How to Set Up Hotmail on Your iPhone

Sebastien, Aug 30, 2010

It’s official, Microsoft has finally enabled Exchange ActiveSync for Hotmail, which means you’re finally going to be able to have Hotmail on your iPhone mail app without having to jump through hoops and loops.

Not only will this allow you to get push Hotmail emails on your iPhone, but you’ll also be able to sync your Hotmail contacts and calendars over the air.

It’s pretty easy to set up Hotmail Exchange ActiveSync on your iPhone and only takes a few seconds…

Step 1: On your iPhone, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > and create a  new Micorsoft Exchange account.

Step 2: Fill out the information as follow:

  • Email: your email address
  • Domain: leave empty
  • Username: your email address
  • Password: your password

Tap Next when you’re done entering this info.

Step 3: Hotmail will verify your account. Once it’s done verifying, enter m.hotmail.com for the server info and hit Next.

Step 4: Select what you want to sync from your Hotmail account (Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and tap Save.

Done. You can now enjoy Hotmail on your iPhone.

I’m not sure if it works with Live email addresses. If you have an @live.com email address, please try it on and tell us how it goes.

 
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  • Xander

    I’ve set up my Live.com account as above, but having problems.

    Sent items are all there, as are trash.

    Inbox is receiving emails as they come in, but none from before (online there are several). the emails move themselves to trash. Can’t get any folders on the iphone either.

    Help!

  • Kevin Joseph

    On your iphone go back into settings for your hotmail account. Change ‘Mail Days to Sync’ to ‘No Limit’. Change ‘Mail Folders to Push’ to the folders you want to see

  • Aisha

    Hi
    I set it up and all but after about 30 seconds after I sync my contacts a msg pops up on my screen saying to enter password for “hotmail” account and everytime I enter my password it shows this error and won’t let me use any of my hotmail accounts … I also can’t use them with the ” other” option in add email settings

    • janet

      Be sure that your password is LESS THAN 16 characters. “R” saved our butts with this advice. We kept getting the same error message every time we entered the “lengthy” password (yet the password works if you enter it on your PC/MAC).

    • http://hotmail Jill scovel

      Need to reset password

  • Aisha

    Hi
    I set it up and all but after about 30 seconds after I sync my contacts a msg pops up on my screen saying to enter password for “hotmail” account and everytime I enter my password it shows this error and won’t let me use any of my hotmail accounts . I also can’t use them with the ” other” option in add email settings

  • Kamarie

    I keep getting prompt for “exchange password”

    Not sure what this is and when I type in my hotmail password, it does not accept it.

    Any ideas please?

    Many thanks in advance.

  • Kamarie

    helllllllllllllllllllp : (

    • janet

      How “long” (how many characters) is your password?

      • http://none Jane

        My password has 6 letters , I don’t have any other email address ! only works with one address . Jane

  • Kamarie

    thanks for reply Janet

    um …12 characters long

    I will change it to shorter and try again

    fingers crossed

  • Kamarie

    Wow!

    That seems to have done it!

    Seems even 12 characters was too long.

    Thank you Janet and thanks to this blog..

    I’m very happy.indeed

    : )

    • Janet

      Crazy, huh! The long passwords work when logging in via laptop or desktop so its strange it won’t work on the iPhone. Glad it all worked out!!

  • Me

    Mine says ‘connection to server failed’. What do I do?

  • Kamarie

    Hi Me,

    I am no expert, but until one comes along I would suggest trying setting up the account again if I were you. Sounds like your internet connection was dodgy when you tried.

    Hope it works when you try again.

    : )

    • Me

      Hey! Thanks for your quick reply. I found out how to fix it. For iPhone 4 in the ‘server’ category you must first find out what your server name is. You find that by opening your hotmail account on a computer. Once it is opened. Click on the little arrow by the question mark and go to ‘About’. Whatever your external pop or internal pop is. That is your server name.

  • Ashley

    My email at live.com works great with exchange my only issue is that now an extra folder in my contacts has been created/added called “exchange group” even though I dont have it sync my contacts. So now to see my contacts I have to make sure I’m under the folder “all on my iPhone”. This has never happened before but I know if I delete the hotmail account, the folder deletes too and my iphone contacts appear normal again. Pls help!! I would like to have my hotmail via exchange account since it mirrors the server but I would also like to have my contacts be normal! I contacted apple and windows hotmail and that was more than a dead end.

    • Paul

      hay Ashley im having the same issue have you fixed the problem?

      • Ashley

        No i havent and now im having another problem…it seems as if my hotmail isnt mirroring my server anymore (at least im pretty sure it used to). i have it set up on my phone as other however and always have. no ideas with this!

