Having problems when trying to update or change email password on iPhone, iPad, or iPod?

If you recently updated and changed your email account’s password and then tried updating your iPhone’s Mail App or Account Settings, you likely discovered that there is no easy way to update these account passwords.

There is no password entry field on your iPhone’s or iPad’s email account’s information settings!

See the video on changing passwords, or read the text below

And it seems entirely counter-intuitive–it feels like it SHOULD be there.

But instead, there’s just fields for your Name, Email, and even a Description BUT NO PASSWORD. So what gives? How do you really update or change email password on iPhone or other iDevices? 

In this post, we outline several steps you can take to get all your email accounts back to work!

Quick Tips 

Try These Tips to Update or Change Email Password on iPhone Quickly

• If you’re on cellular/mobile data rather than WiFi, make sure you enable Cellular or Mobile Data for the Settings app by going to Settings > Cellular and scroll down the list to locate the Settings App and toggle it on
• Check if your email provider’s servers are down using a site like Down Detector or similar
  • Look at user reports and graphs for the last 24 hours and check out
• Go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts > Choose your email account > Re-enter Password 
• Scroll to the bottom of your Mail App and look for a message indicating there’s an Account Error. Tap the blue Details text, choose Settings, and re-enter your password (or update it to your latest passwords for that account.)
• Restart your iDevice and check if your account is active (no errors)
• Try a forced restart if a regular restart didn’t work
  • On an iPhone 6S or below plus iPads with home button & iPod Touches, press Home and Power at the same time until you see the Apple logo
  • For iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus: Press and hold both the Side and Volume Down buttons for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo
  • On an iPhone X Series, new iPad model, or iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Then press and promptly release the Volume Down button. Finally, press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo
• Delete the problematic account and add it back in via Settings > Passwords & Accounts ( or Accounts & Passwords for iOS 11 and Mail Settings for older iOS)

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Re-Enter Your Password 

• The first place to check, if you haven’t already, is your email account settings
• Go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts and tap the email account that you changed the password for
• Look for the option Re-enter Password
  • Type in your new password
  • You can’t change the password here to something new–only update it after changing it elsewhere (usually via the email account providers app or website)!
• If your account still doesn’t work after re-entering (updating) the password, try signing completely out of the account, restarting, and then signing back into the account

Why Isn’t There an Option to Change My Email Password on My iPhone or iPad?

Well, Apple apparently has a reason!

Sometimes, we do not see a change or update password field in Settings > Passwords & Accounts (Accounts & Passwords or Mail > Accounts for older iOS) because Apple assumes that we manage our passwords through the account provider’s website or app (if applicable) rather than through our iOS’s device settings. 

Sound confusing?

Well, it kinds is!

Apple doesn’t show us our accounts passwords because once set-up with our email account information, our iPhone and iDevices smoothly communicate with our email provider’s servers.

Information transmits back and forth, usually without disruption or the need to continually enter in our password to retrieve all our emails, calendar information, contacts, notes, or anything else you sync between your iDevice and your email account.

Try a Restart or Forced Restart!

Some of our readers found that by merely restarting their iPhones and iPads, their accounts worked normally and they didn’t need to go through any additional troubleshooting. So it’s worth a try! 

To restart your iDevice, press and hold the power button until the shutdown slider appears.

Swipe it to turn off the device, wait 20-30 seconds, and then press the power button to turn the device back on. For iPhone X users, it’s a bit more complicated!

Restart your iPhone X Series or iPad with No Home Button

• Press and hold the Side button AND either volume button until the slider appears
• Drag the slider to turn your iPhone X off
• Press and hold the Side button again until you see the Apple logo on-screen to power your iPhone X back up

For folks using iOS 11 or later, you have one additional option to restart. Turn off your iOS 11 + devices by going to Settings > General> Shut Down. It’s nice to have options!

If a regular restart didn’t do the trick, a forced restart just might. So again, why not try?

Apple recommends using a forced restart (also called forced reboot) only if your device is frozen, isn’t responding when you touch it, or is stuck on the Apple Logo, passcode entry, or Home Screen when you turn it on.

Outside of those situations, when things aren’t working, a forced restart is usually the first guidance we get from Apple Support. So here’s how we do it! 

Perform a Forced Restart

• On an iPhone 6S or below plus most iPads & iPod Touches, press Home and Power at the same time until you see the Apple logo
• For iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus: Press and hold both the Side and Volume Down buttons for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo
• On an iPhone X Series, newer model iPad, or iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Then press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Finally, press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo 

So Then How Do You Change an Email Account Password?

First of all, if you merely want to update your password using your device, you quickly notice that you can’t!

Instead, you need to visit your account via a browser on your phone to change your password. It just won’t let you do it from the email account settings on your iPhone. There’s no workaround here–change your passwords using the website. 

Let’s state that again: it is not possible to directly change your email account passwords directly via your Mail App, Passwords & Accounts, or Accounts & Passwords Settings.

You must use the appropriate email website–you can do this from your phone, tablet, or PC using Safari, Chrome, or any browser.

