IMAP, POP3 or JMAP: which is the most modern protocol for business email?
JMAP is the newest standard for email: faster, instant notifications, built for phones and the web. How it differs from IMAP and POP3, and why Akomodix is built on JMAP.
When you set up a mailbox on a new phone, the program still asks: “IMAP or POP3?”. Both protocols date from a time when email was read on a single desktop computer. Today you read it on your phone, laptop and browser in the same day, and that’s why JMAP was created.
What is the most modern email protocol?
JMAP. It’s the newest standard for reading and managing email, published in 2019 (RFC 8620 and RFC 8621) by the IETF, the body that defines internet standards. It was designed for the way we use email today:
- It transfers only what changes. The app asks “what has happened since last time?” and receives only the differences, in a few exchanges.
- It tells you straight away. The server announces new messages as soon as they arrive, without the app having to keep checking.
- It uses less. Fewer exchanges mean faster apps and less battery drain on your phone.
- It uses web technology. It travels like an ordinary secure web page, so it gets through company networks, hotels and firewalls without trouble.
- It goes beyond email. The same language also handles contacts, with a standard extension, and the calendar, with an extension still being finalised.
What is the difference between IMAP and POP3?
With IMAP, your mail stays on the server; with POP3, it moves to the device.
- POP3, in the version in use, defined in 1996 (RFC 1939), downloads messages and, in the typical setup, deletes them from the server. Your phone can’t see what your computer downloaded, and vice versa.
- IMAP keeps the mailbox on the server and syncs it to every device. The most widespread version dates from 2003 (RFC 3501), the latest revision from 2021 (RFC 9051). It works well, but it’s a long conversation full of steps: it was designed for a computer that’s always connected, not for a phone that drops on and off the network.
Businesses should avoid POP3: with several devices and shared mailboxes, it creates scattered copies and mail that’s lost along with the computer. IMAP remains the common language that every traditional program speaks.
Why is Akomodix built on JMAP?
Because it’s the right foundation for a new platform. Our server uses JMAP as its data model: every message, folder, contact and event is created in that form. On top of that, the same server also speaks IMAP, SMTP, CalDAV and CardDAV, on the same mailbox: a change made in a traditional program shows up straight away in the app that uses JMAP, and vice versa.
The Akomodix apps, for web, iPhone, Android and desktop, use JMAP: that’s why mail arrives straight away and the mailbox is identical on every device.
What about calendar and contacts?
Today they almost always travel over separate protocols. CalDAV (RFC 4791, 2007) for the calendar and CardDAV (RFC 6352, 2011) for contacts, while sending mail is still handled by SMTP. JMAP brings them together in the same language: that’s one of the reasons we chose it as our foundation. For people who use traditional phones and programs, CalDAV and CardDAV remain available.
What can you do today?
Open the email account settings on your office phones and computers and look for the word POP3. If you find it on a business mailbox read from several devices, switch to IMAP now, before the next broken computer takes the only copy with it.
And if you’d like to know what it’s like to work with a platform built on JMAP, write to us: we’ll tell you what changes, for your staff and for whoever manages your email.
Frequently asked questions on this topic
What is JMAP, in simple terms?
It's the modern way for an email app to talk to the server. Instead of keeping open a long, slow conversation like IMAP, it asks in one go for whatever has changed, in a web format, and receives new messages straight away. The result: faster apps, less battery drain on your phone and a mailbox that always matches across every device.
If I move to JMAP, do I have to throw away the programs I use today?
No. A modern server offers JMAP and IMAP together, on the same mailbox. Apps built for JMAP, like the Akomodix apps, use JMAP; traditional programs keep using IMAP. Changes made on one side show up on the other straight away, so you can move to the new apps one colleague at a time.
Will I lose emails if I use POP3?
Not immediately, but you risk having them in only one place. With POP3 the program downloads messages to the device and usually deletes them from the server. If that computer breaks or is stolen without a backup, the mail disappears with it. And your other devices can't see the messages already downloaded.