Setting Up Email for the Apple iPhone

This article will instruct you on configuring email on your iPhone device.

• Automatic Email Setup
• Manual Email Setup
• Older Version of the iPhone
• Guide to Troubleshooting

How to setup your email automatically

1. Go to Settings.

   

2. In the Settings menu, scroll down and select Mail.

   

    

   Alternatively, you can use the search feature to quickly locate Mail.

   

3. Select Mail Accounts.

   

4. Tap Add Account.

   

5. Then select Other, the last option at the bottom of the email provider list.

   

6. Select Add Mail Account.

   

7. Then, enter the following information: 

   

   • Name: Your full name.
   • Email: The complete email address. Example:  [email protected].
   • Password: The password you set for the email account.
   • Description: This will auto-populate with your email address, but you can edit it if you'd like.
8. Tap Next.
9. Mail will try to find the email settings and finish your account setup. If the automatic setup succeeds, tap Save to complete.

How to set up an email account manually

If Mail cannot find your email settings, you must enter them manually. 

After obtaining your email settings, begin setting up your email on your device. Refer to the previous section of this article for the steps to add an email account, then follow the instructions below to manually enter the email settings for both IMAP and POP.

1. Select IMAP or POP.

   

   Here are the settings below:

   	SSL Settings	Non-SSL Settings
   IMAP	Port 993	Port 143
   POP3	Port 995	Port 110

2. Under Incoming mail server, enter the following:
   • Host Name: mail.example.com
   • User Name: Enter your complete email address, [email protected]
   • Password: Your email account password
      
3. Under Outgoing Mail Server, you will enter the same information you used for the Incoming Mail Server settings.
   • Host Name: mail.example.com 
   • User Name: Enter your complete email address, [email protected]
   • Password: Your email account password
      
4. Once all fields are completed, click Next, then hit Save. The settings will be verified and automatically saved to your mail app.

   

You are now ready to send and receive emails via your iPhone!

If mail.example.com does not work for the incoming and outgoing servers, you can try using your Shared IP address or server hostname (Example: gator1234.hostgator.com) instead. You can find these in your Welcome email or the General Information box on the right-hand side of your cPanel.

Older Versions of the iPhone

1. Press the Home button and select Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
2. Under Accounts, select Add Account.
3. Select Other.
4. Tap Add Email Account.
5. Enter your name (which will show in the From field) and your full email address.
6. Please enter your email password and description (we recommend the full email address as your description).
7. Press Save.
8. Select IMAP or POP (What is the difference?)
9. Under Incoming Mail Server, enter yourservername.hostgator.com as the Host Name. (Resellers use yourservername.websitewelcome.com. If this doesn't work, try using your server's IP address. VPS and Dedicated use your server's IP address.)
10. Enter the full email address as your User Name.
11. Enter your email password and then scroll down.
12. Enter the same information under the Outgoing Mail Server.
13. Press Save.

You are now ready to send and receive emails via your iPhone.

Guide to troubleshooting

As displayed in your cPanel, the email settings provided above are generic and should work for any email client. If your email is still not working, please check that your MX records and routing are correctly configured and review any typographical errors, especially your email password.

Here are some common email issues you may encounter and tips on how to fix them:

Cannot Verify Server Identity

When connecting to your email, the iPhone forces a secure connection for its initial connection attempts. You may receive a similar warning if your domain uses a self-signed certificate. This means that the SSL encryption for the domain is not registered with a company that issues SSL certificates.

It's important to note that while you can avoid seeing this warning by forcing the iPhone to connect with unsecured connections, you are only using a less secure connection in a way that does not resolve the issue.

The recommended resolution for this error is to accept the certificate as a trusted certificate:

1. When you receive the popup with this error, click Details.
2. On the next screen, click Accept.

You should now be able to access your email.

Cannot Connect Using SSL

You may receive this error if your domain does not have an SSL certificate and is not using the server name. To attempt to proceed with the settings you have already provided, you may try to connect without SSL:

1. From the error menu, select No; you do not want to try setting up the account without SSL, and then tap Save.
2. Tap the email account you just attempted to set up, and then scroll down to tap SMTP.

   

3. Tap the Primary Server.
4. Under Use SSL, toggle off the SSL setting, then tap Server Port and enter 465.

   

5. Tap Done.
6. Under Mail Accounts, open your added email account and select Advanced.

   

7. Verify the incoming Use SSL setting is set to OFF.

   

8. Once you're finished, simply swipe down to close the screen.

You should now access your email if your settings are correct for reaching your server.

Cannot See My IMAP Folders

Please read the Apple support page.

IMAP Path Prefix?

The IMAP Path Prefix is a setting in email clients that defines the root folder for your IMAP email account on the server. It directs the email client to locate folders such as Inbox, Sent, Drafts, and Trash.

To configure this on your iPhone:

1. Go to Settings, then tap Mail Accounts.
2. Select your email account, then tap Account Settings.
3. Go to Advanced, then scroll down to the Incoming Settings section.
4. Enter INBOX in the IMAP Path Prefix field.

   

Cannot Delete Emails

By default, iOS attempts to delete IMAP email by putting it in the phone's trash folder. This causes an error to come up, saying that the messages cannot be moved to the trash folder.

To fix this: (For iPhone's latest versions)

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Mail and open Mail Accounts.

   

3. Under the Accounts section, tap on the email account you're experiencing issues with.

   

4. Go to Advanced.

   

5. Select Deleted Mailbox.

   

6. In the ON THE SERVER section, select the Trash option. This will allow you to remove email from an iPhone or iPod.

   

To fix this: (For iPhone's older versions)

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Mail, Contacts, and Calendars.
3. Choose your email account.
4. Go to Advanced.
5. Select Deleted Mailbox.
6. In the On Server section, select the Trash box under the server. This will allow you to remove email from an iPhone or iPod.

Too Many Connections - 500 Errors

On the iPhone, there is a function called Push. When it is enabled, it keeps the connection to our server open and continually checks mail. Consequently, this creates many IMAP processes and eventually conflicts with our Terms of Service.

You can disable Push when you don't need it to avoid running excessive IMAP processes.

To fix this: (Newer iPhone Versions)

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Mail and open Mail Accounts.

   

3. Select Fetch New Data.

   

4. Toggle Push to Off.

   

To fix this: (Older iPhone Versions)

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Mail, Contacts, and Calendars.
3. Select Fetch New Data.
4. Toggle Push to Off.

Instead of continuously retrieving emails as they arrive, your iPhone will use the global Fetch settings to retrieve emails manually or at intervals.