Real-time push notifications

Real-time push notifications allow Email+ users to receive notifications about new emails as soon as the emails arrive in the Inbox. Previous versions of Email+ supported periodic notifications for new emails at an interval set by the IT department. The following sections address some questions you may have about real-time notifications:

How will I receive Email+ notifications?

Email+ notifications are displayed on your device as:

  • A new email notification in the Notification Center on your device.
    • Badging of the Email+ app icon on the Home Screen.

Figure 1. Email+ app icon badging

How do I change the notification settings?

To change the notifications settings for Email+, in iOS device Settings, tap Email+ > Notifications.

Figure 2. Email+ notifications options in device settings

Why do I see two notifications for each email?

If real-time notifications are enabled, the Email+ app displays two notifications for each new email. The first notification is sent by Apple APNs and shows up immediately on the lock screen (depending on the Emai+ Notification settings in your device Settings). This notification has the text: “You have new messages”. The second, more detailed, notification is sent by the Email+ app if the app is running in the background. The Email+ app fetches the email summary for the new unread email, removes the original device notification, and replaces it with a new notification. The second notification shows either the unread email count or summary of the new emails, depending on your Email+ settings. To turn off detailed notifications, see How do I turn on/off notification details on the lock screen?.

Occasionally, the Email+ app is not able to sync new email in the background due to poor network connectivity or because the app is no longer running in the background. If this happens, you may continue to receive the first notification, which shows that you have new messages, but the second notification with the summary/unread email count will not display. To correct this, move to an area with better network connectivity and launch Email+.

Why am I not receiving Email+ Notifications?

There are a number of reasons why you may not be receiving notifications on your device:

  • Notification options are disabled: Check the notifications options for Email+ in iOS device Settings to make sure that the options to “Allow Notifications”, “Show in Notification Center”, “Badge App Icon”, and “Show on Lock Screen” are enabled.
  • Email+ app is force terminated: If you force killed Email+ by flicking it off the top of the screen, the app will stop receiving the second notification. Please launch Email+ to start receiving notifications again.
  • Background App Refresh is disabled: If you have disabled Background App Refresh for Email+, in your iOS device Settings, you will see the first email notification showing that you have new messages but will not see the second notification showing the new email details/unread email count. You can manage your background app refresh settings in your iOS device Settings by going to General > Background App Refresh.
  • Cellular Data option is disabled: If the Cellular Data option is disabled and the device is not connected to WiFi, the device will not receive new email notification for Email+. Enable the Cellular Data option in your iOS device Settings for Cellular > Cellular Data and for Email+ > Cellular Data, to get notifications when the device is not connected to WiFi.
  • Device is in Low Power Mode: If your device goes into Low Power mode when the battery is running low, Background App Refresh gets disabled and the second notification will stop working. Charge your device, disable low power mode, and launch Email+ to get notifications to work again.

iOS 9 introduced a new feature called Low Power Mode where the user can control whether a device can go into a battery conservation state to extend battery life. This is typically used when the device battery is running low and it is not possible to immediately recharge the device. In this state, iOS turns off background app refresh and also prevents apps from running in the background.

When this happens, Email+ will show the first notification (“You have new messages”), but will not be able to fetch updated unread email summaries in the background. So the second notification will not be displayed. To recover from this, charge your device fully and disable low power mode. You may also need to launch Email+ to get notifications to work again.

How do I turn on/off notification details on the lock screen?

You can control whether detailed notifications are displayed on the lock screen by using the Email+ notification settings in the iOS device settings. In addition, you can control whether the summary of new unread emails is displayed in the lock screen, by using the Show Mail Details option in the Notifications screen in the Settings section of the Email+ app.

If the Show Mail Details option is enabled, an individual notification is displayed for each unread email. If the option is disabled, a single notification that shows the aggregate count of unread emails is displayed.

Figure 3. Notifications options in the Email+ settings