iPhone/iPad Email Issues and how to FIX! 

Glad it worked out, I'm not exactly sure what went wrong to start with but glad it worked in the end!

You're welcome! Glad I could help!

Ikr

You're very welcome!

Awesome, glad I could help!

Awesome! So glad I could help you on this!

Awesome, glad to hear!

That sounds like it could be an issue with the phone, but don't panic. I don't mean the phone is broken or anything, but clearly the software is having an issue. Try to update the phone, after doing so then turn off the phone for a minute. Then start the phone again and try once more. What you're describing is definitely NOT a server issue with your email provider, that wouldn't make any sense why it would be 'grayed' out. Whatever the issue is has something to do with your phone's software, so the WORST possible scenario here would be that you'll erase your phone and set it up again. But again DON'T PANIC if it comes to that. Erasing a phone doesn't really mean what it sounds like. You could still make a backup of your phone to the iCloud. However, you wouldn't use the backup, and yet you'll still get everything back! I know that sounds crazy but that's how it works. If you watch my videos on erasing the iphone (part 1 and 2) this will explain it in depth so you understand what's happening. Basically, if my first steps don't work then it could be a software glitch, if it is then it's part of your backup. Since it's part of your backup then you can't use your backup. BUT... that's okay, because the things you technically save to your iCloud backup will automatically come back, so all your info comes back, the only thing that won't will be your apps. No problem! Once you sign back in to your ID and all your stuff comes back then you can go into the App store, click a few buttons and BAM all your apps come back, so you've now restored your phone and technically didn't use your backup, the glitch will be gone, and then you'll be able to add your email back in. Sounds complicated but trust me it's super simple!

The problem isn't the iPad or the iPhone, it is strictly with Comcast. All that's happening is the mail app is reaching out to the Comcast server and for whatever reason the server is saying, "nah, not gonna sync your mail right now". Deleting the account and adding it back in jump starts it, but the truth is you will continue to have these problems but it's because of the mail servers and not the app itself. Comcast isn't alone but they are far and away the worst when it comes to this issue. My suggestion is to find another email provider but that's a big step for some folks to take so just be aware that this issue will persist but the good news is the iPad and iPhone are fine.

I'm not overly familiar with Outlook, but from the sounds of it, it seems as though the contact should be corrected in Outlook itself and not through the contacts app or email app.

Ha ha! Thanks and yes it is a great place!

Honestly I would have to see that more in person to get a better feel for it. Since I can't do that obviously you might want to call Apple Support and ask them to do a screen share on your devices. It sounds like everything is fine but clearly it isn't. If you had said that it wouldn't show any email then it'd be easier to figure out the problem, but since both apps are then the issue seems to be a bit more complex. I don't think it'll be difficult to figure out, the complex part is making sure to see how the apps are recognizing the accounts and since that's not what I can see it's harder to figure out. So if a Senior Advisor at Apple Support does a screen share I think they could resolve it for you fairly quickly.

Your issue would be with Yahoo, if you blocked an email address via your email then go to Yahoo.com and sign in to your mail account there, look to see where you have the option to block, because you should also have the same ability to unblock. I found this link and this should help, help.yahoo.com/kb/sln28140.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAM7w-iqxVP-dntRwKg0Ox-q0A0yhE4ZVvMnTm0t3uuwWBFCUyrbu9VZOg4WiC6A-SxrLwAdxFxsM4kXyC3zB3k23jnnTdjlfXiQhmrDAstJdIVINsTP-YsRec_kBbRYsaKhdEOXqgoaLH6h2j_Gh_K0j4wIgPRWQbYUzHz1mB6Ki

@@rattleheadtech847 thank you sooooo much!

The problem for you is actually just the server itself, it has nothing to do with your device. Remember that the phone is just using the App, whether it's the Mail app that came with the phone or even the Gmail App if you downloaded it. So what that means is the reason the two aren't syncing to show which ones are read is strictly an issue from the Gmail Server itself. So the way you can fix it is two ways, either you just wait and hope Gmail gets its act together and syncs correctly, or you can delete the account from the app (if it's the Mail app that came with the phone) and add it back in, that will jumpstart the connection. If you use the Gmail app you can delete it and add it back in and get the same result. Just remember though that the issue will most likely come back and happen again. That's the bad news, since the issue is server side with Gmail and not your phone it will occur again and again. However the good news is there's nothing wrong with your phone! Hope this helps!

