iPhone stuck“verifying” mail account in Settings app

Question

Level 1

29 points

iPhone stuck“verifying” mail account in Settings app

I was having problems with one of my email accounts in Mail not being able to send mail, so I tried to make some changes to the incoming mail server settings in the Settings app on my iPhone 4S. However, it appears to be stuck on “verifying” and I can’t exit out of the window or go to any other of my settings within the Settings app. All I get is a spinning circular icon next to the word it’s trying to “verify.” It’s been going on for a half hour or longer now. All my other apps work fine, I just can’t access anything within Settings. I’ve never had this happen before, or heard of anyone else with the same problem. Any suggestions?

Posted on Jun 16, 2014 6:42 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

dorinho

Level 1

4 points

Aug 24, 2017 7:43 AM in response to Rob Ryan

Thank you Rob - this worked for me too (after about 20 failed attempts taking me close to insanity).

There is clearly something very wrong with software automatically carrying out gratuitous checks which don't work, don't return an error message, and don't terminate.

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Answer 2

Jan 31, 2018 11:31 AM in response to bagpipeguy

Hi All,

Try using your iphone data (not WiFi) and try again.

I, too, had this problem. Swiping-out of the Setting screen kills the "verify" attempt- that is for sure, as @Norm123 suggested. Then I realized that I was on a WiFi with email ports blocked-therefor "Verify" was never able to verify. It was only when I switched off WiFi that i could continue to verify account successfully.

-Antonio

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Answer 3

Rob Ryan

Level 2

489 points

Mar 29, 2017 8:00 PM in response to bagpipeguy

I recently had this problem and was able to break out of this by putting the device in airplane mode, at which point it stopped the "verifying" spinner and warned me that it couldn't check my settings, but did let me proceed. Then, obviously, turning airplane mode back off, I was good.

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Answer 4

norm123

Community Specialist

Jun 19, 2014 9:50 AM in response to bagpipeguy

Hello bagpipeguy

If you are having issues with accessing Settings, double tap the Home button and swipe up on Settings to close it completely. Then open it back up and then remove the email account that is having issues and then add it back in. For more information and troubleshooting, check out the articles below.

iOS: Force an app to close

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5137

iOS: Troubleshooting Mail

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3899

Regards,

-Norm G.

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Answer 5

bagpipeguy Author

Level 1

29 points

Jun 23, 2014 4:31 PM in response to norm123

Thanks Norm; your suggestion was most appreciated. Before I received your reply, by accident I also found that by powering-down completely and then back on again unfroze the screen that was showing verifying, and I was able to access everything in Settings again.

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Answer 6

Debrisc

Level 1

13 points

Aug 14, 2015 9:49 PM in response to norm123

Thanks for the helpful instructions - I had gotten stuck in Verifying after making changes to my outgoing mail server settings. I did not have to delete the troublesome email account; I just had to edit them again and got them right on the second try. The successful Verification only took a few seconds. Clearly the Verifying code needs to have a reasonable timeout for a user interface.

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Answer 7

Dec 20, 2017 11:21 AM in response to bagpipeguy

FYI - this is still happening, and the only solution seems to be to shut the phone down. It happens for me when I try to add a new SMTP server (smtpout.secureserver.net).

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