I cannot turn on my encryption on my iphone, I go to accounts and selection an email account and go to the bottom to turn on encryption. I will not let me. help

Hi bradford1950,

We appreciate you reaching out to us.

We’d like to gather additional details that may help us be in a better position to assist you.

Are you referring to the S/MIME feature to send and receive encrypted messages in the Mail app on the iPhone?

If yes, are you using the steps below to enable it?

1. "Open the Settings app.
2. Choose Mail > Accounts.
3. Select the account that has messages that you want to encrypt by default.
4. Choose Account > Advanced > Encrypt by Default, then turn on Encrypt by Default."

You can use the article below as a reference.

Use S/MIME to send and receive encrypted messages in the Mail app in iOS - Apple Support

If you are unable to find the option, please check for a software update and make sure that you are running the latest version of iOS 16.

While it isn't inherently assured that an update will resolve the issue, updating to the latest software version for your device can help isolate potential software issues. 

Kindly secure a backup and update.

1. How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
2. Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Then, install the S/MIME certificate for your email account.

As mentioned in the article we provided above, "you can get S/MIME certificates from a certificate authority (CA) or, if you're using an Exchange account, from your organization. You also need the recipient's certificate (public key)."

Take care!