iCloud Email Settings for All Platforms

Manually configure an email client for use in iCloud Mail

When you set up an email client to use your iCloud Mail account, you'll need the iCloud Mail IMAP settings to download your email. Separate from IMAP settings are the SMTP server settings, which the email program uses to send mail. Without the SMTP email settings, the email client doesn't know how to send mail on your behalf through your iCloud Mail account.

The email server settings below are the same no matter where you use your iCloud Mail account, whether on a desktop email program, mobile email app on your phone or tablet, or elsewhere.

An illustration of the iMail IMAP and SMTP Settings.
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You don't need these settings if you set up an account using iCloud Preferences on a Mac with OS X Lion 10.7.4 or later, iCloud for Windows on a PC for Outlook 2010 through 2016, or iCloud settings on an Apple mobile device with iOS 7 or later.

IMAP Settings for Incoming Mail Server

View your email app documentation to find out where to enter these settings. The location varies among providers.

The iCloud Mail program uses IMAP servers to download email. iCloud does not support POP mail.

Use these settings to manually set up an email program's incoming mail server for use with your iCloud Mail account so that Mail can download your mail messages:

  • Server name: imap.mail.me.com
  • SSL required: Yes
  • Port: 993
  • Username: Type the name part only of your iCloud email address, don't include the @icloud.com. johnsmith is an example.
  • Password: Type an app-specific iCloud Mail password.

The email server settings are the same for any email provider you connect to your iCloud Mail account.

iCloud Mail SMTP Settings for Outgoing Mail Server

These outgoing mail server settings are needed to send email from your iCloud Mail account through the email program:

  • Server name: smtp.mail.me.com
  • SSL required: Yes
  • Port: 587
  • SMTP authentication required: Yes
  • Username: Type your full iCloud email address, including your name and @icloud.com. An example is johnsmith@icloud.com
  • Password: Use the password you set up for the incoming mail server.

Tips and Troubleshooting

While the steps above work in most cases, here are a few tips for when they don't.

  • If you see an error message when using SSL, use TLS instead. 
  • Try port 465 if you can't send iCloud emails on port 587.
  • When typing your iCloud Mail email address, most email clients require the whole address and not only the username. For example, consider example@icloud.com or example@me.com. Both are acceptable. Using only example is not acceptableHowever, if that doesn't work, drop the last part and use the username (example, in this instance).

Since 2017, you need to enable two-step authentication for your iCloud account and create an application-specific password to use with IMAP. If you don't know your iCloud Mail password, you can reset it.

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