diff --git a/deploy-chatmail/src/deploy_chatmail/dovecot/dovecot.conf.j2 b/deploy-chatmail/src/deploy_chatmail/dovecot/dovecot.conf.j2
index 996e037c..85abe5f4 100644
--- a/deploy-chatmail/src/deploy_chatmail/dovecot/dovecot.conf.j2
+++ b/deploy-chatmail/src/deploy_chatmail/dovecot/dovecot.conf.j2
@@ -16,6 +16,12 @@ mail_debug = yes
 
 mail_plugins = quota
 
+# these are the capabilities Delta Chat cares about actually 
+# so let's keep the network overhead per login small
+# https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-core-rust/blob/master/src/imap/capabilities.rs
+imap_capability = IMAP4rev1 IDLE MOVE QUOTA CONDSTORE
+
+
 # Authentication for system users.
 passdb {
   driver = dict