Mail cannot connect to iCloud IMAP on all devices

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Level 1

91 points

Mail cannot connect to iCloud IMAP on all devices

I am not sure whether I should post this here or also in Mac and iOS forums....

Here is what happened:

- I noticed that Mail could not connect to iCloud iMac on a Mac Mini that I am using, but it was connecting to my other devices, included an iMac, MBP and two iOS devices.

- Disabled then re-enabled my iCloud account in Mail. Still no connection.

- Deleted my entire iCloud account and added it again. Still no IMAP connection.

Note that Connection Doctor shows green for the SMTP connection.

And now...I have the same issue on all my devices, including iOS. I have also deleted/re-enabling my iCloud account using my iMac. Still no good and no iCloud mail on any of my devices.

With iCloud mail settings being so opaque, I can't really play with any settings to see what is going on. I have run out of ideas, and would be very grateful if anyone could suggest something.

Posted on Sep 7, 2016 9:30 PM

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Answer 1

zinacef

Level 10

88,810 points

Sep 7, 2016 9:33 PM in response to Sterno

See if these help --

Get help using iCloud Mail - Apple Support

iCloud: Mail server settings for email clients - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Sterno Author

Level 1

91 points

Sep 7, 2016 10:02 PM in response to Sterno

Just answered my own question with sort of an unexpected answer.

Just walked out to lunch, had a look at my iPhone and iCloud mail was working. But I was on a cellular data connection and not our office wifi connection.

Back at the office, connected to wifi, no iCloud mail on my iPhone again. Connecting my MacOS devices to a cellular data hotspot rather than wifi makes iCloud mail work.

So as it turns out, for reasons unknown to me, our ISP must be blocking connections to iCloud IMAP. Everything else works, Gmail accounts, commercial IMAP accounts, etc. Just not iCloud.

Yep, I should have tried to ping the iCloud IMAP server, but who could have thought?

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