If you've followed my steps in the video and it's still not working then that would mean the issue isn't your phone or the mail app but instead the issue is your email service provider (ESP). It would depend on who your ESP is, it's not uncommon for some companies like Comcast to have issues all the time with their email servers. All I can really tell you without more facts is go through the video again, follow the steps, and if it's not working then you'd need to wait until the issue fixes itself because the problem isn't your device. You can call Apple Support as well, hopefully they could isolate the issue with you if you're stuck.

@@rattleheadtech847 thanks so much for yr response. I tries twice more to fix it and OMG I got it finally, following your instructions which were easily followed. Thank you again Mr, Rattlesnake. From Canada

Yeah, it sounds like the software isn't updated for the newer versions and it can't be. This is the tragic side of technology, not just Apple devices, once something is old (usually 5 years) then things like this will continue to happen. Everyone will have to go through it unfortunately.

It depends on what email you're using. That is a problem I've heard of happening with the apple email itself (the icloud email that I never used), but if it's not and instead like GMail or something else then it shouldn't be a setting but some kind of internal issue. You may want to call Apple Support to take a look because there are a number of possibilities why this might happen and a quicker resolution would be to give them a call.

iCloud email is different, the best thing you can do is contact Apple Support directly and see if they can help you. iCloud email issues are very different and I don't make a video about them because there's a chance the engineering dept. has to do some research as to why they're missing, but don't lose hope they might come back!

Ok, don't panic but you'll need to reset your email password. In my video I explain the best thing to do first is make sure you can still sign in to your email by going to the email server, because if you don't then you run the risk of what happened to you. So whoever your email service provider is they will have ways to reset your password and you'll have to figure that out. If you weren't getting any emails just remember that deleting it off your phone doesn't make a difference at this point anyway, so depending on who your provider is you shouldn't have too much difficulty in resetting your password. Also, be 100% positive that your email doesn't already exist on another device like an ipad or an older phone in a drawer. If it is then you can likely reset your password through those devices if they can still access your emails.

@@rattleheadtech847 Thanks…I didn’t panic..lol it came back on its own but it still sometimes comes up saying it can’t connect to server. I have AOL . Also my iPhone mail and iPad mail don’t seem to sync right way. I delete mail on one device and it’s still on the other. Any suggestions? Thanks

It also says can’t download from server when I try to open some emails..

@@magen1003 The problem is the AOL server. Like I say in the video you have to remember that the mail app is just that, an app, all it's doing is knocking on the door of the AOL server saying, "Hey, give me those emails, I have permission!" and the AOL server is saying, "nah... not right now". 99% of the time this issue is always the email server, and you mentioned it's AOL and truth be told AOL is one of the worst email service providers out there. I think I mention it in the video as well, or I should have, that there are some notorious Email Providers that are really bad for this situation and they are AOL, Comcast, Spectrum, Earthlink, and more smaller service providers. I actually myself don't use the mail app, I have more success because I use the actual mail app for my Email Provider, Proton Mail. I highly recommend them, I never have an issue and because I use their own app to get my mail it just seems to work better. So I would honestly encourage you to look into other providers to find something more stable than AOL b/c this issue is most likely to happen again in the future.

Ok thank you I appreciate your help!😀

It just seems to be an issue with the server. This isn't really anything to worry about, it should fix itself, but if you want to jump start it you can simply delete the account from the app and add it back in.

If you've followed the steps I give in the video and the email still won't download then it's most likely that there is an issue with the email server. The problem is very unlikely to be an issue on the iPad itself. Remember, the mail app is only an app, all it's doing is reaching out to the email server, so as long as you have your info put in correctly and it sounds like you do, then the issue would be the server. The most notorious email servers that have problems regularly are Comcast, AOL, Earthlink, and smaller email service companies. Probably all that you need to do is wait for a bit and see if the email comes back in, and if it hasn't after a day then you can reach out to Apple's tech support and they can look over your iPad and make sure that it's not something else. However, I'm 99% sure the issue is just the email service provider.

It may just be the mail app, if you watch the video again you should see how to remove your email account then add it back in. Make sure you know your password for your email before doing so. I'm assuming you're using the Mail App that came with the iPhone. What you know is that the it's not a server issue, meaning if it works on the iPad then the mail server is working with the mail app on the iPad, so the problem is that the mail app on the iPhone has just lost connection for some reason. Delete the account - then add it back in to the mail app and you should be fine. Take your time, watch the video and go step by step and you should be good!

