Are you unable to either send or receive emails on your iPhone? Are you getting an error message about an incorrect password? Sending and receiving emails are independent processes so one could be working while the other one is not. More specifically, your iPhone could be able to send emails but not receive emails, or vice versa. Consequently, there are two places you need to visit to enter the correct email account password.
Below are instructions for how to enter your correct email account password only if you use IMAP to access your email account. These instructions do not apply if you have an iCloud account, a Gmail account, a Yahoo account or an Exchange email account or if you use POP to access your email account.
Before you start to make changes on your iPhone, I recommend that you make sure you know the correct password for your email account. You can test your password using your email providers webmail system. For example, if Comcast is your email provider you can visit Comcast’s web site and click the Sign In button.
How to enter your Incoming (IMAP) password in Apple Mail on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch
- On your device, tap on the Settings icon.
- Scroll down to and then tap on Passwords & Accounts. (If your iPhone is using iOS 10 or earlier, tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars.)
- From the list of accounts, tap on the account that you want to update.
- On the next screen that appears tap on the email address listed in the Account field.
- Scroll down to the INCOMING MAIL SERVER section, locate the Password field and type in your password.
- Tap the Done button in the upper right corner.
- Press the Home button on the front of the iPhone to exit Settings and return to your iPhone’s Home Screen.
- Open Mail and test it to make sure you can receive email messages from this email account.
How to enter your Outgoing (SMTP) password in Apple Mail on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch
- On your device, tap on the Settings icon.
- Scroll down to and then tap on Passwords & Accounts. (If your iPhone is using iOS 10 or earlier, tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars.)
- From the list of accounts, tap on the account that you want to update.
- On the next screen that appears tap on the email address listed in the Account field.
- Scroll down to the OUTGOING MAIL SERVER section, then tap on the SMTP field.
- Tap on the server name listed in the PRIMARY SERVER field.
- In the OUTGOING MAIL SERVER section, locate the Password field and enter your new password.
- Tap the Done button in the upper right corner.
- Press the Home button on the front of the iPhone to exit Settings and return to your iPhone’s Home Screen.
- Open Mail and test it to make sure you can send messages from this email account.