iPhone / iPad Mail: Adding A Custom Mail Server Account

Intro

This post is a small tutorial about not how to write program but how to use program.

I'll show you how to add your iPhone / iPad an email account supported by a custom mail server so that you can receive / send their emails via Apple's "Mail" app.
(Additionally, after that, I'll show how to delete it.)

This is based on my personal story: I helped one of my clients to set up such an email account on his iPhone for work. And he felt so delighted and happy because he became able to check his emails for work outside his office.

Summary

All screenshots are shot by iOS 12 on my iPhone 6S. (It still works well!)

Mailboxes: Left as before and right as after .

* note : Apple's official page to add email accounts is here.

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Tutorial: Adding an email account to iPhone / iPad

First of all, open " Settings " and tap " Passwords & Accounts ":

Next, tap " Add Account " and then choose " Other ":

* note : You can, of course, add other kinds of accounts such as iCloud, Gmail and so on by choosing them.

Then, tap "Add Mail Account" :

Fill Email (address) and Password at least and tap " Next ":

OK. Now you are ready.

Which kind of protocols do you want to use in order to receive emails?
Choose " IMAP " or " POP ".
And then fill all fields of " INCOMING MAIL SERVER " and " Host Name " of " OUTGOING MAIL SERVER ".

* note : You need to fill all fields of "OUTGOING MAIL SERVER" only if the user or the password is different from them of "INCOMING MAIL SERVER". The former is SMTP server and the latter is IMAP or POP3 server.

case IMAP

case POP

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Tips: What should you set to each field?

You must know them or be given them from your mail provider.

Host Name

It's a server name like " mail.your-mail-server.domain ".

User Name

Notice it's not an email address.
User Name is sometimes equal to an email address and SOMETIMES NOT.

Passoword

Type it correctly, especially on lower / upper cases.

(Optional) Port

You might sometimes have to specify Port number.
If you have the form to set it directly on screen, type the number like "995".
Otherwise, you might have to add it with colon to the last of Host Name like " mail.your-mail-server.domain:995 ".
You might have to ask someone help if you try some times and cannot solve it.

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After completing the form, tap " Next " / " Save " on the right-top.
Verifying will start. It will take a short while.

The confirmation sometimes occurs from the system: "Cannot Verify Server Identity".
As far as I have experienced, this is usually because your server uses SSL certificate which iOS cannot verify.
If you trust your server, choose "Continue".
Otherwise, you should ask the mail provider.

* note : When choosing "Cancel" here, the confirmation will occur: "Cannot Connect Using SSL: Do you want to try setting up the account without SSL?". Lack of SSL is NOT recommended at all for the sake of your security and privacy.

Finished!
The account added will appear:

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Return home, run Mail, and you'll see a new mailbox of a new account.

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Optional Tutorial: Deleting an account

In the same way as adding, open " Settings " and tap " Passwords & Accounts ":

Choose the account you want to delete:

You will find " Delete Account " button at the bottom:

When you tap it, the confirmation will appear:

If you proceed, your account will be deleted.

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Outro

Again, those operations and screenshots are based on iOS 12 on iPhone 6S.
Please be aware of the fact that the difference of the versions may result in partial wrongness or insufficiency of information.

I am happy if this makes your email communication a bit more comfortable.
Thank you very much for your reading 😃