Add an IMAP Email Account on an Android Phone

Adding a Gmail or Microsoft account to Android is automatic — type your address and the phone handles the rest. Adding any other account — a work email on your company's domain, a Fastmail or Proton address, a mailbox from your hosting provider — usually is not. Those accounts speak IMAP, and when auto-discovery fails, Android drops you into a manual-settings screen with no guidance on what goes where.

This guide covers the manual-settings case: where the server address, port, and encryption values come from, why IMAP is almost always the right choice over POP3 on a phone, and what to do when the app reports it cannot open a connection to the server. The steps use the Gmail app as the reference point because it is the default on most Android phones, but a platform-differences table covers Samsung Email, Outlook for Android, Thunderbird, and Aqua Mail too.

The short answer#

IMAP keeps your mail on the server and syncs it across every device connected to that account. POP3 downloads messages to the device and, in its default configuration, removes them from the server. On a phone — where you also read mail on a laptop, a tablet, or a web browser — IMAP is the right choice. POP3 belongs to a single-device era.

The settings you need are four things: an incoming mail server address (typically imap.yourprovider.com or mail.yourdomain.com), a port (993 for SSL/TLS or 143 for STARTTLS), a username (almost always your full email address), and your password. Outgoing mail needs a separate SMTP server and port — port 587 with STARTTLS is the modern standard, port 465 with SSL/TLS also works with most providers. Your mail provider publishes these values; the most reliable place to find them is the provider's help center or account settings under 'IMAP access' or 'configure email client.'

What to gather before you open settings#

Collect these values from your mail provider before touching your phone. Having them ready means the setup takes three minutes instead of ten.

Incoming mail (IMAP): server address, port (993 recommended), security type (SSL/TLS for port 993, STARTTLS for port 143), username, password.

Outgoing mail (SMTP): server address, port (587 or 465), security type to match the port, and whether authentication is required — it almost always is, using the same username and password as the incoming server.

The fastest source is a search for '[your provider] IMAP settings.' Most hosting companies publish a settings page. If your domain is hosted on cPanel or Plesk, the incoming server is usually mail.yourdomain.com and port 993 with SSL/TLS works without further changes.

How to add an IMAP account on Android#

The steps below follow the Gmail app, which is the default email app on most Android phones. The IMAP settings themselves are identical regardless of which app you use; only the navigation path differs. The platform-differences section below covers Samsung Email, Outlook for Android, Thunderbird, and Aqua Mail.

1. 1

   Open your email app and navigate to account settings

   In the Gmail app, tap your profile picture in the top-right corner, then tap Manage accounts on this device, followed by Add another account. In Samsung Email, tap the three-line menu icon, go to Settings > Manage accounts, then tap Add account.

2. 2

   Choose Other or IMAP at the provider selection screen

   Android shows a list of account types — Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and Others. Tap Other (or IMAP if your app shows it directly). Do not tap Gmail for a non-Google address; that path uses Google OAuth and will not work for an independent mail server.

3. 3

   Enter your email address and tap Manual setup

   Some apps attempt auto-discovery from your email domain. If it succeeds, the fields fill automatically — confirm them against your provider's documentation before continuing. If it fails or fills in wrong values, tap Manual setup or Set up manually rather than accepting incorrect settings.

4. 4

   Select IMAP as the account type

   You will be prompted to choose between IMAP and POP3. Choose IMAP. POP3 will download messages to the phone and, by default, remove them from the server, breaking synchronisation across your laptop and any other device you use.

5. 5

   Enter your incoming (IMAP) server settings

   Fill in the IMAP server address, the port (993 for SSL/TLS, 143 for STARTTLS), and the security type to match the port you chose. Your username is usually your full email address. Use your account password, or an app password if two-step verification is active on this account.

6. 6

   Tap Next and wait for the connection test

   The app will attempt to connect to the incoming mail server. If it fails, the error message usually identifies the cause — certificate error, authentication failure, or connection timeout. The troubleshooting section below maps each error to a specific fix.

7. 7

   Enter your outgoing (SMTP) server settings

   The SMTP server address is different from the IMAP address. Port 587 with STARTTLS is the modern standard; port 465 with SSL/TLS also works with most providers. Enable authentication and use the same username and password as the incoming server. Without authentication, most mail servers will reject outgoing messages.

8. 8

   Set your sync preferences

   Choose how frequently the app checks for new mail and how far back it should download messages. Every 15 minutes is a reasonable starting point for a work account. Shorter intervals consume more battery; push delivery — where the server notifies the app — is more efficient if your provider and app both support it.

9. 9

   Give the account a name and tap Done

   The display name appears in notifications and the account switcher. Use something that distinguishes this address from others — the domain, the role (support@ or sales@), or the company name. The account is now active and mail will begin syncing.

How setup differs by app#

Android email is not one app. Samsung ships Samsung Email on Galaxy devices, Outlook for Android is common among Microsoft 365 users, Thunderbird for Android (now stable) brings Mozilla's desktop engine to mobile, and Aqua Mail caters to users who need full control over server settings. The IMAP server address, port, and encryption values you enter are identical on all of them; the path to the manual-entry screen is not.

What to do when it does not connect#

Most IMAP setup failures on Android come down to one of six causes. The error message usually identifies the category, though Android's wording is not always specific about the fix.

Port confusion is the single most common cause of 'couldn't open connection to server.' Port 993 expects a TLS-encrypted connection from the very first byte of the session. Port 143 starts unencrypted and upgrades to STARTTLS mid-session. If the port and security type do not match — 993 set to STARTTLS, or 143 set to SSL/TLS — the handshake fails and Android reports it as a connection error with no mention of the specific mismatch.

If your provider uses a self-signed certificate on an internal mail server, most Android email apps include an 'Accept all certificates' toggle in the advanced settings. This disables certificate validation entirely and should only be used on networks you control.

A faster way to manage your IMAP inbox#

The steps above connect your IMAP account and keep it in sync. What they do not address is what happens after mail arrives: sorting, prioritising, drafting replies, and following up on threads that went quiet. That is a separate problem, and IMAP does not solve it.

AI Emaily connects to IMAP accounts using the same server settings you just entered and runs an AI agent across every connected mailbox. The agent triages incoming mail, drafts replies in a voice you define through the Personal Context settings you control, and surfaces threads that need a follow-up — with approve-before-send on by default and an audit trail of every action. On Android specifically, AI Emaily is a PWA (installable to the home screen from the browser) rather than a native Android app; the native Android app is on the roadmap. On iOS, macOS, and Windows it is a native or downloadable application. We build AI Emaily. A 7-day free trial is available at aiemaily.com — connect your IMAP account during onboarding with the same settings from the steps above.