What is the difference between POP and IMAP?

One thing that you should know is that POP and IMAP are normally used for emails. One difference is where emails are normally stored. With POP, the emails are normally downloaded to your device and then the emails will be deleted from the server. This can only be changed if you would make some changes with the default settings. If you are going to use IMAP, this means that the emails that you will use will be placed on the server for a certain period of time. You will be able to check and interact with the emails that are available with the use of different devices. For example, you can open your emails on both your laptop and your phone.

POP or Post Office Protocol and IMAP or Internet Message Access Protocol are two types of protocols used to retrieve emails. Both protocols work differently, and that is why you can choose any of the two. Out of the two, POP or Post Office Protocol is the older as IMAP is just a recent technology.

While both are not totally different from each other in terms of functions, the mechanism used in retrieving the emails differs. For instance, IMAP works simply by downloading only the emails the user wants to read, usually after it has read all the emails on the server.

In contrast, the POP will first access the server, download all the emails on the server, and then delete all the content of the server. Both protocols differ in this area because IMAP has no business deleting content of the server. Another difference is that IMAP supports idle mode, whereas POP does not.

When emails are coming to you from different sources, the two commonly used protocols are POP or Post Office Protocol and IMAP or Internet Message Access Protocol. One of the major differences between the two is that IMAP is the newer of the two. Though both are more reliable, since IMAP is more recent, and it is often used by people when retrieving their emails.

Although both serve the same function, however, both differ greatly when it comes to how they implement their functions. For instance, when you use IMAP, it reads and downloads all the messages in the server without deleting anything on the server. In contrast, when you use POP, it gets you all the messages in the server without leaving anything on the server.

Another difference is that, once you are connected to the mail server using IMAP, it keeps you connected unless you decide to log out, whereas POP will get you disconnected as soon as the emails are read.

POP stands for Post Office Protocol, while IMAP stands for Internet Mail Access Protocol. POP is used to download emails from a central mail server. It constitutes a general email. POP clients or functions like MS Outlook and MS Outlook Express will download all emails from the server to the local computer, delete them on the server and then disconnect the connection, which was established by TCP and UDP.

IMAP is another protocol. Emails will be kept in the centralized server and could be reachable from clients anywhere. It is a remote desktop connection to a server where the email clients like Outlook is operating on the same machine where the POP service is also running. POP downloads and disconnects from the server, while IMAP clients are always connected and send notifications when new mail comes in.