diff --git a/hooks/use-email-state.ts b/hooks/use-email-state.ts
index 5176b6c1..40b5fe53 100644
--- a/hooks/use-email-state.ts
+++ b/hooks/use-email-state.ts
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@ import {
 } from '@/lib/services/prefetch-service';
 import { Email, EmailData } from './use-courrier';
 import { formatEmailForReplyOrForward } from '@/lib/utils/email-formatter';
-import { createClient } from 'redis';
-import { createImapConnection } from '@/lib/services/imap-service';
 
 // Add a global dispatcher for compatibility with older code
 // This is a temporary solution until we fully migrate to the reducer pattern
@@ -27,45 +25,6 @@ declare global {
   }
 }
 
-// Create a dedicated Redis service module
-const redisClient = createClient({
-  url: process.env.REDIS_URL,
-  socket: {
-    reconnectStrategy: (retries) => Math.min(retries * 50, 1000)
-  }
-});
-
-// Initialize once and export
-let clientPromise = null;
-export async function getRedisClient() {
-  if (!clientPromise) {
-    clientPromise = redisClient.connect().then(() => redisClient);
-    clientPromise.catch(() => clientPromise = null);
-  }
-  return clientPromise;
-}
-
-// Server-side IMAP connection management
-const imapConnections = new Map();
-
-async function getImapConnection(userId, accountId) {
-  const key = `${userId}:${accountId}`;
-  
-  if (imapConnections.has(key)) {
-    const conn = imapConnections.get(key);
-    // Check if connection is still alive
-    if (conn.isConnected()) {
-      return conn;
-    }
-    imapConnections.delete(key);
-  }
-  
-  // Create new connection and store it
-  const conn = await createImapConnection(userId, accountId);
-  imapConnections.set(key, conn);
-  return conn;
-}
-
 export const useEmailState = () => {
   const [state, dispatch] = useReducer(emailReducer, initialState);
   const { data: session } = useSession();
@@ -663,16 +622,75 @@ export const useEmailState = () => {
     // Don't fetch if we're already fetching
     if (state.isLoadingUnreadCounts) return;
     
-    // Implement exponential backoff with higher thresholds
-    // Current implementation does this but needs tuning
+    // Skip fetching if an email was viewed recently (within last 5 seconds)
     const now = Date.now();
     const lastViewedTimestamp = (window as any).__lastViewedEmailTimestamp || 0;
-    if (lastViewedTimestamp && now - lastViewedTimestamp < 5000) { // Increase from 2000ms
+    if (lastViewedTimestamp && now - lastViewedTimestamp < 5000) { // Increased from 2000ms for better performance
       return;
     }
     
-    // Cache unread counts with longer TTL (30-60 minutes)
-    // Implement batch fetching for all folders at once
+    // Reset failure tracking if it's been more than 1 minute since last failure
+    if ((window as any).__unreadCountFailures && now - (window as any).__unreadCountFailures > 60000) {
+      (window as any).__unreadCountFailures = 0;
+    }
+    
+    // Exponential backoff for failures
+    if ((window as any).__unreadCountFailures > 0) {
+      const backoffMs = Math.min(30000, 1000 * Math.pow(2, (window as any).__unreadCountFailures - 1));
+      if ((window as any).__unreadCountFailures && now - (window as any).__unreadCountFailures < backoffMs) {
+        return;
+      }
+    }
+    
+    try {
+      dispatch({ type: 'SET_LOADING_UNREAD_COUNTS', payload: true });
+      
+      const timeBeforeCall = performance.now();
+      logEmailOp('FETCH_UNREAD', 'Fetching unread counts from API');
+      
+      const response = await fetch('/api/courrier/unread-counts', {
+        method: 'GET',
+        headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }
+      });
+      
+      if (!response.ok) {
+        // If request failed, increment failure count but cap it
+        (window as any).__unreadCountFailures = Math.min((window as any).__unreadCountFailures || 0 + 1, 10);
+        const failures = (window as any).__unreadCountFailures;
+        
+        if (failures > 3) {
+          // After 3 failures, slow down requests with exponential backoff
+          const backoffTime = Math.min(Math.pow(2, failures - 3) * 1000, 30000); // Max 30 seconds
+          logEmailOp('FETCH_UNREAD', `API failure #${failures}, backing off for ${backoffTime}ms`);
+          
+          // Schedule next attempt with backoff
+          if ((window as any).__failureBackoffTimer) {
+            clearTimeout((window as any).__failureBackoffTimer);
+          }
+          
+          (window as any).__failureBackoffTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+            fetchUnreadCounts();
+          }, backoffTime);
+          
+          throw new Error(`Failed to fetch unread counts: ${response.status}`);
+        }
+      } else {
+        // Reset failure counter on success
+        (window as any).__unreadCountFailures = 0;
+        
+        const data = await response.json();
+        const timeAfterCall = performance.now();
+        logEmailOp('FETCH_UNREAD', `Received unread counts in ${(timeAfterCall - timeBeforeCall).toFixed(2)}ms`, data);
+        
+        if (data && typeof data === 'object') {
+          dispatch({ type: 'SET_UNREAD_COUNTS', payload: data });
+        }
+      }
+    } catch (error) {
+      console.error('Error fetching unread counts:', error);
+    } finally {
+      dispatch({ type: 'SET_LOADING_UNREAD_COUNTS', payload: false });
+    }
   }, [dispatch, session?.user, state.isLoadingUnreadCounts, logEmailOp]);
 
   // Calculate and update unread counts