The Outlook app is a common choice for checking business email on a phone, and it works with the same email accounts you already use in Webmail. Setup usually takes a couple of minutes, either automatically or by entering your mail server details by hand.
What You'll Need Before You Start
- Your full email address (e.g. you@yourdomain.com)
- Your email account's password
- Your incoming (IMAP) and outgoing (SMTP) mail server settings, in case automatic setup doesn't work
Most business email accounts use mail.yourdomain.com as both the incoming and outgoing server, with IMAP on port 993 and SMTP on port 465, both with SSL enabled. If those don't connect, log in to Webmail and look for a Configure Mail Client or Connect Devices option to see the exact settings for your account.
Setting Up Outlook on Android
- Download and open the Outlook app from the Google Play Store.
- If this is your first account in the app, tap Get Started. Otherwise, open the menu and tap Add Account, then Add Email Account.
- Enter your full email address and tap Continue.
- Enter your email account's password when prompted.
- If Outlook can't detect the server settings on its own, choose IMAP as the account type and enter your incoming and outgoing server details manually.
- Tap Sign In (or Done) to finish. Outlook will start syncing your inbox in the background.
Setting Up Outlook on iPhone (iOS)
- Download and open the Outlook app from the App Store.
- Tap Add Account, then Add Email Account.
- Enter your full email address and tap Add Account.
- Enter your password when prompted.
- If Outlook doesn't pick up the correct settings automatically, tap Set Up Account Manually, choose IMAP, and enter your incoming and outgoing mail server details.
- Tap Sign In to complete setup.
Always choose IMAP rather than POP3 when adding your account to Outlook on your phone. IMAP keeps your phone, computer, and Webmail in sync, while POP3 can cause messages to go missing from your other devices. See IMAP vs POP3: Which Should You Use for Email on Your Phone? for more detail.
Turning On Notifications for New Mail
By default, Outlook may only check for new messages every 15 to 30 minutes to save battery. To get notified sooner:
- Open the app's menu and go to Settings.
- Tap your account, then Notifications.
- Turn on notifications for the account and choose how often the app should check for new mail.
If Outlook Won't Connect
- Make sure you're entering your full email address as the username, not just the part before the @ sign.
- Double-check the password hasn't been changed or reset elsewhere since you last used it.
- Confirm the incoming and outgoing server names, ports, and SSL setting match what's shown on your account's mail client configuration page exactly.
If it still won't connect after checking all of the above, the mailbox itself may need attention on the server side rather than in the app.