Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Yahoo Server Unavailable on 2 iphone 4S's

I just got my wife a new iPhone 4S from Verizon, and I am unable to setup her Yahoo Account, and when I try her account on my iPhone 4S it states the samething as server uavailable. However, I have had my Yahoo Account setup perfectly fine on my phone, and it connects to the Yahoo Mail Server. I have tried multiple times to delete and re-add the account, and nothing works. Her gmail account, however, was setup with no issues or fuss. I just find it odd, that her email on yahoo will not function on a phone that already has a yahoo email account setup.


So please can you let me and the community know what the fix action is?


This is very frustrating. I will try adding my account to her phone, and see if it works.


I have restored / reset the phone to out of box environment and that did not solve the issue.


iPhone 4S iOS 5.1.1

iPhone 4S, iOS 5

Posted on Jul 18, 2012 7:21 AM

Reply
37 replies

Jul 18, 2012 8:47 AM in response to Allan Sampson

Actually it changes everything, because Yahoo and Gmail are on totally different networks and uses different IP's and domain names.


So in the Mail Settup wizard via Add Account and selecting Gmail you would connect to Gmail only servers yahoo would be out of the picture.


So again what if it yields the same response as server unavailable?


I have seen numerous posts on Google using the Add Other Account vice the Yahoo Pre-defined settings in the Mail App Client so I will give that a try when I get home from work, and if that works then there is infact an issue with the Yahoo Mail App on the iOS, as my phone is roughly a year old and was setup on iOS 5 prior to 5.1.1.

Jul 18, 2012 9:02 AM in response to cryptodan

Changes nothing.


This is a Yahoo problem. Creating the account with the Yahoo preset creates the account as an IMAP account. The settings used with the preset are established by Yahoo for creating the account as an IMAP account. If there is a problem with that, then no one would be able to create a Yahoo account with the Yahoo account preset which is not the case. If that were the case, it would still be a Yahoo problem since the settings used with the Yahoo account preset are established by Yahoo.

Jul 18, 2012 9:07 AM in response to Allan Sampson

It would be an issue with Apple and their application Developers not an issue with Yahoo. Apple Developers should be incontact with Yahoo when updating software. Again gmail and yahoo are on totally different networks, totally different class of ip's and other factors. Simply put, I do not believe that you have the networking knowledge to understand that. So if that offend's you then I apologize.


Now if my account on her phone is able to connect, then i will take it up with yahoo, but from my point of view this is an Apple Issue and not a Yahoo one.

Jul 18, 2012 12:56 PM in response to cryptodan

It's a Yahoo! issue. If Gmail works fine then it's clearly not the iPhone. You can't make your iPhone connect to Yahoo! The only thing you can do is enter the appropriate credentials. After that? It's Yahoo!s issue. Good luck with your mentality that it's the iPhone.


And no, Apple should not be in contact with Yahoo! The iPhone functions and works just fine. Yahoo! needs to make the fix.


Also, your title is not accurate because you clearly state that your Yahoo! works just fine.

Jul 18, 2012 1:10 PM in response to Papciak84

Again Yahoo and Gmail are on totally different networks what about that do you not understand? If gmail and yahoo shared the same network space and IP addressing schemes your assumption would be correct. Again GMAIL works because it is on a different network and in totally different facilities with different routing than that of Yahoo. I would recommend that you go get few certs dealing with networking and protocols to better understand my issue. So far this forum has been of no service.


Again gmail and yahoo are on two different network so your assumption that it is a yahoo issue is rather ignorant. Yahoo protocols change and can affect things, there has been a known track record with that and open chat clients from Pidgin, Zinc, and others having connection issues due to yahoo's protocol changing for authentication and connectivity. So again please provide concrete evidence that it is a Yahoo issue, and no my title is not misleading. The fact remains that I cannot add my wife's yahoo to my phone and get the same error as I do on her brand spanking new iphone.

Jul 18, 2012 4:05 PM in response to cryptodan

None of the above provided users provided anything that assisted me in solving my issues. In the future, I will not use these forums to get assistance. I will speak with apple directly regarding my issues with future problems with my Apple Products and services. I feel the above people copped the attitude, and therefore caused me to speak in a tone that was progressively getting worse.


