Changing mail server settings (per Verizon's request) caused all sent mail to disappear

[Hmeek]

Changing incoming mail server per Verizon's 3/7 email caused sent mail folders on iPad and iPhone to go empty. I was able to restore them by restoring my devices from iTunes backups. All sent mail was then restored (even mail sent after the backup date.) If I change the outgoing server, the sent mail files are not affected. Changing the incoming server (from incoming.verizon.net to pop.verizon.net) wipes out the sent mail. Since it is POP/SMTP, there are no other settings I can change on the Apple side. It appears Verizon needs to figure out how to link the old sent mail to the new server ID... Anybody know anything about this?? Thanx.

[Hmeek]

Latest update: Verizon tech support asked me to remove the email account from the iPhone & reinstall it. This seems to have irreparably broken the link between the device and wherever those sent emails were stored, because now they are gone and restoring from my iTunes backup does nothing.

[tns2]

Note on Iphone, Ipads, etc., you have to complely shutdown the device and reboot it in ordet to get them to work.

Changing the settings mentioned will not cause mail to disappear especially not sent mail.  However any device that connects, perhaps for the first time, may have other settings such as delete mail after retrieving, etc, that will delete mail.  Not sure if the Iphone has such settings.

[Hmeek]

iPhone does not have many settings for POP email clients, which is what Verizon is. The options to set delete behavior and file locations exists only for IMAP mail, and Verizon is POP, not IMAP. And changing the incoming server settings DID cause my sent mail to disappear. It was reproduceable. As said before, it came back when I restored from backup -- even a backup that pre dated many of the sent messages, so they obviously didn't restore from the backup itself. (And Apple confirms that mail is not backed up in an itunes backup). Verizon keeps claiming that sent mails are not stored on their system, but where did they come from when they re-populated?

[tns2]

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@Hmeek wrote:
iPhone does not have many settings for POP email clients, which is what Verizon is. The options to set delete behavior and file locations exists only for IMAP mail, and Verizon is POP, not IMAP. And changing the incoming server settings DID cause my sent mail to disappear. It was reproduceable. As said before, it came back when I restored from backup -- even a backup that pre dated many of the sent messages, so they obviously didn't restore from the backup itself. (And Apple confirms that mail is not backed up in an itunes backup). Verizon keeps claiming that sent mails are not stored on their system, but where did they come from when they re-populated?

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From your restore most likely.  Its true that smtp email does not get saved on the Verizon (or most other) mail savers.

[Hmeek]

But the backup PREDATED the mail that came back, and nobody-not Verizon and not Apple- can tell me where that restored mail came from. I'm trying to figure this out because Verizon Tech Support had me delete the mail account from one of my devices and re install it, and now the sent mail will not come back at all.

[tns2]

The one you deleted the account would clearly wipeout everything sent.  As said verizon does not save sent mail when using smtp.  Typically the client does, in this case apple mail.