How to Set Up POP3 & IMAP Email on iPhone or Android — Step-by-Step
This guide walks you through adding a company email account to your phone — iPhone (Apple Mail) and Android (Gmail app) — using IMAP or POP3, the standard protocols supported by virtually every business mail server. Setting up on a computer instead? See our companion guide for Microsoft Outlook desktop.
Choose your protocol (30-second version)
- IMAP — choose this. Mail stays on the server and syncs across phone, laptop and webmail. Read it anywhere, it shows read everywhere.
- POP3 downloads mail to one device and typically removes it from the server. Only sensible on a single-device setup.
The settings you will need
Replace yourdomain.com with your own domain (or use the exact server name your provider gave you).
| Setting | IMAP | POP3 |
|---|---|---|
| Incoming server | mail.yourdomain.com | mail.yourdomain.com |
| Incoming port | 993 (SSL/TLS) | 995 (SSL/TLS) |
| Outgoing server (SMTP) | mail.yourdomain.com | mail.yourdomain.com |
| Outgoing port | 465 (SSL) or 587 (STARTTLS) | 465 (SSL) or 587 (STARTTLS) |
| Username | full email address | full email address |
iPhone (Apple Mail)
- Open Settings → Apps → Mail → Mail Accounts (on older iOS: Settings → Mail → Accounts) and tap Add Account.
- Choose Other → Add Mail Account.
- Enter your name, full email address, password and a description, then tap Next.
- Select IMAP (recommended). Under both incoming and outgoing servers enter host mail.yourdomain.com, your full email address as username, and your password. Tap Next.
- iOS verifies the account. When it finishes, tap Save — done. Send yourself a test email both directions.
If sending fails on iPhone: go to Settings → Mail → Accounts → your account → SMTP → primary server, and confirm Use SSL is on, port is 465 (or 587), and authentication uses your full email address and password.
Android (Gmail app)
- Open the Gmail app, tap your profile picture → Add another account.
- Choose Other.
- Enter your full email address, then tap Manual setup and choose Personal (IMAP) — or Personal (POP3) if you specifically want POP.
- Enter your password. On the incoming screen set server to mail.yourdomain.com (port 993, SSL/TLS). Tap Next.
- On the outgoing screen set SMTP server mail.yourdomain.com, port 465 with SSL (or 587 with STARTTLS), and confirm Require sign-in is on. Tap Next, choose your sync options, and finish.
Common problems and fixes
“Cannot verify server identity” / certificate warning
Your mail server’s SSL certificate does not match the server name you typed. Use the exact hostname your provider gave you (often mail.yourdomain.com or the server’s own name), or ask your host to fix the certificate.
Password rejected
The username must be the full email address. If you recently changed the mailbox password in your hosting panel, update it on the phone too.
Receiving works, sending does not
Almost always an SMTP issue: wrong port, SSL off, or authentication off. Pair 465 with SSL/TLS or 587 with STARTTLS, and make sure outgoing authentication is enabled.
Mail arrives on the phone but disappears from the computer
You set up POP3 somewhere with “remove from server” enabled. Switch the account to IMAP everywhere — that is exactly what it is for.
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