bellsouth.net email not working iOS 14.4.1

Premeau wrote:

Hi Sandy,

I just spent the last hour scavenging the internet with the same problem.

Lawrence's info clicked with something I read in the beginning, there is something you need called "secure mail key"

you get this when you log into att.com with your bellsouth.net ID.

Go to Profile

-> Scroll to bottom of page, left side under My Linked Accounts

---->Click "Manage Secure Email Key"

-------> Name it: "IPhone" (or whatever), then click next and a key will come on the screen.

------------>Start the process of creating a new email account with the other option from the beginning and us the Secure email key for your password and the iPhone will do the rest.

That is incredibly helpful. Do you mind if I reuse your post for others with this problem?

Hello lirose,

We'd love to assist you with resolving the error with your email account. Have you tried deleting the account and setting it up again using the steps here: If you can’t send email on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch under the section 'Remove your email account and set it up again'

Best regards

Hi Sandy,

I just spent the last hour scavenging the internet with the same problem.

Lawrence's info clicked with something I read in the beginning, there is something you need called "secure mail key"

you get this when you log into att.com with your bellsouth.net ID.

Go to Profile

-> Scroll to bottom of page, left side under My Linked Accounts

---->Click "Manage Secure Email Key"

-------> Name it: "IPhone" (or whatever), then click next and a key will come on the screen.

------------>Start the process of creating a new email account with the other option from the beginning and us the Secure email key for your password and the iPhone will do the rest.

I too didn’t have any trouble with my Bellsouth email until the last Apple update. But I have had password problems due to AT&T taking over Bellsouth and Currently/Yahoo servicing the email. That’s why I changed my primary email account to a different provider. The imap and smtp settings are: mail.att.net. The password to obtain the email on your Apple device is the secure email key you create on att.com

Today 4/28/2021 the ATT servers must be back up. I was able to add my ATT email account back to my IPhone and IPad using Yahoo as the pre-Choice (such as AOL, I-Cloud, Yahoo, etc.. Other).

The ATT server outages were stopping IOS to verify our ATT email credentials and to allow password changes, BuT the servers with the email data for users already setup and not changing passwords, we’re up and running and not effected by outages. This was NOT a IOS problem. I am now on IOS 14.5 and I did not have to add a secure key! I believe I am still using Oauth built into the APPLE IOS Mail APP and ATT Email System. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Thanks

Look at the other posts that talks about adding the security key and folllow their instructions. Go to att.com and log in then go to profile. Once you add the security key to your profile you will need to use that security key as your password on your iPhone (instead of the password you used to use and/or the one you log into att.com). When asked to paste the key to your clipboard do so. Then paste it into your password field when you add the account back to your iPhone. You can also write the password down or take a screenshot of it.

Thanks to Premeau and everyone else on this thread for helping me figure out why my Bellsouth email wasn't working on my iPhone. I went to my ATT account and created the Secure Mail Key (which shouldn't matter since Apple Mail is OAuth technology). I entered the secure mail key sequence into the password area of my account on my iPhone and it now works! Go figure.

Here is someone else’s solution: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252553044?answerId=255036273022#255036273022

Yahoo bought the bellsouth emails from att so if you set up your email as a new account on your iphone and choose yahoo it work. login in with your regular bellsouth email and password through yahoo's login page that pops up.

When you deleted the account did you restart the phone before adding it back? That’s an essential step; without it the “new” account will reuse the old account’s parameters.

My bellsouth account just stopped working this morning with the exact issue. Logged into att.com and set up a secure key. Used the key as my password on my iPhone. This fixed the problem.

Hey guys I figured it out. The secure key thing isn’t necessary. Yahoo bought the bellsouth emails from att so if you set up your email as a new account and choose yahoo it will work.

I’ve seen a lot of complaints about Bellsouth email lately. If you have 2 factor authentication on your AT&T account you need to create an application-specific password for your email account on your phone. I don’t know if that’s the problem, but it’s something to consider.

I’ve read that you can’t create a new Bellsouth email account, but existing accounts are grandfathered.

I no longer used Bellsouth/AT&T phone or internet service but was able to log into AT&T with my old password information then I went to my profile and set up a secure email key which fixed the issue. There’s detailed information on the posts above on how to set up the secured email key.

If you want to keep your bellsouth.net email like I did you will have to get the secure key. Read the rest of the thread and you should use a "desk top" computer to get the secure key NOT your Iphone.