Why is my Mail App taking using up so much background activity?

APX7000 · May 6, 2016

iPhone 6 (64 gig-factory unlocked/JB), using the built in mail app that comes with 9.0.2.

Have 3 email accounts, 2 from my ISP (Comcast) and a gmail account. All 3 accounts are set to "fetch" Mail once per hour. I don't use email much per day, maybe a few quick replies, and deleting spam.

Last 24 hours;
Mail on screen 2 minutes, 1.3 hours background

These stats seem way too high considering I seldom use email, even if it's fetching once per hour.

The one thing I've noticed over the past few months is when I check my email between the 1 hour fetch routine, sometimes error pops up saying some BS about gmail password/account error, check back later.

Could gmail be the problem? Trying to download my gmail emails when it's having account login problems and it keeps trying until it finally succeeds. There is NO proof my accounts have been hacked.

Any ideas guys/gals?

carolineM · May 7, 2016

1.3 hours background usage does sound excessive, but it might be worth changing the setting to Fetch manually.

bear7962 · May 8, 2016

Try deleting the gmail account, reboot the phone by turning it it off (slider to off or hard reset). See if this makes a difference. Then you can re-add the gmail account.

APX7000 · May 8, 2016

The last 2 days I disabled my Gmail account and had the phone check my POP Comcast email once every hour, rather than every 30 minutes.
Looking at the battery settings now, it doesn't even show ANY email battery drain - not even 1%.

There have been many times I've gone into my email, and an error popped up about not being able to get my gmail. Time to ditch my email? Naw, I'll manually check it from now on. It's for the most part a garbage account

bear7962 · May 8, 2016

Delete gmail, boot the iPhone. Then re-add gmail. Seriously.

APX7000 · May 11, 2016

I disabled gmail and my background activity went from over an hour to 3 minutes!

Will delete gmail and then enter my credentials and see what happens.

No question after days of monitoring, gmail was hogging my battery. Thanks for the advise guys!

Now I know gmail is the culprit, I will delete my account and add it again and see what happens. I'm still on 9.0.2