Problems Surface When You Change Your Email or Account Password

When you change your password via the email account’s website, your iPhone is unable to verify your account and cannot communicate with your email server.

So when you try and look at your Mai App’s Inbox, it cannot update with that old password.

Unfortunately, it’s often difficult to know that’s the case. That’s because the communication error is a tiny banner sitting at the bottom of your screen–and it does not announce itself!

Here’s What To Do After You Change Your Email Password

To find that error banner, open your Mail App Inbox and look past all the older emails to the very bottom, just above the Home Button or your Gesture Bar–here you should see a message that there’s an Account Error with the specific email address and a blue Details button. Tap that. 

Now, you should get a big on-screen message asking you to enter the password for that particular email account in Settings.

If you see that on-screen message, press the Settings option and look for the field Re-enter Password. Tap it and enter your new password. 

It takes a few moments to verify but once done, your email account reconnects, and everything should work normally, as it did with the previous password.

Don’t See Any Error Banner or On-Screen Message to Enter Password?

For some reason, quite a few folks report that they never get an error banner or see an on-screen prompt to enter the password. If that’s you, there are options!

Delete Your Account via Settings

1. Close the Mail App–this is critical!
   1. For iPhones and iDevices with Home Buttons, double press Home and swipe up on the Mail App preview to close
   2. For iPhones and iPads with No Home Buttons, press and hold your bottom Gesture Bar then swipe up to reveal all your app preview cards in your App Switcher. Swipe up on the Mail App Preview to close it
2. Open Settings > Passwords & Accounts (for iOS 11, Accounts & Passwords and older iOS Mail Settings) > and select the account that you changed the password on
3. Tap Delete Account 
4. Tap Delete from My iPhone (or iPad/iPod)
5. Close the Settings App–this is another critical step
   1. For iPhones and devices with Home Buttons, double press Home and swipe up on the Settings App preview to close
   2. For iPhones and devices with No Home Buttons, press and hold your bottom Gesture Bar then swipe up to reveal all your app preview cards in your App Switcher. Then on the Settings App Preview, swipe up to close it
6. Open Settings > Passwords & Accounts (Accounts & Passwords or Mail Settings ) > Add Account 
   1. Fill in your details along with that new password to add that account
7. Open your Mail App and verify it’s working!

Getting the Message that the Account is Already Added? 

If you see an on-screen message that the email account has already been added to your iPhone, even if you just deleted it, try these steps again.

And make sure you close the Mail and the Settings Apps in steps 1 and 5.

If that doesn’t help, add in a forced restart after step 4 (Deleting Account.)

Need Another Option?

If you know your Hostname information, there may be a field to enter your SMTP information directly. Some email accounts have these fields; others do not.

Frankly, this method has not worked for us, but a few readers report it worked for them, especially with company accounts.

Add Mail Account in Manually

1. Go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts (for older iOS Accounts & Passwords or Mail Settings)
2. Select Add Account
3. Select Other (not Exchange, Google, Yahoo, AOL)  4. Tap Add Mail Account
5. Enter your user ID and password
6. Enter the following details for the server manually–find these details via your email provider or with Apple’s Mail Settings Lookup Tool7. It should start verifying your account–it sometimes takes a little time so be patient
8. Once confirmed, choose what services you want to sync with your device–Mail and Notes or others
9. Open the Mail app and see if your mail is now available (you may need to wait for all your email to download to your device)

Check for SMTP Manual Entry

1. Go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts (for older iOS Accounts & Passwords or Mail Settings) > and select your account
2. Tap on your Account’s Email Address
3. Look for Outgoing Mail Server, SMTP, or something similar and tap that
4. Tap Add Server…
5. Manually add your Host Name, User Name, and Password

For more information on manual Mail Settings, take a look at Apple’s support document outlining all the Mail Account Settings you may need from your email provider.

This document includes information for both Incoming and Outgoing mail server settings (SMTP).

Need to Verify Your iOS Mail App Email Settings?

Use Apple’s Mail settings lookup tool! 

It’s a quick way to ensure you entered the correct information for your email provider.

Just enter your email address and let Apple do the work for you.

Wrapping it Up!

If you think that I used to be able to add my email account passwords, you’re not crazy but rather correct.

Yup, in earlier versions of iOS Mail App, you could indeed modify the password. But no longer. And no, it’s not a bug. It’s by design.

So, this is the deal–at least for now. It’s not possible to directly change the password on your iOS device using the Settings app or Mail app. Open your browser of choice, like Safari or Chrome (or whatever you like) and change your password directly there.

For most of her professional life, Amanda Elizabeth (Liz for short) trained all sorts of folks on how to use media as a tool to tell their own unique stories. She knows a thing or two about teaching others and creating how-to guides!

Her clients include Edutopia, Scribe Video Center, Third Path Institute, Bracket, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Big Picture Alliance.

Elizabeth received her Master of Fine Arts degree in media making from Temple University, where she also taught undergrads as an adjunct faculty member in their department of Film and Media Arts.