This has been a very negative experience for a new user to the community forum that apple provides.


My wife was able to get it to work on her own with no intervention from apple or yahoo.


The error messages that we received on our phones were very vague and lacking of anything important. I would imagine that a multi-billion a year company would take consideration into providing more detailed errors then "Server Unvailable". That is very vague, and as a seasoned IT Professional I would expect more from an application that deals with Mail. Not only would it provide users with more information to assist them in diagnosing / reporting issues but it would prevent users like me from having negative experiences at support sites. I chalk this up to the same quality of support that VALVe Software provides its uers whe solving issues.


Due this experience, I would recommend that people use android or microsoft powered phones for better support.

Aug 7, 2012 4:50 PM in response to cryptodan

http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?y=PROD_ACCT&page=content&id=SLN3702&actp=lorax&lo cale=en_SG


This article from Yahoo! indicates where they are the point of issue here. Chastizing Apple's support for providing an online discussion board where it says in the terms it is not monitored by Apple employees is an interesting way of looking at it.


Yahoo has been having issues with account access, push notifications, server errors, email delivery (should I continue?) since November of last year. This is confirmed by several technicians at the carrier level where they have stated this is an ongoing problem with both iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices. They have been recommending against people using Yahoo at this point. The error you are describing is an error from a server level, not from an application level.


EDIT: As an FYI, usually resetting the password will resolve the issue as this is almost always related to a bad password sync across their authentication servers.

Sep 21, 2012 3:05 AM in response to cryptodan

I Also had this problem recently, what I did is I opened my yahoo account in my computer. I just followed the instructions, coz yahoo required me to change my password coz my old password is not that strong. Then again just followed the steps. Then after successfully changing my old password. I tried to put it on my iphone4S mail. And it was verified.

Sep 25, 2012 8:12 AM in response to cryptodan

One of the more unhelpful strings around, but since this pops to the top of Google searches, wanted to provide some information that could allow people to work around this issue if they read this string.


From reviewing the posts on other sites there is currently an issue ongoing with individuals with new iPhones not being able to connect to Yahoo Mail using the Yahoo specific email setup option. Here's a string on that topic with many new iPhone users who've had this issue in the past few days. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120921125258AAZ4maT


My added contribution to this issue is that I've replicated this issue with other devices running iOS6, in fact, and not just new devices. On devices I've been using to access yahoo email for some time, they continued to get Yahoo Mail just fine after I upgraded to iOS6. However, if I now delete that working account and immediately try to re-add it using the Yahoo specific option my other devices (iPad3, iPad2, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4) all start to exhibit the same symptoms.


Interestingly, like in the link above, I am able to get to my Yahoo email accounts by avoiding the Yahoo specific setup option and instead choosing "Other" when setting up email. Here's what does seem to work.


1.) Delete the yahoo mail account on your iphone/ipad.

2.) Add mail account using "other" instead of "Yahoo!" and setup as IMAP account.

3.) Use the following information:

- username MUST include @yahoo.com at the end

- incoming server = imap.mail.yahoo.com

- outgoing server = smtp.mail.yahoo.com

- always retype your password


Obviously, this demonstrates something is broken in the initial account set up process for the Yahoo specific option in iOS6 that isn't broken in the "Other" email process when it's set up manually.


One option is that Yahoo's servers aren't accepting authentication properly from the iOS device trying to verify the account information. However, since Yahoo's servers *do* accept authentication from the "Other" email setup process, it seems unlikely to me that Yahoo's servers would treat these IMAP requests from the same device differently.


A plausible (and I think likely) option is that there is broken Apple code in the Yahoo specific email setup option that isn't broken in the "Other" email setup code. Perhaps something changed in Apple's code for the Yahoo specific setup option that causes it to send out malformed requests or not handle return authentication confirmations properly? Don't know.


Regardless, seems to me this isn't as clear cut a case as "It's a Yahoo problem" at least with the current manifestiation of this issue.

Yahoo Server Unavailable on 2 iphone 4S's

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.