POP3 is an old connection method that doesn’t work well if you use multiple devices. IMHO the confusion is caused because the OP doesn't understand the fundamental differences between POP and IMAP.

The above actions are required because you're using two different POP clients (iPad and Outlook) to download from the POP server. If desired you could easily configure Outlook to delete messages from the server after you've downloaded them. There's no need to go to Gmail on the web to do it. You just have to modify the Delivery Options for the account in Outlook.



This is why IMAP is better than POP for working with multiple email clients. Delete a message once and it's deleted on all devices. The problem in what you describe is that you're applying archaic POP workflow (manually deleting mail from the server) to more modern IMAP capability.


That's the beauty of IMAP. Delete once on any client and the message is deleted everywhere. Trash, Sent Items, Deleted Items, and custom folders for saved email are also synchronized on all devices if desired.

Not sure what you don't like about IMAP, except perhaps that you don't understand it fully? As you noted POP is dated technology. For email users with multiple email clients (e.g. phone, tablet, home PC, work PC, etc.) IMAP is much easier to manage.