AOL mail error

I have this issue also. However, I do not have the aol app for my main aol email; it is my email set up to show on home screen mail folder. I do not want to use the aol app, and I don't have 2-factor authorization so the above instructions won't work for me. There doesn't seem to be a particular reason this happened. I did check into deleting the account but a message said items hadn't been updated so I'd lose them (mail and notes?) Any clues?

I did some research for you. AOL is now requiring App-Specific passwords to be entered instead of your normal password. This is part of their security measure. So, How does one create an App Specific password to enter for AOL email account(s)? See below:

If you've activated 2-step verification for your AOL account, you'll need to generate and use an "app password" to access AOL Mail from these apps.

1. Sign in and go to the AOL Account security page. You can do this by signing on to AOL from a computer.

2. Click Generate app password or Manage app passwords.

3. Select your app from the drop down menu and click Generate.

4. Follow the instructions below the password.

- Be sure to enter the password into your app without any spaces.

5. Click Done.

6. Use this app password and your email address to sign in to your email app.

Axel F.

Very interesting. At first, I was baffled by what exactly “Rate Limited” meant in AOL terms. I performed a Google search with, “AOL Rate Limited” and it yielded some interesting results. Below is one example for you:

AOL Email Send (Rate) Limits

AOL imposes a rate limit on an AOL member when a member exceeds the acceptable number of email messages sent in a given time period. The following restrictions apply when sending emails from an AOL connection:

• AOL email send limit - no more than 100 recipients per message or 500 recipients per connection
• AOL other SMTP limits - max 16mb per message
• AOL email-outbound policy - http://postmaster-us.info.aol.com/ipt/
• AOL SMTP restriction expiry method - N/A

This appears to be the case with the emails sent or attachment size. I am not sure. I recommend that you contact AOL for further clarification.

Axel F.

Thank you Axel.

I logged in from a pc and confirmed what I thought I’d lose by deleting the account, which was notes I had created since the issue began. I was ok with that so I deleted the account, then added it back. That worked perfectly. I still don’t think I have 2-factor auth as nothing was required other than my password.

I have this issue as well following the steps you provide and it works. I was able to recreate my aol account on my iPhone but now I can’t sent any email it’s keep telling me “cannot send mail the sender address was invalid” any clues why that is happening?

You are welcome. Glad you have figured this out for yourself. Hey, I used to be a huge fan of the Cheese Grader Mac Pro (probably still am).

Axel F.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Apple, the most valuable company on earth and leader in all things in this space, simply chose to put this information in the pop-up error screen we see, rather than making a search through threads to find the stupid answer. This type of thing makes me crazy. Come on Apple. You can do better.

I also have this issue but when I go to log into my account it tells me wrong password, so I go to forgotten password and tells me:

mall the time, have been trying for over a week now. Any help pleassseeee?

Ok it finally happened again. Using the mail app on my iPhone, the aol account there. Asks me to re-enter my password. I click on it to do that and I get this. See tiny letters in the upper left hand corner.

Hello Christine,

Are you certain that you do not have 2-factor Authorization for your AOL account? From my understanding, AOL now requires the accounts to have it. I know that you have stated that the instructions, above, won't work for you however have you tried them regardless? If haven't given it a shot then please try it so that you know whether 2-Factor Authentication is active on your account or not.

Axel F.

I did as instructed, generated a password, typed it into the password field, and got the same message to go to mail account settings and enter a password - from the screen where I just entered the password??!

Lisa

Axel,

Thank you so much! You are a life saver!

Christine,

Follow the instructions Axel provided and you can choose iphone email as your app. It issues a password that you enter on the iphone email settings.

Thank you. It worked. 2 factor authentication on your AOL is a separate issue, but you don't need to do it right now (for this), just from your account proceed to "Account Security" and follow your steps.

I was dreading it because I have several devices and accounts for which I would have to do this generation process. For some reason, once I did a couple, my other aol acct just updated itself. Then, of course, they sent me warnings that someone had logged into my account several times from several devices (duh). Lol.

Thank you, again.

Thanks, had the same problem with aol mail on mini iPad. Didn’t really understand the answer but your instructions and it work like a charm. Plus, it was my wife’s iPad, and she was fit to be tied, so you really did me a solid😀

Your main and original password to the AOL Mail Website will always be the same that you had set in the past. The app-specific password is used for all other apps. You do not have to remember the new app-specific password(s) because they will be different for every app. If you need it again for another app then you generate another one like you did this time. No need to remember it.

Axel F.