After updating iOS to 18.1.1, the mail app is not working. It is totally malfunction and can’t receive nor send email. Start the mail app, it just pops up a white screen. I have tried to offload the app and reinstall it. It’s the same. When I hard reset the phone, it can pop up the mail account list but freezes. How do I fix it?
iPhone 14 Pro Max, iOS 18
Solution: Go to Settings. Click your name at the top to access your Apple Account. Look for a notice at the top of your Apple Account page that asks you to accept the new terms and conditions for Mail. Accept the new terms.
Context: Apple has introduced new AI features with Mail that requires the terms be accepted and it is causing all sorts of issues with the Mail app until you accept the new terms. I was having issues with Search, Sending mail, and indexing had also halted. Once I accepted these terms, everything worked perfectly again.
One more thing: Go to Settings > iCloud. Check the iCloud backup status. Mine had been halted, so it wasn't backing up. You may need to click Back Up Now after you've accepted the terms.
My usage situation: iPhone, Mac Mail user, iCloud account, Mac email account only. The only issue I had was on the iPhone Mail app (Mail was working fine on my Mac desktop and laptops). If this isn't your situation, then your mail issue may be different to mine.
Hope this helps someone!
Solution: Go to Settings. Click your name at the top to access your Apple Account. Look for a notice at the top of your Apple Account page that asks you to accept the new terms and conditions for Mail. Accept the new terms.
Context: Apple has introduced new AI features with Mail that requires the terms be accepted and it is causing all sorts of issues with the Mail app until you accept the new terms. I was having issues with Search, Sending mail, and indexing had also halted. Once I accepted these terms, everything worked perfectly again.
One more thing: Go to Settings > iCloud. Check the iCloud backup status. Mine had been halted, so it wasn't backing up. You may need to click Back Up Now after you've accepted the terms.
My usage situation: iPhone, Mac Mail user, iCloud account, Mac email account only. The only issue I had was on the iPhone Mail app (Mail was working fine on my Mac desktop and laptops). If this isn't your situation, then your mail issue may be different to mine.
Hope this helps someone!
I had this problem in the UK, I went on my email provider in safari , got as far as log in , pressed forgotten password , as my phone is on my account I requested a SMS one time pin and changed my password , I then went settings , Apps, Mail, chose the account and account settings deleted the password and entered my new one , 30 seconds later all back , did this on phone and IPad 👍
I had the same problem right after the update and was able to fix my issue thanks to the IT department for the company I work for. Please give the following a try?
1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Navigate to Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts.
3. Select the affected email account.
4. Tap Account Settings, then Advanced.
5. In the Incoming Settings section, locate the IMAP Path Prefix field.
6. If it's empty or shows a greyed-out "/", retype the forward slash ("/") so it turns white.
7. Tap Done to save the changes.
8. Close and reopen the Mail app to see if the issue is resolved.
Good luck!!!
Mail now working after contacting Apple help, the steps they advised were, 1 turning off vpn, 2 Removing wifi, 3 Turning off phone, restarting phone manually entering wifi code. Go to apps, mail - deleting then reentering email accounts, I did this separately for each account first was sky(yahoo) then ICloud after a short while all the outstanding emails came through (envelope) mail app the first since 7th October and have continued downloading since. Thank you for all your help and suggestions.
Thanks to a great Apple support representative, i did finally just delete the Mail app (had to change the default Email application to something other than Mail, like Gmail or YAHOO first). But after doing that and then reinstalling it by download it from the App Store, everything seemed to sync back up and all my mail started to work again correctly with no significant ongoing drain on my power and battery. Hope this helps other people & happy holidays!
I had same problem. I had to select the 3 dots at top of mail inbox and select list view. I guess it was set to category view when IOS updated
Manitou1 wrote:
After doing ios18 update on iPhone my email does not receive emails. I seriously hope a fix is released for this that corrects the problem they have created.
There will be no fix because nothing is broken; there is a problem with your email account.
First, Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN.
Next, if that doesn’t fix it go to Settings/Apps/Mail/Accounts, tap on the account and delete it. Then add it back. Before doing that go to your mail provider’s website Support and it will have instructions on how to install your mail account on and iPhone.
My iPad was affected and main email account useless, whereas iPhone worked fine. Looking at what you said iPad was imap and iPhone pop. I ended up creating a new account (same details as originally and still an imap set up) and all emails suddenly appeared. Stupid updates - taken me hrs to try and sort this!
