AOL mail not working on iPhone

Hi, Gina; I'm glad you found a solution. If you have 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your account there are 2 ways to set up your AOL account on an iPhone (or any computer mail app). You found one, turn off 2 Factor Authentication. That has the disadvantage of making your AOL account more vulnerable to attack by a hacker. If you don't have 2 FA enabled you should put a very strong password on your AOL account. it should be at least 16 characters, preferably 20, and it should be one that someone who knows you couldn't guess.

The other option is to leave 2 FA enabled, log in to AOL, go to Security settings, and generate an "application specific password" that you use with the iPhone Mail app instead of your regular AOL password.

Hi Chirovette,

i called aol and finally go through to someone knowledgeable... for some reason the incoming server on my phone spontaneously changed to prefix smtp. I did not realize this. When I deleted and recreated the aol account by clicking the aol choice in the list, the incoming server again defaults to “smtp” and gives you no mail box set up - a blank environment. Instead, you need to choose “other “ from this list and manually type the correct prefix of “imap”for the incoming and “smtp” for the outgoing server. Now everything works perfectly for me... until in the future it spontaneously looses its settings again. But at least now I know the fix or workaround! Hopefully this will work for you - Good luck!

That setting is not on your phone, it's in the web version of your AOL mail. Go into your mail, click on Options (upper right corner), My Account, and Account Security. There you will find Two-Step Verification. If it's on, turn it off. Hope this helps!

If you have 2 factor authentication enabled on your AOL account you need to generate an application-specific password to use with a non-AOL mail app like the built in email on an iOS device.

If you don't have 2 factor authentication (and you should) you may still need to tell AOL that you are adding a new device. You do this in the Security settings when you log in to AOL.

@chiroVette

incase you haven't found this...

THIS WAS ANNOYING AS HECK and the AOL app is to much extra BS(news/weather blah blah blah)

we just want email, right?

1. sign into your AOL at the Aol home page. -->

2. go to mail. -->

3. go to accounts -->

4. security -->

5 other apps -->

6 Turn ON "allow apps that are less secure"

7. boom!!! your working in the standard iPhone "MAIL" app

hope this helps, registered just to share, after 7 straight annoying hours and finally figuring this out!

AOL - iPHONE MAIL SOLUTION 9/13/2018

I recently came across this problem. I have 3 aol email accounts on my iphone. All have worked fine for years. Recently i applied the 2 step verification to one account.

It worked for about 2 days then my emails stopped functioning. It left a message about the infamous ((Imap) that it sends out.

I tried everything and i mean everything.

Then it dawned on me to turn the 2 step verification off. Once i turned it off my emails reloaded into my phone however another few days passed and the IMAP message appeared again.

I had exhausted all possible solutions on that last round but one.

I went back to the security page on the aol account.

I turned the 2 step verification back on and entered the code they send via text to my phone....

THE NEXT STEP WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM

This is the step i initially tried to avoid however it is crucial to making your iphone receive emails now.

Below the 2 step security is a section to create a password for your app.

Its very simple.

Just click on the drop down and select the type of phone you are using ( in this case iPhone)

They will then say to click to create a password.

Take this password and enter it in your settings under that email. This password will replace your password. After you enter it, click done.

Your emails will reload onto your phone.

Good luck

I too have run into this issue and have tried all the suggestions out there but none of them worked for me. I was only able to find one solution, I wanted to post this to help others who haven't been able to find a fix.

- I have the 2 authentication turned off.

- Make sure your devices are closed out of aol (I inactivate mine),

- In your aol account (on the website) under security, turn off - "Allow apps that use less secure sign in"

- Leave it off for a min and turn it back on - "Allow apps that use less secure sign in"

- Go back to your Device's Mail settings - turn on aol and open aol mail

- Should work again

This is the only thing that has worked for me. Hope it helps!

Deewells wrote:

I tried logging in with the browser but it did not show any proper settings at all, I used google. I think this might be a verizon problem or an Apple problem unless it is to do with the hacker messing it all up. Thanks for trying to help me though

No, it is a problem with your AOL account. Depending on whether you have AOL's 2 factor authentication or not the solution will be different.

If you have 2 FA for AOL (not for Apple) you must generate an application specific passcode for your iPhone's AOL account. It will be different from your regular AOL password. You then set up your AOL email on your phone using this passcode.

If you don't have 2FA for AOL (you should, BTW, especially since you have been hacked once) you need to authorize another device to access AOL email.

The other option is to install the AOL email app for your phone from the app store. This will work with your regular AOL ID and password.

I just fixed this problem by deleting my aol account from apple devices. Logging into AOL and under account security settings turning on the setting to "allow apps that use less secure sign in", I was able to then add my aol account on my iPhone and MacBook. I am not sure if deleting the account or changing the password was necessary.

This exact thing happened to me and I figured out why! A few days before I had inadvertently changed a setting on the AOL Account Settings page on my desk top computer! I was in my AOL Account checking things out and on the Account Settings page the last setting says:

Allow apps that use less secure sign in

Some non-AOL apps and devices use less secure sign-in technology, which could leave your account vulnerable. You can turn off access (which we recommend) or choose to use them despite the risks.

I noticed it was turned off and the recommendation was to turn it on (see above) - so I did! It seemed harmless enough! After that I could not get or send mail on my iphone anymore! I went back in to the Account Settings page on my desk top and changed that setting back to "off". Immediately checked my phone and everything is working again!

I hope this helps someone!

To fix, go to your aol account, Options, Acvount Information, Account Security and turn on Allow apps that use less secure sign. When password gets changed, this can get turned off.

Ok after dealing with this for 7 weeks it finally dawned on me. When u go into settings for ur AOL account under account security there is a 2 step log in process. Click manage. Make sure it’s turned on. Then under Connect Apps click manage. Click the down arrow for create a new application and choose IOS mail and the device is whatever device u r using (ie: iPhone, iPad etc). Click create. It will give u a password. Copy the password. Then go into create an aol account through the iPhone mail app and use the copied password. Hope this helps.

Same thing happened to me. I fixed mine. All you have to do is go into your aol mail. Make sure double security isn’t checked. AOL is looking for another way to verify your account. So make sure you uncheck double secu

Go to login.aol.com and use your email address and Password to login.

Towards the bottom of the page, turn off “2nd verification” iPhone has no way if doing that with current mail program.

Mine works perfectly and all my notes came back too.

My wife's phone was having this problem and Apple Support provided a solution that worked for us. On a separate device, sign on to your aol account. Click on your name in the upper right corner of the aol home page to access your account. Click on "Account Security." You will be asked to enter your username and password. After doing so, you will be taken to the Account Security page. Find the setting that says "allow