Getting Yahoo! Push email to work on the iPhone

As far back as July, 2007, iPhone Atlas readers reported an issue in which Yahoo! email accounts do not push messages to the iPhone.

Yahoo! Mail accounts are the only type of accounts currently accessible by the iPhone that offer push services. This, in theory, means that you will be instantly notified when a new message lands in your Yahoo! account mailbox. The service works by routing email through imap.apple.mail.yahoo.com, a mail server designated specifically for the iPhone by Yahoo!. Other IMAP and POP accounts accessed by the iPhone must rely on time-interval checking (ranging from every 15 minutes to every hour, toggled in the Mail pane of Settings) or manual checking.

Push mail is supposed be offered with free Yahoo! mail accounts.

However, Yahoo! mail was/is not "pushing" for some, only appearing in the inbox when the user manually checks, or during a time-interval checks.

Based on recent reports, however, Yahoo! made some server-end changes that have enabled push capabilities for a number of previoiusly defunct accounts. Some sample reports from this pertinent Apple Discussions thread:

• "I live in Southern California. I heard the familiar chime of a pushed email this morning at the gym. Hope the fix lasts!"
• "My Yahoo!push e-mail is now working too!"
• "I now receive push emails again on my iPhone"

Unfortunately, the server-end fixes aren't working for all users, and it appears that some accounts may need a jumpstart in order to start pushing again. Here are some escalating steps for starting the flow:

• Navigate to mobile page on a Desktop Log into your Yahoo! email account on a desktop computer. Navigate to "Settings," then "Mobile" then go back to the main page -- you don't need to change any settings. Mail may start pushing right away.
• Delete then recreate account Go to the Settings application, tap Mail then tap your Yahoo! account and tap Delete Account. Then go back to the Mail pane of Settings and re-establish your Yahoo! account. You may need to reset your iPhone again after doing this.
• Create an all-new account In some cases, the only option is to create an entirely new Yahoo! account at mail.yahoo.com. Some accounts don?t, for whatever reason, appear to be working properly with push services.
• Restore iPhone As a last resort: Connect your iPhone to your computer, then in iTunes, select your iPhone and click the Restore button under the Summary tab. Restoring the phone will erase contacts, calendars, photos and other data stored only on the phone, but will restore automatically backed-up information including text messages, notes, call history, contact favorites, sound settings, widget settings, etc.

Feedback? info@iphoneatlas.com.