Mail Can't connect to the account yahoo

I'm not sure exactly where the problem lies, but it seems to be a combination of OS, Mail and Yahoo's POP service.

I can't access my Yahoo mail on my iMac using Mail, on my iPad or iPhone using Mail unless I log into webmail first. My wife on the other hand can access her Yahoo mail account (on the same BT Internet provider service, on the same iMac) using Microsoft's Entourage older email application just fine.

I dont' think it's all Apple's fault, this didn't stop working at a specific upgrade point for me, so I think Yahoo are part of the problem as well for sure, but we need to just get it working. There are so many BT-Yahoo subscribers in the UK this is a real issue.

Thank you and all the others for responding.

It is weird since one week I don't have the problem anymore: it is just normally working. I have full access to my yahoo mail, without any problem.

I don't understand why because non of the solutions offered to me or to others in Apple Support Communities did help. I then accepted the fact that my yahoo mail account wasn't accessible.

So it is a true weird thing that it is functioning again, while others probably still have the same problem.

Frankly I don't understand why Apple doesn't solve these kind of problems. I would say that is just a matter of customers service and keeping your clients happy with their machines and with general software and apps.

Kind regards

mausreaper wrote:

It appears there is no solution that won't cost us $20. yahoo has formated their internet server to deny your pc/mac mail applications the right to access your emails "offline" with POP services unless of course you buy into their mail plus program or have a smart phone. So pay $20 dollars to view your email at your pc without opening it in your browser or just pull your phone out and do it for free. http://mailplus.mail.yahoo.com

one of the so called benefits off this "plus" serivce is offline access with POP or in other words the apple mail client and outlook

There is a check box you need to tick. Log into Yahoo Mail via your browser. Under the settings "cog" you will find 2 options. 1. to allow POP Mail and 2. to allow all mail to be forwarded to another e-mail address.

Check the box on option 1 and click on "save". Then you will be able to access your mail as normal via POP3. I think it is a new option that wasn't there before which is why the problems are new.

I have that set. And I've always had Yahoo plus or whatever as it is used by my ISP instead of their own. The issue isn't that it doesn't work at all, but that intermittently - where intermittently ranges from a few weeks to every hour or so - it fails to retrieve mail and just has the password prompt up in Mail again. Hit enter without changing the password and it works fine. Its more like an overload happens and Mail takes the temporary inability to retrieve mail as a sign that the password is borked rather than quietly waiting and trying again later. I mean at some point you would like a notification of whether you are blocked from retrieving mail but it just seems a) too aggressive, and b) misleading as it prompts for password again.

Yahoo standard does work with IMAP accounts, so you really don't have to pay for the Yahoo Plus unless you truly need POP mail; POP has never been offered for Yahoo outside the Plus subscription service. I believe the OP began this thread in regards to intermittent IMAP issues with Mac Mail, which is the same issue that I and others have been experiencing.

I also only have this problem in Mountain Lion 10.8.x; it seems to work perfectly under Lion 10.7.5 and the newest OS.

I just want add to this thread that I have solved this problem for my husband on several occasions, by going into his Yahoo mail at Yahoo.com, and deleting his old, read mail or moving it into a folder.

I think there is a theory, and you'll find this on the Yahoo site under Mail Help, that a corrupted mail file will occasionally botch the pop transfer. I never have this problem with my mail account, since I have my Mail settings set to efficiently remove mail after download. My husband, on the other hand, likes to keep a copy on the site, "for backup." If say, the problem has only just occurred, you can just transfer or delete mail from the date when the problem first started. Be sure to check both Spam and Inbox. I hope that helps someone.

I had the same issue on my iPhone 4S : apple.imap.mail.yahoo.com and I couldn't add the yahoo account on my MBP 15" OS 10.9 either.

I followed the instructions given in previous posts in this forum.

After many tries and frustrations, I have deleted the account on both devices:

1- I downloaded it the Yahoo Mail Apps for my Iphone. ( I checked my email thru that App).

2- I went to the Mail App (Apple) and added the Yahoo Account. ( It worked )

3.-I added the Yahoo account on my iPhone Mail App (Apple) and it worked.

4- then I deleted the Yahoo App and now everything is fine.

I hope this will help some users witht the same issues.

I appologies for my grammar.

I spent almost 6 hours ! fighting to get my yahoo acount to work with my Mac as i was gettting errors and failures

and the problem is easy to solve at no cost !

What you need to know its that ! [ MAIL ] is an non-yahoo or Third Party App ! and for Security re-enforcement and for your account protections , Yahoo requires to generate a one-time password, separate from your Yahoo account password, when you use non-Yahoo apps. that the password you will use to login into applications incuding [ MAIL ] . If you dont know how ! Its easy

1. First activate second sign-in verification on your account to use App Passwords.
2. From your Account Info page, click App Passwords.
3. Under "Generate new application password," enter the name of the app that requires a password.
4. Click Generate Password.
   Tip: This isn't a new password for your account. It's a one-time password to validate you're authorizing access to your account from a non-Yahoo app.
5. Enter the code into the password field in your mac [ MAIL PREFERENCES ]
6. Click Done to reset the code generator.
   -If you forget the code, you can always generate a new one.

DONE \ solved

This method did not work for me as my mac never pormpted me to attach this email to my mail app from Safari.

What finally resolved my issues was the following:

1)Mail>Accounts>scroll down to "Add Other Account"

2)Fill in Name, email, and password as normal.

Yahoo mail finally started coming in as normal. I don't know why the pre attached yahoo option does not work, but putting it in as "other" worked perfectly.

Hope this helps someone along the way, this was driving me crazy for days.

JUST MORE APPLE BUGS..... 😟

Worked for me too. Spent ages trying to connect yahoo account to mac mail (after years of no problems...).

Don't use 'yahoo' when adding account (just errors / stuck in a loop of failure...).

DO use 'other' - worked first time.

Such a shame. Apple software used to be rock solid 'back in the day' but is now sadly as buggy as windows.... 😟

Come on Apple, you're sitting of gazzilions of cash - spend some on debugging please!!!

I have had a Mac for three years. I have gotten this error message well over 5000 times. The solution is easy. Buy a PC.

THANK YOU! this worked.

Just used EnAcMo's solution for this. Using the "other" account setup instead of the Yahoo setup took me directly to IMAP dialog box.

At first I accepted all the automatically detected values, but that alone did not solve the issue. I had to go

back to the account settings and change the SMTP port from 465 to 587. Everything seems to be working now.

This for OS 10.10.1 on iMac using the integrated apple mail application.

This thread has offered several solutions over the years this thread has been open. I've tried each one in sequence. Sadly

EnAcMo's post is on page 3 and should really be shown near the top to save everyone some time. Although the real

solution would be for Apple and Yahoo to join forces and eliminate this situation altogether. Both organizations are losing

credibility regardless of whose fault it really is!!