How to Set up Gmail Push in iPhone Mail

The Mail app on your iPhone and other iOS devices can be set up to receive pushed Gmail automatically. The messages sent to your Gmail address appear on your iPhone in the Mail app wherever you are. When you open the Mail program, all your Gmail messages are in a separate Inbox. There's no need to wait for downloads to finish.

Information in this article applies to iOS 13 through iOS 11, except as indicated.

How you set up the Mail app to receive and manage Gmail differs slightly depending on the type of Gmail account you have—free Gmail or paid Exchange account.

Person setting up push for Gmail on iPhone — Ran Zheng / Lifewire

How to Set up Push Gmail Exchange Account in iPhone Mail

Paid Exchange accounts are primarily business accounts. To add Gmail as a push Exchange account to iPhone Mail:

Tap Settings on the iPhone Home screen.
Select Passwords & Accounts.
On the Accounts & Passwords screen, tap Add Account.
Select Exchange from the options presented.
Enter your Gmail address in the Email field. Optionally, add a description in the field provided. Then, tap Next.
In the next window, select either Sign In or Configure Manually. If you select Sign In, enter your email address to supply your Exchange account information. If you select Configure Manually, enter your password and other information manually. Then, tap Next.
Enter the information requested on the screen to set up your Exchange account, then tap Next.
Indicate which Exchange folders you want to push to iPhone Mail and how many previous days' messages you want to sync.
Return to the Accounts & Passwords screen and tap Push next to Fetch New Data.
Confirm that the Exchange account says Push or Fetch next to it.
At the bottom of the same screen, click Automatically in the Fetch section to receive the email sent to your Exchange account as quickly as possible. If you prefer to receive emails at a longer time interval, select Every 15 Minutes, Every 30 Minutes, or another option.

Set up Free Gmail Push in iPhone Mail App

You can also add a free Gmail account to iPhone Mail where it is assigned a separate Inbox:

Tap Settings on the iPhone Home screen.
Select Passwords & Accounts.
Tap Add Account on the Passwords & Accounts screen.
Select Google from the options presented.
Enter your Gmail address (or phone number) in the field provided. Tap Next.
Enter your Gmail password in the field provided. Tap Next.
Indicate which Gmail folders you want to push to iPhone Mail.
Return to the Accounts & Passwords screen and tap Push next to Fetch New Data.
Confirm that the Gmail account says Push or Fetch next to it.
At the bottom of the same screen, click Automatically in the Fetch section to receive the email sent to your email account as quickly as possible.

iOS versions earlier than iOS 11 didn't have the Automatically option. You had to select from the other options, the shortest of which was Every 15 Minutes.

Gmail Alternatives

Anyone with iOS 8.0 or later on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch can use the free Gmail app instead of configuring the Mail app. The app is easy to set up and offers a range of features that aren't available in the Mail app. The official Gmail app supplies real-time notifications and offers multiple account support. The features include: