iPad 'Cannot verify server identity' error

I found a simple fix for this issue on my phone. If you have the same settings as I do, it might work for you, too.

Settings—->Passwords & Accounts

—->Choose the offending (Hotmail/Outlook/Live, etc) account

—>Account (email address)—>under Outgoing Mail Server, click on SMTP. If your settings look like mine below, I clicked ‘OFF’ the Primary Server smtp-mail.outlook.com....leaving smtp.live.com ‘ON’.

I don’t know why this worked, as I didn’t change the actual offending Incoming Mail Server, but my phone fetched my mail just fine after I did this. Maybe it’s because the Incoming and Outgoing server names no longer match?

I hope this helps someone else. I really didn’t want to go through the whole ‘delete account’ process!

Hello Bulletvaldez,

I have the same issue, happened to me in the last 2 days, I did a lot of troubleshooting but no success.

finally, I did solve the error.

just I delete my account from my device then I get access to my account from the browser of the same device and reinstall the account again in the mail outlook...

The error is solved.

This is happening to me also. in my case it is happening with a Microsoft e-mail account that I have active in both the Apple email app and in the Microsoft Outlook app. The certificate details show that it is an outlook.com certificate that has recently been issued, apparently because the previous annual certificate had expired. I have not made any recent changes to the mail accounts or mail settings in either app, and this had not been occurring before the certificate change. It is VERY disruptive because it shows up at random times, in the middle of other activities, and it must be clicked before the iPhone will do anything else. This is on an iPhone 11 Pro on iOS 14.0.1. Let me repeat: it is highly disruptive and distracting.

Same issue - started appearing on my iPhone and iPad last night - today it began appearing on my wife’s iPhone and iPad. Message is “cannot verify server identity - the identity of ‘imap-mail.outlook.com” cannot be verified.” This occurs randomly as I switch from mail to messages to seemingly any app. Then it stops for a while and starts up again for no apparent reason. On my iPhone the message references a pop account.

As ridiculous as this sounds, the only real fix I have found to work is to delete the offending email account from your iPhone and the add it back. That seems to clear it.

You need your username and password to add your account, so be sure you have it before you delete it!

When you are adding the account, there will be a list of accounts, including Gmail, AOL and Outlook.

Even if your email account is an @live.com email address, instead of @outlook.com, choose Outlook.com.

After 30 minutes the message had not shown up again.

If I am correct, the account settings are changed from an imap to pop3. It doesn't matter to me HOW I get my emails, as long as I get them securely!

Good luck!

I am getting the same error once I unlock my iPhone 11 ProMax it happens 3-4 times in a row. I do not have an outlook account on my phone, I did a few years ago but removed it. I have looked for it in certificates also but, don’t see any relating to outlook

I also have such “cannot verify server” issue since yesterday. It is related to a certificate issued by Microsoft outlook.office360.com. However, Apple disable the function for us to hit “trust” button to override such bugs issue. Besides, I only use Gmail and didn’t use hotmail before, thus I really don’t know how come I have such certificates in my iPhone/iPad. I hope Apple software engineer can help fixing it.

Having the same issue, and seems it appeared around the same time as others. Seems to be tied to my "hotmail" account....what a pain! I deleted that mail account, and it has not popped up again, and then tried reinstalling that mail account, which started the "popups" again....ugh

I’m likewise having the same trouble for the past few days. It was affecting me on my iPhone 8s+, and has continued on my new 12 Pro. It’s my Office 365 email account accessed through imap-mail.outlook.com. I’m still able to send and receive as normal but the error message pop up is erratic and frequent. Viewing the certificate details, the expiration is well in the future and (obviously) a trusted source.

that error just started for me today.. prior to this I noticed my phone having lil glitches tho... like the keyboard will slow up for no reason and sometimes the after I finish typing the text keeps on going solo

I figured out why I was getting this same message. The offending email was my old hotmail.com address. Either delete it or switch it to inactive on your iPhone or iPad and the message will go away. If you still use that email, delete it from your device then re-add it. The correct server settings should download when you reinstall that email account, resolving the server error using either POP3 or IMAP protocol.

If you use multiple devices to access the same email account, select IMAP so the messages are left on the host server and are accessible by all your devices. If you only use one device, I recommend using POP3, as it downloads all emails off the host server and the messages only exist on your device after checking for new email.

Please let me know if this fixes your issue!

1. Go to mail settings
2. Select your outlook, gmail, hotmail or live email address.
3. Slide the button to the left to make it inactive, if you don’t have that button, select delete account.
4. Reinstall the mail settings.

This seems to have worked for me.

How did you figure it out?

Although on my phone (12.4.1) I went like this

Go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts > Mail

select your Microsoft email Account.

then check Account > Host Name

unter INCOMING MAIL SERVER

and change it to outlook.com and save the change.

What FaKre posted earlier I pasted here below

Nov 1, 2020 1:49 AM in response to Bulletvaldez

In my case the problem was, that the new certificate was only issued for outlook.com but I had „imap-mail.outlook.com“ set as incoming mail server.

Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts

select your Microsoft email Account.

then check Account > Host Name

unter INCOMING MAIL SERVER

and change it to outlook.com and save the change.

Seems like after 11 pages some fix it and some are not. Maybe let me highlight some key takeaways:

1st situation - when you have hotmail or Microsoft mail account in your devices

Solution (1): Goto Setting > Mail > Accounts > Your hotmail or whatever Microsoft accounts > Delete and then reinstall

(note: choose outlook.com when reinstall)

Solution (2): Change the incoming server from smtp to pop

(note: your mails in device may disappear as it is what pop differs from smtp)

Solution (3): Make your hotmail inactive / disable the notification

(personally I doubt if this is a fix)

2nd situation - when you don’t have any hotmail account in your devices

Solution (1): Setting > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings > Reboot

(note: this solution is suggested by Apple help desk)

Solution (2): Goto Setting > Mail > Accounts > Your gmail or whatever mail accounts > Delete and then reinstall

Solution (3): Create a hotmail/outlook.com mail account, add it to your device and let your device update the certificate accordingly. You can remove the mail account afterwards.

Solution (4): Goto iCloud, logout and login again (some says it works but I don’t know the mechanisms)

Lastly, the issue is obviously caused by verification protocol between Apple and Microsoft, thus a permanent fix count on these two parties. Anyway I have filed a bug report via beta program. Let’s see.