Mail not working after update iOS 18.1.1

I am having the exact same issue! My only work around is to restart my device. This seems to allow mail download to occur.

I got you beat 2 hrs on Saturday with a regular tech then 1/2 hr with a senior tech. Then 10:30am-9pm today. Sending reports to engineers Centurylink sent me a message stating it’s coming from the 18.1 update from Apple and it’s widespread. CenturyLink on top of it LOL

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??

I have the same problem on my iCloud email and yahoo emails, apple needs to send a fix, nothing I have tried works. Every time there is a new update something goes wrong.

Whenever I try to manage messages, the sheet menu will not stay visible.

if I open a mailbox and select a couple of messages, then I tap "Move" to move those emails to a subfolder, or even trying to delete multiple emails...

the sheet menu opens and closes immediately. Before I can select an action.

This 18.1.1 update has caused major problems with organizing emails in just a few days.

Following on from earlier post, the mail icon has been moved to the apps section instead of the first page in settings.

My new iPhone 16 pro max same thing with emails from my server..

with Apple support for about 2 hours they are going ask the engineers tomorrow..

Apple this update IOS 18.1.1 is destroying my sanity! Emails are not coming in on my husbands iPad! One account comes in, his personal one doesn’t work at all. I deleted the account changed the password, reinstalled it and it still doesn’t load the emails! You need to fix this problem! You can see from this thread that it has been happening to multiple people! Please fix it! (It works on phone but not on IPad)

I had a similar problem. I kept getting a Network Error on my iPhone (which downloaded 18.1.1 recently) and my email accounts--all of them--refused to update with new messages. I thought it might be my university putting a firewall up for some reason, but on my MacBook everything runs fine.

Eventually the email did start syncing again, but it's unreliable. I'm also noticing problems with Instagram and other apps not fully loading content or going very slowly. The new update also drains my battery (it went from 90% to 35% in about 3 hours, most of which was spent in my pocket with the screen off). I feel very frustrated by this update.

I posted this earlier with the link but Apple removed it.

I think the only solution is to contact your third party email provider with this information below and demand they fix the issue at their end. I’m not sure why some users are having a problem with iCloud.com accounts since that’s an Apple product.

A lot of users have pointed out that the problem seems to stem from how Apple Mail handles connections with IMAP servers after the iOS 18 update. 

The heart of the issue? It looks like iOS 18 has become a bit pickier with security certificates — especially if you’re using a self-signed certificate.

Essentially, the system may no longer trust these certificates, even though they worked just fine in iOS 17.

The strange part is that it’s not only the self-signed certificates causing trouble. Even users with legitimate SSL certificates (the kind you expect to work without issues) are facing the same syncing errors. 

The Mail app seems to have difficulty “talking” to the IMAP servers, and in some cases, it’s flat-out refusing to fetch new messages.

Possible Culprits

While Apple hasn’t officially commented on the situation, there are a few things that could be contributing to this glitch:

Stricter Security Requirements: iOS 18 may have tightened its policies on how it handles email server connections, particularly with certificates. 

This could explain why previously accepted certificates are now getting rejected.

TLS Version Issues: Some users have speculated that the issue might relate to TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols. If your email server is using an older TLS version, it might be incompatible with iOS 18’s updated standards.

same for me. Switched to app Edison mail, spark mail is also similar. Email works fine with now.

I deleted my Gmail account from my phone and reinstalled and it appears to work now…..

Have you given feedback to apple? So many of us with same problem everyone needs to send feedback so they fix it.

*SOLUTION* This issue seems to be limited to accounts that were configured to use the IMAP protocol when they were created on the iPhone. Accounts using POP3 are not affected. Unfortunately there is no way to change an existing mail account from IMAP to POP3 so the only option is to create a new mail account on your iPhone using POP3. Way to go Apple! You become more and more like Microsoft every day!