There are high chances that most of you have never even come across these terms or at least, you have never bothered to know what they stand for.
For the savvy users, this might be something that interests you, but still, the novice users can take a great deal of knowledge as far as POP3 and IMAP are concerned. To start off, here is a distinction between POP3 and IMAP.
So, what are POP3 and IMAP?
POP3 and IMAP are of course initials and they stand for Post Office Protocol 3 and Internet Messaging Access Protocol, respectively. The POP is in its third generation and for sure, this a rather old method of retrieving information from emails and it dates back to 1984, when the first generation was launched. In simple, POP3 represents the way information is downloaded from email servers right to your email inbox.
IMAP on the other hand started in 1986 and with this method, people can view their email messages from a number of clients, where they are not tied to a single access point. This is the preferred method in the modern world despite the fact that the two technologies have only two years separating them. Using the IMAP service, it is easy for emails from different sources to be collected in one inbox and access to them is hassle-free.
Is Gmail POP3 or IMAP?
Now that you have an idea of what POP3 and IMAP are, you can easily tell whether Gmail is either of them. But if you still can’t differentiate the two, don’t worry; the problem has already been taken care of in the next section.
Gmail makes use of both POP3 and IMAP. However, according to Google, using IMAP is the best option for all users as it is very easy to set up and use. Furthermore, if you plan to check your Gmail inbox using Microsoft Outlook; for instance, the process will be very easy as this platform lets you view emails from a variety of clients. In addition, the actual email processing is very smooth, when compared to POP3.
Both POP3 and IMAP services are free on Gmail and it is your choice to work the platform that suits you. However, it is advisable to follow the recommendations of the developers and make use of IMAP, which is more modern and offers better services than POP3. The IMAP option will also let you view your alternative emails with ease as you won’t have to manually log into the main accounts.
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