thunderbird
New email notifications are not generated in a timely manner
Checklist
- [x] I have used the search function to see if someone else has already submitted the same bug report.
- [x] I will describe the problem with as much detail as possible.
App
Thunderbird for Android
App version
10.0
Where did you get the app from?
Google Play
Android version
14
Device model
Galaxy A15 5G
Steps to reproduce
- Set "Folder poll frequency" to the minimum of 15 minutes.
- Send e-mail to an account that is checked by Thunderbird.
- Wait up to 15 minutes to be notified that new mail has been received.
Expected behavior
Notification should be received within at most one minute of the time new e-mail arrives to the account being checked.
Actual behavior
A 15-minute polling frequency may be okay for casual use, but that is not acceptable for professionals such as myself. I need to be able to see and respond to vital e-mails immediately.
As a test, I set up Samsung Email and Thunderbird to check the same account from the same phone. When I send an email to that account, Samsung Email notifies me within 30 seconds. Thunderbird takes up to 15 minutes to do so. I'd much rather use Thunderbird, but under the circumstances I have to use the crappy Samsung Email program because it notifies me immediately when new mail arrives.
If Samsung Email can poll the server every 30 seconds, why can't Thunderbird do the same?
Logs
No response
@mmcclenn You can also enable push notifications rather than periodic pull, it's just a bit hard to find under "Manage folders". I've already opened a feature request to revamp this, maybe give it a like to bump it up.
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/improve-ui-and-revamp-sync-push-logic-and-related-settings/idi-p/96988#M51247
I did enable push notifications on my Inbox, but it still takes up to 15 minutes for the notification to happen.
Same here. That's been for quite a while now. I don't remember whether it worked last with k9 or thunderbird already. Might be related to #9216 and #8434 and probably more.
I have the same. push re-enabling helps for 1 day. And then it stops working again. Looks like something is wrong with IMAP IDLE service...
OneUI 7
Try adjuste the "Advanced >> Update IDLE connection", from 24 minutes (default) to 2 minutes. Then the delay will be a maximum of 2 minutes. It's work for me on OneUI 7.
Before, or with k9, when I got a notification and deleted the mail e.g. by another client, the notification immediately disappeared. Now it basically stays forever it seems.
@idl0r I'm currently using Thunderbird 10.1 from Play Store. It also worked with Thunderbird 11.05b from Github.
Doesn't work for me. Still heavily delayed, even with 2 minutes being set :/ Pixel 9 Pro XL, Android 16, 11.0b5 from play store.
@idl0r Maybe it's related to the version of your Android (16), my device is running Android 15. (I imagine you've already set the app to unrestricted battery use.) Unfortunately Thunderbird's push service is very "unstable", I myself have faced several problems in the past. Even though it works fine for me, it still lags behind the original Zoho app. Mozilla needs to rebuild this function, make it more user-friendly and functional, as these problems have currently made Thunderbird unfeasible for ordinary users. Thunderbird needs to have functional notifications without delay, without user intervention. Just like Gmail, Outlook and Zoho Mail app. Despite the problems I continue to use it, in the hope that all this will be corrected in the future.
I just installed k9 again, beta, works like a charm. Immediately there, immediately a push notification. Deleting is instantly notified as well.
The notifications were working perfectly, but for the last few they've been randomly delaying :( Sometimes they're a few minutes late, sometimes they're more than 20 minutes late. No updates or changes have been made. I'll wait for version 11 to be released on the Play Store. If that doesn't solve it, I'll have to look for an alternative to Thunderbird. Real-time notifications are essential for my work.
It's not just notifications. Even when kept open and in foreground Mails appear delayed, while in k9 it's almost instant.
@idl0r exactly! sometimes I see the TB notification "waiting for new messages" but no notification is received. @rafaeltonholo ajuda nós meu conterrâneo, não deixa eu sair do TB, amo isso! kkk
It is so weird that K-9 and TfA act differently here, they are on the same codebase. Maybe a difference in permissions granted? do you have exact alarms permissions granted for TfA? Any difference in logs?
I've never used K-9, I tried Thunderbird in the past (but push didn't work properly, I think it was TB 8.0). Currently I've tried using it again with 10.1 and push works fine, always with an average delay of 1min compared to the original application of my mail server (zoho mail). I'm running TB 10.1 and Zoho Mail in parallel to measure the delay in TB notifications. 20% of the time the notifications are delivered in real time, 30% with delays between 1 and 2min, 50% with a long delay between 10 and 30min. I suspect that this may be related to imap synchronization, or the push process being killed, even though the status indicates “waiting for new messages”. All permissions granted to TB, including second data usage and unrestricted battery. I'm carrying out some experiments, not yet definitive, but on restarting Android the notifications are delivered again in real time, and then the delays start happening a few hours or days later.
Using OneUI 7 (Android 15)