Today a repository released an app called “PushMod”. The description of this app says “PushMod gives you the option to choose 1 minute push time and allows you to turn any mailbox into a push mailbox.”

I wanted to clarify a bit what this app is and is not. It will be a heavy battery drain. To understand why, read on.

First this does not turn any mailbox into a push mailbox (like it says). Push mail is a technology where the server and the device register then disconnect. After this, when new mail arrives, the server “pushes” the notification to the device sending it a notification. The notification is initiated by the server. The device can be asleep or in a low power state in between notifications. You get real-time notifications with no CPU cost or battery drain.

Unlike push, regular mail is fetched by the device from the server. The device has to connect to the server, ask if there is any new mail, and pull the content down if so. The process is called polling. Polling is not “free”. On a hand held, battery powered device, it can be very battery intensive. One of the reasons Apple provides the options to set your mail poll from 15, 30, 60 minutes is to avoid the heavy battery drain. In many cases, 15 minutes is considered to be too much of a battery drain!

In comes “PushMod”. If you need to get your email instantly, this will help. It will set the poll interval to 1 minute rather than 15 minutes. But don’t be mislead by what it’s doing. It is not installing push mail. Instead, it is having your iPhone fetch mail every 1 minute. This uses CPU, network, and drains a lot of battery.

If you need your mail to be retrieved virtually realtime, this is still a good mod. But it was misnamed and you need to understand what you are getting into prior to installing it. It may be worth the battery tradeoff for you to get mail every minute. But consider yourself warned.