I had 8 email accounts on my iphone.
After the iOS 18.1.1 update, I had to delete each one, close my email app and close Settings, turn off my phone, turn my phone back on, go back into Settings/Apps/Mail/Accounts and add my email accounts ONE BY ONE... turning my phone off/back on in between each Add.
Frankly, I cringe every time I get a notification for an iOS Update. If I ignore it for too long; my phone becomes glitchy. But if I diligently load the Update when notified; then there is ALWAYS some sort of collateral damage. You would THINK that with a development division as large & experienced as Apple's, they would find these issues during Beta-testing and correct them BEFORE sending out the Update.
This is now my third or fourth post since September 2024.
The problem began with the original iOs18 Update.
I am now running 18.2.1 on an iPhone 12 mini and have restarted, reset, adjusted email settings [i.e / slash etc]. I have communicated with my hosting company, for over 30 years, [ prohosting.com ]on numerous occasions and they have advised since Sept/Oct 2024 that they are "aware" of the issue but cannot offer any other solution other than changing email clients.
This is the latest response from support at ProHosting.com
" We are aware of the issues with devices running iOS 18, this also includes the newly released iPhone 16. The stock mail app on these devices cannot connect to the ProHosting mail servers. The short term fix would be to install a different app for checking your mail on the affected devices."
I have multiple accounts on different servers and *ALL* stopped receiving/sending on the day I updated the iOS.
It is not clear to me whether this is an " either / or " problem. Whether it is exclusively an Apple bug, a hosting provider bug [i.e certificates etc ] or whether it is a combination of both.
What is clear is that *NEITHER* Apple nor hosting/mail providers are forthcoming with any *DETAIL* regarding the blockage/failure/bug that *CLEARLY* is affecting a substantial minority of users, apparently because neither appears to consider it "their" problem.
What is TRUE, is that basic functionality of the Apple Mail App STOPPED after the iOS 18 Update [ or iterations] and it has NOT recovered since.
NO RESPONSE *IS* a Response. It would at least assist the LARGE minority of users experiencing this bug to proceed with some logical trouble-shooting if Apple would *acknowledge* the users requests and provide canonical guidance.
Apple??
sgifford2 wrote:
Hello Apple, are you listening? iOS 18 update has caused both us to be unable to receive INBOUND email on our Internet service provider email account. We receive message “Unable to Connect to Server, check to see your settings are correct”. Yes, my settings are correct as verified with internet provider. Was on the phone an hour with Apple support, she tried everything she knew of, nothing worked. My internet email provider says that it is the Apple 18 update that caused the problem and Apple has to make a patch! I We sincerely hope you’re working on a patch. Thank you.
NO, Apple is NOT LISTENING. This is a user-to-user forum, not a way to communicate with Apple. Apple is not going to make a patch to 500 million iPhones because YOUR iPhone has a problem. There is no problem with iOS 18; your internet provider is passing the buck to get you off the phone.
The MOST common cause of this problem:
The NEXT most common: Your email account has 2 factor authentication enabled, which may require an Application Specific Password rather than your account’s regular password. Check with your email provider’s website.
I have been having the same issue of not receiving inbound emails from my third-party service provider after IOS 18 update. Today I did the 18.2 update hoping it would solve the problem and it did not change a thing. Called my third-party provider again and they now say IOS 18 is having trouble with IMAP Inbound email and their workaround was for me to delete my email account and reinstall it as POP account instead of IMAP, turn off SSL, and use the same inbound and outbound ports as IOS 17 (I had these written down). It worked for me!
I tried several options mentioned on this website and none of them worked. I had to delete the email account on my iPhone and re-add it to my phone for it to work.
BopCat wrote:
It’s not 3rd party email provider. All kinds of people are having the same issue regardless of their provider. I have multiple email providers, and they’re all experiencing the same issue. It But worked fine until the update.
All kinds of people always have problems, but that doesn't make it a global issue. Because all kinds of people DO NOT have a problem with mail. There are over a dozen possible reasons that one might have a problem with email.
And it matters who your email provider is; each email provider may require a different solution.
Here are the two most common reasons email isn’t working:
As it worked until the update (and which update? There have been 4 since 18.1.1; the current is 18.3) VPN is the most likely culprit. If you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN.
Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN. However, VPN actually reduces your privacy, it does not enhance it.
Mail not working after update iOS 18.1.1
