POP3
/ˌpiː-oʊ-piː-ˈθriː/
n. “Download it, then it’s yours… maybe.”
POP3, short for Post Office Protocol version 3, is a standard protocol used by email clients to retrieve messages from a mail server. Unlike IMAP, which keeps messages on the server and synchronizes across devices, POP3 generally downloads emails to a single device and, by default, deletes them from the server, making local storage the primary repository.
IMAP
/ˈaɪ-mæp/
n. “Check your mail without moving it.”
IMAP, short for Internet Message Access Protocol, is a standard protocol used by email clients to retrieve messages from a mail server. Unlike older protocols that download and remove emails from the server, IMAP allows users to read, organize, and manipulate their messages while keeping them on the server, providing a consistent view across multiple devices.