  • Me

    YAY!!!! For the people having the exact problem (‘connection to server failed’)that I was having this is how it works http://help.outlook.com/en-us/140/dd125429.aspx

    Set Up Microsoft Exchange E-Mail on an Apple iPhone

    Applies to: Office 365 Beta for professionals and small businesses, Office 365 Beta for enterprises, Microsoft Exchange, Live@edu
    Topic Last Modified: 2011-01-18
    You can set up e-mail on an Apple iPhone from AT&T. If you have a different phone, see Mobile Phone Features.
    How do I set up Exchange ActiveSync on an AT&T Apple iPhone?

    If this is the first e-mail account on your iPhone, tap Mail. Otherwise, tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account.
    Tap Microsoft Exchange.
    Tap in the E-mail box and enter your full e-mail address (for example, tony@contoso.com).
    Tap in the Username box and enter your full e-mail address again.
    Tap in the Password box and enter your password.
    Optionally, tap in the Description box and enter a short description for the account.
    Tap Next on the upper right corner of the screen.
    Tap in the Server box and enter your server name and then tap Next. For instructions for locating your server name, see the Finding My Server Name section below.
    Tap Next.
    Choose the type of information you want to synchronize. By default, Mail, Calendar, and Contacts are all turned on. To turn off synchronization for a type of information, tap and slide the switch to OFF.
    Tap Save.
    If you’re prompted to create a new passcode, tap Continue and enter a numeric passcode. You’ll need to enter the passcode twice.
    Caution:
    If you tap Close, you’ll need to configure your passcode in the iPhone Settings application before you can view your information on your iPhone.
    Finding My Server Name

    To determine your server name, use the following steps:
    Sign in to your account using Outlook Web App.
    After you sign in, click the drop-down arrow next to the Help question mark, and then click About.
    Find the server name listed under External POP setting or Internal POP setting. If your server name is in the format podxxxxx.outlook.com, then your Exchange ActiveSync server name is m.outlook.com. If your server name includes your organization’s name, for example, pop.contoso.com, then your server name is the same as your Outlook Web App server name, without the /owa. For example, if the address you use to access Outlook Web App is https://mail.contoso.com/owa, your Exchange ActiveSync server name is mail.contoso.com.
    What else do I need to know?
    If you are prompted to create a passcode and don’t create one, you won’t be able to send and receive e-mail.
    The Apple iPhone running software version 3.0 requires you to use an alternate server name. To find that server name, sign in to your account at the following address: https://pod51000.outlook.com/owa/. After you sign in successfully, the address you entered will resolve to an address that contains the server name you need to use. For example, if the address resolves to https://pod51005.outlook.com/owa, enter pod51005.outlook.com for your server name.

  • tom

    i have set up several accounts, hotmail. gmail and yahoo. the gmail and yahoo will allow me to see the folders other than inbox, how can i enable the other folders on hotmail? thanks

  • sue

    I was having the same problem with my hotmail account and my iphone 4 after I had changed my password. I have now fixed it after many frustrating trys. I deleted the account out of my iphone, then went to my laptop and changed my password then re-entered my account details and new password into my iphone. The answer is to not have a long password, make it less then 12 characters, your pc will accept long passwords but your iphone wont.

    Good luck

    Sue

    • gary

      Thank you this is totally what happened to me!! I changed my account password and did what you said and it worked perfectly!! Thanks a bunch!!

  • Tom

    Hey sue, thanks for your prompt reply. It would seem that’s it’s not a password issue, but hotmail. Is there a reason I wouldnt be able to access sent box etc in hotmail?

    • Mike

      Hi Tom et al,
      I had the same problem as others. Hotmail would only show the Inbox. But I got it to show other folders.

      It’s worth pointing out something here. On the add new account screen it’s possible to select Other then add a Hotmail pop3 account. This is what I’d done before (and it was called Hotmail on the phone) and could only get the Inbox. However, when I followed the instructions above and added it as Exchange (this was the name on the phone) account I had different options and this allowed me to sync other folders.

      I was able to have the “Hotmail” account and the “Exchange” (Hotmail) account running on the the iPhone at the same time to see the differences.
      Hope this helps.
      Mike

  • kellys

    Make sure you use your EMAIL ADDRESS in the “Username” field. Not a usename that you’d prefer.

  • Donna

    WORKS BRILLIANT! BIG THANKS! Thank god for this site as apples site wasnt very helpful!

  • Simon

    Woo Hoo.. There must be a god. Works perfectly for me with my live.com.au account. So happy now that my Hotmail is working.

  • hanzy

    doesn’t work on self created folders, they are always empty

  • Tammy H

    Question for you all, when I delete an email from my hotmail on iphone4 but when I go into hotmail from my laptop they are still there. I’m getting tired of deleting everything twice. What can I do?
    Thanks for your help.

    • Kgsinks

      Hotmail had sent an email out recently stating how you can delete from your phone and it will delete from your hotmail account and visa versa. It’s now an option in settings I believe.

  • sunil

    Worked like charm. Thank you.

