When setting up email on a phone or in a mail program, the question almost always comes up: IMAP or POP3? Most people pick blindly and sometimes cause themselves problems. Let us explain what these abbreviations mean and which to choose.

How email works in brief

Email uses two kinds of protocols:

  • For receiving mail either IMAP or POP3 serves.
  • For sending mail SMTP serves.

IMAP and POP3 are therefore two different ways to download and read received emails from the server. And that is exactly where the fundamental difference between them lies.

What POP3 is

POP3 is the older approach. It works by downloading emails from the server to the device and (usually) removing them from the server. Mail thus lives on one computer.

  • Advantage: you have emails stored locally and they do not take up space on the server.
  • Disadvantage: once you download the mail to one computer, it is no longer on another device. Syncing across devices does not work.

POP3 makes sense only in specific cases, for example when you read mail exclusively on one computer and want it locally.

What IMAP is

IMAP is the more modern and today recommended approach. Emails stay on the server and devices sync with it. What you do on one device is reflected everywhere.

  • Advantage: you see the mail the same on phone, laptop and via web. When you read or move an email on one device, it shows on all of them.
  • Disadvantage: mail takes up space on the server, you have to watch the mailbox capacity.

For the vast majority of people and companies, IMAP is the right choice today, because we read mail on several devices at once.

IMAP versus POP3 in a nutshell

AspectIMAPPOP3
Where mail ison the serverdownloaded to the device
Multiple devicesyes, syncedno, only one
Backup on serveryesusually no
Server spacetakes upsaves
For whommost people and companiesone computer, local

What to choose

  • Do you read mail on phone and computer? Choose IMAP. That is the vast majority of cases.
  • Do you use mail only on one computer and want it locally? POP3 may be enough, but even here IMAP is usually more convenient.

For company email, your own domain and proper security are also useful. More in the articles on email with your own domain and securing company email.

Beware of backups

Since with IMAP mail lives on the server, it pays to think about backing it up, so you do not lose it in case of a mailbox problem. This relates to the article on how to back up data correctly.

Conclusion

IMAP keeps mail on the server and syncs it between all devices, POP3 downloads it to one device. For today’s way of use, when we read email anywhere, IMAP is the right choice. POP3 makes sense only exceptionally.

Dealing with company mail, its setup or a move to your own domain? Get in touch, we will set up email correctly and securely.

This article is part of our Software and system overview.