts. Two of them (BT Internet and gmail) are IMAP, the third (my college account) is Exchange.

Messages do generally cross devices, but sometime only after a long delay (hours, even days) and sometimes not at all. I am confused and bewildered!