The Mail app on your iPhone, the white envelope on a blue background, can connect to almost any email address you already have. Once it’s set up, you’ll be able to read, reply to, and send emails directly from your phone without needing to open a web browser.

Here’s how to add your email account in just a few minutes.

What you’ll need

Your email address (e.g. yourname@gmail.com or yourname@hotmail.com)
Your email password

That’s it. You don’t need anything else.

How to add your email account

Open the Settings app, the grey icon with a cog on it.
Scroll down and tap Mail.
Tap Accounts.
Tap Add Account.
You’ll see a list of popular email providers. Choose the one that matches your email:
- Google, for Gmail addresses ending in @gmail.com
- Microsoft Exchange, for Outlook or Hotmail addresses (@outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.co.uk)
- Yahoo, for Yahoo addresses (@yahoo.co.uk or @yahoo.com)
- Other, if your email ends in something else (e.g. your name’s own domain, or a local provider)
Tap your provider and sign in with your email address and password.
If you use Gmail, you’ll be taken to Google’s sign-in page, type your password there and tap Allow when Google asks if it can connect to Mail.
Once signed in, tap Save in the top right corner.

Your email is now set up. Open the Mail app and your messages should start appearing within a minute or two.

If you chose “Other”

If your email address doesn’t match any of the big names in the list, tap Other, then Add Mail Account. You’ll need to enter:

Your name (this is what appears as the sender when you write emails)
Your email address
Your password
A description (just a label, you can type something like “My Email”)

Tap Next. Your phone will try to find the right settings automatically. This works for most providers. If it can’t find them, you may need to contact your email provider for the specific incoming and outgoing server details, they’re usually on the provider’s website under “Help” or “IMAP settings”.

Finding the Mail app

The Mail app icon is a white envelope on a blue background. It’s usually on your home screen. If you can’t see it, swipe down from the middle of your home screen to bring up the search bar and type Mail.

When you open it, you’ll see your inbox, the most recent emails at the top. Tap any email to read it.

Reading and replying to emails

To read an email: tap it in the list.
To reply: open the email and tap the curved arrow icon at the bottom of the screen.
To delete an email: swipe left across it in the list and tap Delete (or Trash).
To write a new email: tap the square-with-pencil icon in the bottom right corner.

Setting up more than one email address

You can have several email accounts in the Mail app at once, useful if you have a personal account and a work one, or if you want to access a family member’s account from time to time. Just go back to Settings → Mail → Accounts → Add Account and repeat the steps above for your second address.

A note on notifications

Once your email is set up, your phone may start notifying you every time a new message arrives. If you find this disruptive, you can adjust it: go to Settings → Notifications → Mail and turn notifications off, or set them to only appear in certain circumstances.

Need help getting your email set up, or not sure what your password is? We can walk you through the whole process at one of our one-to-one sessions.