Help Missing Emails on Smartphone-Syncs Only Some Emails

[JohnnyAico]

I've had an issue for a while now where only about 95% of my emails actually show up on my smartphone. There is no consistent pattern, nor rhyme or reason. All the emails will appear on my webmail and Outlook at home (through Earthlink), but every day, there are always a few missing on my phone. Even when I manually sync, the missing emails will not appear. I have to "remove" the email account, then add it back from my phone - which is the only way the missing emails will show up on my phone. However, the problem still reoccurs. So, I'm finding that I have to remove then add back my email account 1-2X per day so I can see all my emails through the app on the phone.

I've worked with the technical depts of Verizon (phone carrier), Earthlink (email carrier), and Motorola (phone is Motorola Maxx), but no one has a fix for the problem (let alone heard of it). I have the latest Android version available for the phone, 4.4.4

Anybody have any ideas? Thanks.

 

[Crashdamage]

What email app are you using on your Maxx? Have you tried a different app? Does it matter if you check mail on WiFi or mobile data (not likely)? And do you know if this is a POP3 or IMAP account?

 

[JohnnyAico]

The email app is the one that was already on the phone when I bought it - it is simply called "Email". I only check with mobile since I'm not around WiFi too often. It's a POP3 account (through Earthlink).

 

[Crashdamage]

POP3 is a pita. It doesn't sync like IMAP does, it only 'syncs' to use the term loosely, with deletions on the server.

Make sure that incoming server settings in Outlook are set to 'Leave on server' or 'Do not sync deletions' or whatever the setting is called - I don't know, I've never used Outlook.

Do the same in the email app on the Maxx, if it has such a option. A few email apps do not.

The idea is not to delete anything from the inbox on the server. It still may not work correctly, and if not it very well could be unfair to blame the Maxx or Earthlink, at least directly. The guilty party might be Outlook. Outlook does not strictly adhere to standards, but rather sometimes does things its own way. In this case it might be improperly setting message flags. IOW not playing nice with Earthlink's server software.

You might try a standards-compliant email client such as Thunderbird as a replacement. Might also be worthwhile trying another email app on the Maxx. Ya never know what might work sometimes.

Of course the best solution is to trash POP3 and convert the problem account to IMAP.

Edit: Don't forget, with everything set to leave incoming mail on the server, you need to manually clear out some old mail now and then so that you don't run out of space on the server.

 

[JohnnyAico]

Thanks for the reply. I've tried a lot of the stuff you suggest except trying Thunderbird. So I downloaded the app. Hopefully it will take care of the issue.