iPhone Tips: Enabling Push Email with Gmail

Yes! Push email from Gmail is now possible using the iPhone!

And it's super simple to set up too. Heck, you can even do a 3-in-1 OTA sync for your iPhone with Gmail, Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar following the instructions below.

Do note though that this will take up data bandwidth in the background, so if you are using pay-as-you-go data services, you probably want to reconsider activating push email.

1. Ensure that you are on iPhone OS 3.0 or higher. You can check this by going to Settings -> General -> Version. If you are not on OS 3.0, fire up iTunes and download the latest OS from Apple.
2. From the home screen, select Settings.
3. Scroll down and select Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
4. Select Add Account... .
5. Select Microsoft Exchange (don't ask me why...).
6. In the Email field, enter your full Gmail email address (ie. username@gmail.com, not just username).
7. In the Username field, enter your full Gmail email address again.
8. In the Password field, enter your Gmail password.
9. Tap the Next button at the top of the screen.
10. A new Server field will appear. Enter m.google.com in that field.
    
11. Tap the Next button at the top of the screen again.
12. Ensure that the Mail service is set to On.
13. You can change the number of Mail Days to Sync to your preference.
    
14. You can also select more Mail Folders to Sync other than the Inbox. This is useful if you have set auto-archiving filters on your incoming email on Gmail.
    
15. Tap the Done button at the top of the screen.
16. Tap on the Fetch New Data option and ensure that Push is set to On.
    

Now, new emails to Gmail should be pushed to your iPhone shortly after it arrives. Excellent!