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Ipad/Iphone SMTP why deleting and recreating an account DOESN'T fix it.

ravenstar68
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

With people reporting being unable to send mail on an Ipad or Iphone I decided to have a closer look at how IOS manages it's email accounts.

Setting up.

As most users will know - provided Apple has the details for a domain in it's online database, then setting up an account is easy.

You simply provide the following information

1. Name of the account holder.
2. Email address.
3. Password.
4. Friendly account name - (defaults to email domain)

Using this information, the Ipad automatically configures.

  • Incoming mail server (POP3 or IMAP)
  • Outgoing Mail server (SMTP)  

The outgoing mail settings are added as the Primary for that email address and is also added as a secondary email server for any other IMAP/POP accounts should the main one fail.

Deleting an Account.

Apple, in their infinite wisdom have decided that when you delete an email account it only deletes the incoming server not the SMTP server.

Furthermore if you re-add the account, and it has an SMTP server set up for that specific email address it will re-associate the SMTP server as the primary server for that account.

Standard Advice is wrong.

The standard advice for Ipads/Iphones following a change in account password or to deal with a problem sending is to do the following.

1. Delete the account from the Ipad.
2. Recreate the account.

After all creating a new account is straightforward.   I've given this advice myself before now.  However based on the above information while this will fix INCOMING mail issues, it won't resolve OUTGOING mail issues.

Revised advice for managing sending problems/changing passwords

Based on my findings this is the advice for dealing with a change in email passwords for an email account on an IPad or Iphone.

  1. On the device tap settings.
  2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars to see a list of accounts currently set up.
    step2.JPG
  3. Tap the name of the offending account you'll now see the account type and email address.
    step3.JPG
  4. Tap the email address to bring up the settings window.
    Step4.JPG
    If you've changed your account password - enter the new password here.  HOWEVER if you can receive mail but not send you can leave this password alone.
  5. Tap the SMTP server to see the primary server and any other servers you have set up.
    step5.JPG
    The other SMTP servers are those servers associated with other email addresses.  I have two separate virginmedia.com accounts on the Ipad hence smtp.virginmedia.com appears twice, once as the Primary and once as an SMTP server for the account labeled Nest on my IPad.
  6. Tap the primary server to see the current settings.
    step6.JPG
    Delete and re-enter the correct password here.  Tap Done and the Ipad will attempt to connect and authenticate with the outgoing server.  If successful you'll be returned to the main account screen.
  7. Tap done on the main account screen.  If you edited the password earlier, then the Ipad will check the incoming settings and the settings window will close if this is successful.

Removing Unused SMTP Servers

If you have deleted an account and you want to remove the SMTP server completely from the IPad, then provided you have an additional POP3/IMAP account set up you can do the following.

Follow the steps above in another account to get to the list of smtp servers and tap the name of the server you want to remove.

As before you'll see the server settings but this time at the bottom you'll see a Delete Server option.
smtpother2.JPG

Tap this and the confirmation dialog to remove the server.

Note: If you have an incoming account associated with that server you will not be able to remove/modify the server settings.
smtpother1.JPG
So if you don't see the Delete option, make sure you've deleted the associated email account and try again.

FINAL NOTE:  IPhone's/Ipod Touches also use the exact same steps as above, although the screens may appear different  due to the limited space available on those devices.

Ravenstar68

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

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49 REPLIES 49

Tanfield21
Joining in

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU @Ravenstar

I have been trying for three weeks to sort this issue.  At the moment my phone is my lifeline and I have two elderly relatives who need care.  One in hospital and one not weight bearing at home.  I cannot thank you enough - your post is so accurate and easy to follow.  You have taken a huge weight off my shoulders.  

Kind Regards

 

 

Thank you @Ravenstar68

My son has not been able to send email from his iPhone 6 for weeks.  We tried deleting and re-entering the account which made no difference, and since his email settings were the same as mine I could not understand why his would not work.  After reading your post the email problem on his phone was fixed in an instant.  Thank you so much.

Steve

I have this issue on ipad in that I cannot send emails. I tried deleting the password and re-entering it as suggested but it didn't work. Still won't send emails.

I've also noticed that when I try accessing the account using Outlook it wouldn't connect at all just asked for the username and password.

Anyone got any further suggestions ?

I've tried tech support but they were quite frankly hopeless.

 

Emma_E
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

Hi pete1961, 

 

Thanks for getting in touch, I am sorry to see you have been having trouble sending emails. 

 

This will usually be down to a settings issue, do the settings match the ones found here

 

If they are all as they should be but you are continuing to have trouble let us know and we'll be able to take a further look into this for you. 

 

All the best

 

Emma


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I solved this by downloading "My Mail" app from the Apple App Store. It set itself up automatically in seconds and worked fine. I then Googled for a solution and got Apple's mail app working (can't remember what the solution was though!) but to be honest I have now stuck with My Mail as I find it much better anyway

petecoss
Tuning in
Such a simple thing you have sorted out here to rectify the Apple problem that my wife has been having on her iPad for weeks. WELL DONE for the hard work you have put in coming up with the solution.

SandyD
Tuning in

Doesn't work for me, now 8 weeks since I was able to send emails from phone for my Blueyonder account.

ravenstar68
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@SandyD

You've posted the same thing multiple times, but so far you've not given any additional information in ANY of the other threads, you've posted.  Which makes it very difficult for us to help you.

I'm going to ask some questions - while I know your issue is with the Ipad, I'm going to ask if you have access to a PC and have tried using an email client such as Thunderbird to send.

Ravenstar68

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

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Hi

It's from my iphone.

 

I can receive but not send from my blueyonder account,  Icloud emailing is OK.

 

Yes, I've now tried Thunderbird on my PC but couldn't send email.

 

Your help would be much appreciated.


Sandy

ravenstar68
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@SandyD wrote:

Hi

It's from my iphone.

 I'm aware of this but the problem is that it's very difficult to nail down the error that's causing your issue on the Iphone, which is why we need to do some diagnostics on a PC, to rule out other account issues.

I can receive but not send from my blueyonder account,  Icloud emailing is OK.

 

Yes, I've now tried Thunderbird on my PC but couldn't send email.

This makes it look like there's an account based issue, but we need more info.  Have a look at my post here:

 http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Outgoing-Authentication-Issues-Check-Email-Logs/td-p/32371... in order to find out what error message you are getting.

Your help would be much appreciated.


Sandy


 

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

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