Sorry for the delay in responding John, but it seems as though you need to realize the problem is definitely not the phone or the mail app. The problem is your email server is not responding the way it's supposed to. If you continue to have these issues then it most likely is going to stay that way. My guess is you're using an email service that is not widely used, and that's fine but smaller email providers do often run into these types of issues. The only good thing I can tell you right now is there is nothing wrong with your phone or the app itself.

@@rattleheadtech847 Well I'm using Google and Hotmail/Outlook for email. And it actually was a device issue ... don't know if a update turned them off or not, but the customized alerts toggle was off. I went to: Settings>Notifications>Mail>Customize Notifications>(email account)>Turned on Alerts & Turned on Badges (if they were off) and set the sound for new mail and everything seems to be working.

It sounds like it's either you didn't put in your password correctly, or your email server is down. Remember, the mail app is just an app. Email issues are 99% of the time an issue with the email server, so it depends on who your email service provider is. Isolate your issue, try signing in to the email through a computer by going to the homepage of the email service provider. If you can sign in there then you know it's not a password issue. If the same password doesn't work when signing in to the mail app you might have typed it in wrong, if you know you put it in correctly then the issue is the email server is not sharing information correctly which means it's a server issue that most likely means you don't need to do anything, it'll fix itself. The problem is just never the app itself, all it does is relay information and that's it.

If your emails are gone from the iCloud then first go to settings, name, iCloud, and turn off 'Mail', wait a few seconds and then turn it back on, then check to see if they're back. It could just be a server issue. If the issue still persists then contact Apple Support. They will have some different steps to follow for iCloud Email issues. The good news is that as long as they weren't deleted they should still be able to come back, because emails don't just randomly delete from the cloud so there might be a simple fix to this but it's just a lot different from the steps I laid out in this video. Main thing is don't panic, I think you can be okay with getting them back! The steps to do this are just a lot different and I'd want you to speak with someone who can then get on your phone with you and see if there's something else going on and guide you through the steps which is a lot easier than me trying to give step by step.

@@rattleheadtech847 I so appreciate your help. I thought it was something I was doing. I will try your suggestion and let you if I was successful.

Thank you so much. I will do your suggestion.

Ok, but that may not be a bad thing as crazy as that sounds. So as long as you did the steps exactly as I showed in the video and it didn't work then that means the issue isn't your phone or app at all! That's the good news, but the bad news isn't that bad. It just means there's something wrong with the email server which is beyond your control but that means your email provider is most likely working on the issue. So don't fret, it's not as bad as you might think!

Thanks @@rattleheadtech847

You may have to delete and add however many email accounts then, but if you have more than one email and you're having an issue then it may be another problem occurring. Odds are you're only having issues with one account, but if all of them are not working you can always remove each of them then add back in. If still an issue then it could be an issue with the app itself. (That's doubtful but possible.) If that's the case then you could remove all the email accounts, then delete the app, then download the mail app again and add your email accounts back in.

It's something I'm working on, but do keep in mind that a lot of my videos are about explaining the issue so people understand why something has happened. If you understand the problem in more detail then you can more easily fix it next time it happens. I am thinking about making a series of videos that have no explanation, just the steps so I appreciate the feedback.

The reason I didn't 'get to it' is this problem causes a lot of frustration for people who encounter it. The result is they usually think it's a problem with the phone itself, so when the problem happens again repeatedly they surmise the issue MUST be the device. If you don't understand that it's a problem almost exclusively with the Email Service Provider every time then you can keep having the same frustration for a long time. The worst culprits for this are usually old time ESP's like AOL, Earthlink, etc. Cable providers like Comcast are also notorious for this error constantly. So I do appreciate your feedback and my focus is usually in explaining the issue so people become more educated, my goal is to make people 'experts' with their iOS devices, and I can't do that if I just tell someone what to do. At the same time I am also an impatient person so I don't begrudge you for wanting an answer now!

I know. The difference in my videos is I'm always trying to educate the viewer on what the issue is. Anyone can make a 5 minute video on what to do to get an immediate fix, but I'd rather explain in detail what has caused the problem so that folks know why it happened so it doesn't happen again. However, I am going to start making some of these same videos that are 5 minutes or less for folks who just want the answer, so I do appreciate your feedback!