CenturyLink email stopped connecting after 18.1.1 update

Perhaps a long shot:

Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN.

Do you have 2 factor authentication for your email account? If you do you need to create an application-specific password for your iPhone, which is not the same password you use for webmail.

Another possibility: Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN.

I finally got my Centurylink and iCloud emails to download again!! I did two things, just variations on what we have all tried before. Don't know if one or the combination of the two did it, but it worked this time for me. First, I did a hard reset on the phone (tap volume up key, tap volume down key, then hold in right side button until screen goes black and apple reappears. Then I deleted the mail ap from the phone and reinstalled a new one from the ap store.

A short time later, emails started downloading. Hope this works for you.

Did you check with your email provider for 2 factor authentication requirements? Many email providers require a different password when using email access that is via their website or not an app that they directly maintain. This is called an “app-specific” password.

Thanks GraniteRiver! This worked for me too! Delete app, hard restart, download new app, put in Mail specs (exact same as before mail.centurylink.net & smpt.centurylink.net) and then a minute or so mail started downloading. yay!

Wildewagner wrote:

Yes Centurylink uses a 2 factor Authentication. So how do I get my email to work on my iphone Mail app?

Check their website for iPhone settings. You probably need to create an “application-specific password” for the iPhone Mail app.

Have you deleted the account, then added it back? (Settings/Apps/Mail/Accounts)

Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN.

Can you log in to their webmail site successfully?

Do you have 2 factor authentication enabled on your CenturyLink account?

From CL help page

What to Do if Email Program Will Not Connect

7 months ago Updated

We do have some reports of slowness in connecting to their mail client(iOS, Outlook, Android), sending mail, and receiving mail due to high traffic on the server. This is a known issue, and we expect a resolution within 72 hours. In the event you are experiencing these issues access to your email is always available real time www.centurylink.net .

We apologize for any inconvenience, appreciate your patience, and thank you for being a Centurylink Email Customer!

CL is aware of the situation, but appears they have done little to correct it. I have a legacy q.com as well as a centurylink.net account for my wife and myself. I’m only seeing it with the q.com accounts. This may be due to setting them up as IMAP when they were originally POP. I changed them back to POP and they are working for now.

I have iOS 18.3.2. The advice about forcing mail to set up your Embarq mail account as POP3 still works. Set up as IMAP accessing my account through the mail app was spotty at best. I deleted the info and forced iPhone to set it up as a POP3 account and instantly connected and downloaded mail and it continues to download mail.

This is a very old tip→Forcing creation of a POP or IMAP email account | Communities

If you have a problem with it let me know and I will try to update it.

BTW, Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN. VPN frequently needs to be reinstalled after an update.

What happens when you update to 18.2?

Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN.

Prpd66 wrote:

If I do a hard reset on my phone, does that wipe out all of my information? Also, if I delete the Mail app and reinstall it, does that wipe out all of my information?

What GraniteRiver suggested is actually called a Force Restart, not a Hard Reset. It doesn’t wipe out any information. Neither does deleting the Mail app and reinstalling it, because email is not “contained” in the Mail app; the app is just a “window” into the Mail database, which is separate from the app.

Force restart:

• Press and quickly release VOLUME UP

     then

• Press and quickly release VOLUME DOWN

     then

• Hold the SIDE button until an Apple logo appears (15-30 seconds), ignoring "slide to power off" if it appears

The operative word here is QUICKLY; and try it a couple of times, the timing is a little tricky. If done correctly this will always work unless the phone has a hardware problem. 

After upgrading to OS 18.3 we are having more consistent connection with CenturyLink email server/emails downloading successfully!

The easiest way to do it (assuming the email account is of type IMAP and not POP:

• Go to Settings/Mail (Settings/Apps/Mail in iOS 18)
• Tap on Mail Accounts
• Tap on the account and delete it
• Tap on Add Account and fill out the form pages

iOS will then ask the ISP for the needed settings and fill them in

I feel your pain. Force restart and reinstalling the Mail ap fixed mine for a month but it went back to not downloading two days ago. I did the force restart and reinstall again this morning and it is working for now, anyway.

Good luck to all the happy Centurylink customers.