Apple Mail, iPhone and iPad

Module 2: Setting up your mailbox · Reading time: 9 minutes

Learning objective: After this lesson, you can set up a mailbox in the Mail app on iPhone, iPad and Mac, configure the outgoing server correctly, and use and assess a configuration profile.

Key concepts: Mail app, Settings > Mail > Mail Accounts, IMAP, incoming mail server, outgoing mail server (SMTP), "optional", Use SSL, authentication, configuration profile (.mobileconfig), Mail Privacy Protection

One app, three devices

Apple has one mail program, Mail, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. It works directly with your mail server: your password and your mail don't go through an intermediate station. Setting it up looks similar on all devices, but the buttons are in different places. Apple also regularly changes the names between versions, so search Settings for "Mail Accounts" if you can't find the button.

On the iPhone or iPad

1. Open Settings. Go to Mail (in newer versions via Apps and then Mail) and tap Mail Accounts (or Accounts).
2. Tap New Account and then Other, Add Mail Account.
3. Fill in your name (what recipients see), your email address, the mailbox password and a description. Tap Next.
4. Choose IMAP at the top.
5. Under Incoming Mail Server: hostname (your provider's server name), username (your full email address), password.
6. Under Outgoing Mail Server: exactly the same. Even though it says "optional" next to username and password, fill them in.
7. Tap Next. The iPhone checks the details. Tap Save.

Step 6 is the iPhone's best known pitfall. If you leave the username and password for outgoing mail empty, the iPhone tries to send without logging in. The server refuses that (lesson 1.4). You can then read mail, but not send it, and the sent mail stays in the Outbox folder.

Checking ports and security

Usually the iPhone picks the right ports itself. If sending or receiving doesn't work, check:

1. Mail Accounts, tap your account, and then tap the account again (your email address).
2. At the bottom, Advanced: Use SSL on, server port 993.
3. Go back, tap SMTP under Outgoing Mail Server, then tap the primary server: Use SSL on, authentication Password, server port 587 or 465. Check the username and password here too.

With Apple, "Use SSL" means: encrypt the connection. On 465 and 993 that's direct TLS, on 587 the iPhone uses STARTTLS. You don't need to choose that difference yourself here.

Under Advanced you'll also find the mailbox assignments: which folder on the server the iPhone uses for Drafts, Sent, Deleted and Archive. If the wrong folder is set there, you may see sent mail on your iPhone that your laptop doesn't show. More on this in lesson 3.1.

On the Mac

1. Open System Settings, Internet Accounts, Add Account, Add Other Account, Mail Account. Or open Mail and in the Mail menu choose Add Account, Other Mail Account.
2. Fill in your name, email address and password, and click Sign In.
3. If the Mac can't find the settings, fill in: username your full email address, account type IMAP, incoming and outgoing mail server the server name.
4. Tick Mail among the apps allowed to use the account.

If it doesn't work: Mail, Settings, Accounts, your account, Server Settings. Turn off Automatically manage connection settings and fill in the ports yourself: incoming 993 with TLS/SSL, outgoing 587 or 465 with TLS/SSL, and for both the full email address as username.

A configuration profile

Apple devices can set up an account in one go with a configuration profile, a file ending in .mobileconfig. It contains all the details: servers, ports, username and sometimes the password. Many hosting panels can generate such a profile per mailbox.

Here's how to use it: open the panel in Safari on your iPhone, download the profile, go to Settings (you'll see Profile Downloaded at the top) and install it. On the Mac you'll find it under System Settings, Privacy & Security, Profiles.

Two things to watch out for:

• Check which server name is in it. Panels often put mail.example.com in the profile. If that name isn't in the certificate, or your website is hosted elsewhere, you'll get a certificate warning or it won't work. Remove the profile and set up the account by hand instead.
• Only install profiles from a source you trust. A profile can set up more than just mail: for example a VPN or a certificate. Don't install a profile from an unknown email or an unknown website.

"Cannot Verify Server Identity"

That message means: the name you entered as the hostname isn't in the server's certificate (lesson 1.4). Don't tap Continue: your iPhone will then trust that certificate from then on, even if someone really is intercepting it later. Instead, enter the server name your provider gives you.

Mail Privacy Protection

Since iOS 15 and macOS Monterey, the Mail app can turn on Mail Privacy Protection. The Mac or iPhone then preloads images in mail via Apple's servers, even if you don't open the mail. As a reader, that's nice for you: a sender can't see when and where you opened their mail. As a sender of newsletters, it means "opened" figures are no longer reliable: mail to Apple users often counts as opened, even if nobody read it. We'll return to this in module 7.

In practice: a configuration profile from DirectAdmin

With WebOké, you can download an Apple configuration in DirectAdmin under E-mail Accounts via the three dots next to an address. It contains the server name DirectAdmin knows for your domain, usually mail. plus your domain. If that doesn't work, use the server name of your package and set it up by hand. With other providers it works similarly: many panels can generate such a profile, and the same points to watch out for apply.

Summary

• Apple Mail works directly with your mail server, on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
• Fill in username and password for the outgoing server, even if it says "optional". Otherwise you won't be able to send.
• "Use SSL" on, 993 incoming, 587 or 465 outgoing, authentication with password.
• A configuration profile is quick, but check the server name and only install profiles from a source you trust.
• Don't dismiss a certificate warning; use a server name that's in the certificate.

Quiz

Exercise

Exercise O2.3: Your mailbox on your phone. Set up your mailbox on your phone (iPhone, iPad or Android; for Android see lesson 2.4), or check your existing settings. Fill in the checklist: protocol, incoming server and port, security, outgoing server and port, username filled in for outgoing, authentication on, folder mapping for Sent. Then send a test mail to another address and check on a second device or in webmail that it appears in Sent. The program will then show the criteria and the most common mistakes.

Further reading

The steps in these articles apply to WebOké's panels; with other providers it works similarly.

• DirectAdmin guide 8.4: iPhone and iPad
• DirectAdmin guide 8.3: Apple Mail and Outlook on the Mac
• Adding a mailbox to the iPhone (Apple Mail)
• Adding a mailbox to Apple Mail on macOS