IMAP over SSL/TLS (IMAPS) is assigned the port number 993. [2][3] Virtually all modern e-mail clients and servers support IMAP, which along with the earlier POP3 (Post Office Protocol) are the two most prevalent standard protocols for email retrieval. [4] .

IMAP and POP are two methods to access email. IMAP is the recommended method when you need to check your emails from several different devices, such as a phone, laptop, and tablet. IMAP allows you to access your email wherever you are, from any device.

POP3 is an older protocol that was originally designed to be used on only one computer. Unlike modern protocols that use two-way synchronization, POP3 only supports one-way email synchronization, only allowing users to download emails from a server to a client.

Feb 11, 2025 · SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) handles email sending, while POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) manage email retrieval and storage. This guide breaks down what SMTP, POP3, and IMAP do, how they work, and which one is best suited for your needs.

Here is a summary of some key differences between IMAP and POP3. Users can access their emails from any device. By default, emails can only be accessed from the device they are downloaded on. The server stores emails; IMAP acts as …

Dec 30, 2024 · To grasp the differences between IMAP and POP3, it’s essential to understand what an email protocol is. Simply put, an email protocol is a set of rules that dictate how email clients (software like Outlook or Apple Mail) communicate with email servers to send, receive, and manage emails.

IMAP3 has been used to access mailboxes at remote sites from a local workstation via the Internet. For example, from the Stanford local network one of the authors has read his mailbox at a Milnet site.

IMAP is used to download, read and manage emails, while POP3 is used only for downloading emails. IMAP is newer and more popular than POP3, especially when mailboxes are huge, or multiple clients access the same account.

Apr 11, 2023 · IMAP and POP3 are protocols used to retrieve email from a remote server to a local email client. IMAP is defined as an email protocol that allows access to email from any device. IMAP does not download or store the email content onto the device; rather, users read their messages over the email service.

However, it seems that some of the people involved with IMAP were not pleased with RFC 1176, so they created a new document defining version 3 of IMAP (IMAP3): RFC 1203, published in February 1991. This is described by its authors as a “counter proposal”.