  • Fernando

    What do you type in the server box after it verifies your password?

  • jane schofield

    cant believe i can now send emails from my tiscali and hot mail accounts !!followed the instructions above and after a week of not sending emails ,they have all taken off,,even my it friends have been bewildered by it all ! thanks

  • Beckett

    I tried everything here and nothing worked. I got the same problems with “connection to server” and repeated password attempts. Finally, I ignored the procedure here and used one I found elsewhere that says to select “Other” rather than “Microsoft Exchange.” That worked immediately. I may not have push syncing or calendars, but all I care about is that I can get mail.

  • Brittany

    THANK YOU! This worked perfectly, and is the first time my email has worked well in a long time- and, thank you for the screen shots- very, very helpful.

  • eileen

    i have tried and tried and everything sets up and when im done it tells me the password is incorrect enter the password for the exchange account “exchange”

  • Mave

    Thanks load for everything guys. However, why does the iphone’s mail app go straight to inbox when an account is selected? I do see the sent, deleted emails and other folders only when i want to move an email from my inbox to elsewhere. But, what if I just want to see these folders without moving an email?

  • Nancy Stone

    followed directions but everytime a box pops up asking for exchange password. I put in the same one I just created and it does not work…Help

  • patrick

    is this the exchange active sync a free service?

  • vinayan

    hi i am vinayan. First time using iphone. I dont know how to set up the hotmail acount in this. I tried . But it says ‘the mail server POP3.LIVE.COM IS NOT RESPONDING. Verify that you have entered the corect acount info in mailsettings.

  • Wylson

    Dears,

    I am struggling with the password error. Every time its comes that password is incorrect.. My pass has 6 characters and contains also both special characters and numbers.

    Thanks indeed

  • Sam

    Thanks

  • http://allpinkynobrain.com Kev

    This works a charm!

  • Miles

    Thank you so much for posting this. It works a treat.

  • Charles

    Another user who keeps getting the incorrect password box. Tried resetting the hotmail password and have kept the password short, but still no luck. Does anybody have any suggestions?

  • nixompr

    The only solution for the loop of the “enter the password” is reduce the character in the password

    recommended 10 letters (no rare symbols) or less

    enjoy….

  • Chay Karak Addict

    I tried it with Live & it Worked!!!!
    Thats great XD
    thanks alot !

  • http://iphonedownloadingblog.com jeri

    i previously had an iphone 3gs and have since upgraded to a iphone 4…
    when i had my 3 i was able to get into my inbox, trash, sent and all folders i created via hotmail through my phone, but since getting the iphone 4 i can no longer access any additional folders i created through hotmail.
    Is this because the iphone 4 doesnt do it? or am i missing something?

    i have tried deleting the account then re-adding it, and rebooting my phone but neither seem to work…
    help?!

  • http://limera1n.com george

    Jamaahh..ayu berak di kakus ini…brooott..brroooott

  • tom

    Am trying to figure out how to set up Hotmail calendar as a 2nd calendar on my iphone 4. (First calendar is set up via Microsoft Exchange and is my work calendar.) Can I set up a 2nd calendar? Do I need to somehow make it feed in to the calendar I already created?

  • http://hotmailoniphone gym_girl

    Thank you so much been trying for days and read your post saying password has to be 12 characters long! that worked under exchange…finally..;0)

  • heidi

    Thank you Janet! I’ve been stumped, and have stumped the guys at AT&T and thanks to you I changed my password/made it shorter and I’m back in business on my iphone!!! Thank you!!!!

  • Janet

    In this day and age when we are always advised to have a “strong” password and now have to go and make it less secure – it really makes you wonder who is at fault here. Apple or Microsoft??? Why wouldn’t Microsoft’s authentication servers accept our lengthy passwords? Or, is Apple doing some sort of truncation when sending the passwords?

  • Mahdi

    Its worked for me very well. Try it.

  • Serry

    Nice one

  • Uantchern

    I use an iPhone 4 to send emails using Hotmail, as set up using the instructions here. When I send an email, the sent mails appear in my iPhone Sent Box. However, these mails don’t appear in my Mac Outlook Sent Box. Does anyone know why? Thanks.

  • Chamba

    Works perfectly. Thanks

  • Craig

    I synced my iPhone and hotmail worked perfectly out of the box. Then today it kept failing. I’ve set this up all different ways and it keeps saying unable to verify account information. I have no idea what has failed. All of the incoming and outgoing server addresses are correct. The password is correct to verify me. But then it stops dead in its tracks from there. Any suggestions?

  • Craig

    I did a hard reset reentered the information and it works fine.. for now..

  • Ashburton

    Thanks – I’ve set up the account on my IPhone … will this allow me to sync the contacts on my phone with my Hotmail contacts? I want to be able to add contacts to my Hotmail and get them automatically sent to my phone and vice versa.

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