How to Set Up an E-mail Account on Your iPhone

Yahoo!, Google, AOL, and MobileMe make it a snap to set up an e-mail account on your iPhone: The first time you launch Mail, you can add an account by clicking whichever provider you use and entering your e-mail address and password. If you don't use one of these four e-mail providers, setting up an e-mail account on your iPhone is a bit more intense, but still very manageable.

Tap a button to add an account.

If you're using an e-mail provider other than Yahoo!, Google, AOL, or MobileMe, you might need a bunch of information about your e-mail account that you may not know or have handy. Review the following instructions, note the items you don’t know, and go find the answers before you continue. To find the answers, look at the documentation you received when you signed up for your e-mail account or visit the account provider’s Web site and search there.

1. On the Add Account screen, tap the Other button.

2. Fill in the Name, Address, Password, and Description in the appropriate fields, the same as if you were setting up a Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL, or MobileMe account.

   With any luck, that’s all you’ll have to do, although you may have to endure a spinning cursor for a while as the iPhone attempts to retrieve information and validate your account with your provider. Otherwise, continue on with step 3.

3. Tap the button at the top of the screen that denotes the type of e-mail server this account uses: IMAP or POP.

   

   Click the appropriate icon for either an IMAP or POP account.

4. Fill in the Internet host name for your incoming mail server, which should look something like mail.providername.com.

5. Fill in your username and password.

6. Enter the Internet host name for your outgoing mail server, which should look something like smtp.providername.com.

   You may have to scroll down to the bottom of the screen to see the outgoing mail server fields.

7. Enter your username and password in the provided fields.

8. Tap the Save button in the upper-right corner to create the account.

Some outgoing mail servers don’t need your username and password. The fields for these items on your iPhone note that they are optional. Still, you should fill them in anyway. It will save you from having to add them later if your outgoing mail server does require an account name and password, which many do these days.