How to add email to iPhone Mail

The iPhone Mail app lets you access your email accounts on the move and manage multiple mailboxes from one place. You can configure your account to sync sent items across devices, which means emails you send from your iPhone appear in your sent folder on other devices and webmail.

You will add your email account using IMAP or POP settings, then configure mailbox behaviour to store sent items on the server. Once complete, you can send and receive email from your iPhone with full synchronisation across all your devices.

Add your email account

You will add your email account through the iPhone Settings app. This connects your mailbox to the Mail app and lets you choose between IMAP and POP protocols.

1. Open the Mail settings.
   Tap Settings on your home screen, then scroll down and tap Mail.
2. Start adding an account.
   Tap Accounts, then tap Add Account.
3. Select the account type.
   Tap Other at the bottom of the list, then tap Add Mail Account.
4. Enter your account details.
   Fill in your name, email address, password and a description for the account. The description helps you identify this mailbox if you add multiple accounts. Tap Next.
5. Choose your protocol.
   Tap IMAP or POP at the top of the screen. IMAP keeps your email synchronised across devices, while POP downloads messages to your iPhone only. We recommend IMAP for most users.
6. Configure the incoming mail server.
   In the Incoming Mail Server section, enter mail.yourdomain.co.uk as the hostname, replacing yourdomain.co.uk with your actual domain name. Enter your full email address as the username and your email password.
7. Configure the outgoing mail server.
   In the Outgoing Mail Server section, enter the same hostname: mail.yourdomain.co.uk. Use your full email address as the username and your email password again.
8. Save the account.
   Tap Next to verify the settings. Once verified, tap Save. Your email account is now added to iPhone Mail.

Configure sent item storage

By default, iPhone Mail stores sent items locally on your device only. This means emails you send from your iPhone do not appear in your sent folder when you check email on other devices or through webmail. You can change this behaviour to store sent items on the server.

1. Open your account settings.
   Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts and tap the email account you just added.
2. Access advanced settings.
   Tap the email address under IMAP or POP, then scroll down and tap Advanced.
3. Change the sent mailbox location.
   Under Mailbox Behaviors, tap Sent Mailbox. You will see two sections: On My iPhone and On the Server.
4. Select the server location.
   In the On the Server section, tap Sent or Sent Items. This tells iPhone Mail to store copies of sent emails on your mail server.
5. Save your changes.
   Tap the back arrow in the top left until you return to the Accounts screen. Your changes save automatically. Sent items now synchronise across all your devices.

Wrapping up

Your email account is now configured on iPhone Mail with full synchronisation. You added your mailbox using IMAP or POP settings and configured sent items to store on the server. Emails you send from your iPhone now appear in your sent folder on all devices.

You can add multiple email accounts by repeating these steps. If you use iCloud+, you may want to add your custom domain to iCloud Mail instead.