POP3 IMAP and SMTP fro MAIL services
Post Office Protocol (POP) and the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) are specifically designed for use by individual users retrieving messages and managing mail boxes.
SMTP is a delivery protocol only. In normal use, mail is "pushed" to a destination mail server
POP3 | Post Office Protocol 3 ( download emails ) |
---|---|
POP works by contacting your email service and downloading all of your new messages from it | |
IMAP | Internet Message Access Protocol ( read emails ) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Message_Access_Protocol |
you aren't actually downloading or storing it on your computer; instead, you're reading it from the email service. IMAP only downloads a message when you click on it, and attachments aren't automatically downloaded. This way you're able to check your messages a lot more quickly than POP. | |
Client Commands Server Response | |
SMTP | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol |
SMTP is a delivery protocol only. In normal use, mail is "pushed" to a destination mail server | |