10 ways to fix the Mail app if you can’t send emails on iPhone

If you can’t send email from the Mail app on your iPhone, there are a few troubleshooting tips you can try.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• If you can’t send email from the Mail app on your iPhone, ensure that your device is connected to the internet.
• Check your Outbox and try to send the email again.
• Restart the Mail app to fix the issue.
• Check with your email service provider to find out if there’s a service outage.

Note: instruction in this article apply to a wide range of iPhone models, including: iPhone 6, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 13, iPhone 14, and iPhone 15.

Occasionally, the iOS Mail app stops sending emails, and they accumulate in the outbox. There may be many issues stopping the mail from being sent; such as:

• Poor internet connection
• Offline mail server
• Corrupt messages
• Too large file (videos, pictures etc) attachments for your email server to handle
• Wrong password for the email account
• Wrong email address

If you’re also experiencing this problem, there are a number of troubleshooting steps you can try to fix the issue.

Here are ten of the most common and effective ways to fix Mail when it’s not sending emails.

How to Fix Cannot Send Email on iPhone Issue

1. Try resending the email

There are a lot of reasons why your email might not be sending from Mail app on iPhone, but the easiest potential solution is to try resending it. A momentary glitch or sync problem could have consigned the email to the outbox for longer than usual.

If you get a message that says your email wasn’t sent, then that email goes to your Outbox. To resend the email, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Mail app on your iPhone and go to your list of mailboxes.
2. Tap Outbox. If you don’t see an Outbox, then your email was sent.
3. Tap an email in the Outbox.
4. Hit Send and wait a few moments to see if that works. If not, you might try deleting the message and rewriting it from scratch. If you send this second message and it still won’t budge, then move on to the next troubleshooting step.

2. Make sure that the recipient’s email address is correct

One reason iPhone can’t send your email is that you’ve made a mistake typing the recipient email address. You must use the correct recipient email address to send your emails.

To resolve this, cross-check the entered email address and ensure it’s correct. You can remove the email address and type the address again to ensure you enter a valid one. Once you’ve done that, type your email content and hit Send to send off your email.

3. Make sure that your iPhone is connected to the internet

The Mail app works with an internet connection. You can only send emails if your iPhone is connected to the internet.

Try opening a few random websites from your iPhone. If none of those sites work, then you’re having a network issue, not a Mail issue.

If you can’t access the internet at all, follow the steps below to refresh your connection:

• Open your iPhone’s Settings app and turn on the switch next to Airplane Mode. You could also tap Airplane Mode on and off from your Control Center. After that, wait 10 seconds, turn off Airplane Mode, then try sending emails again.
• Reboot your WiFi network (unplug the internet modem and WiFi router, leave them powered off for at least two minutes, and then plug them back in again).
• If you are trying to send emails over cellular data, make sure the Mail app is allowed to use cellular data. Open the Settings app and select Cellular/Mobile Data from the menu. Then, scroll down the apps list until you find the Mail app, and turn on the switch beside it.

4. Close and restart Mail

If you have a reliable internet connection but you still can’t send emails on your iPhone, close and restart Mail. Quitting the app will stop all background processes associated with it, and Mail can correctly restart when you reopen it.

If you have an iPhone with a Home button, double-click it to open the app switcher. If your iPhone doesn’t have a Home button, swipe up from the very bottom to the center of the screen to open the app switcher.

Once the app switcher is open, swipe the Mail app up and off the top of the screen to close it. Now that the Mail app is closed, launch it once more via your Home Screen, Siri or Spotlight. This sometimes helps to get the Mail sending emails again.

5. Update iOS

Sometimes, the problem might be with iOS rather than with Mail. Apple releases software updates regularly to clear bugs and fix glitches in previous iOS versions.

A simple iOS update can sometimes fix the problems you’re facing with the Mail app.

1. Go to settings.
2. Select General.
3. Tap software update.
4. If an update is available, tap download & install.

6. Remove your email account and set it up again

This is a little tongue in cheek, but often when you’re experiencing problem sending emails on your iPhone, removing the account from your iPhone and setting it back up again will resolve a lot of problems. The beauty of email account is that everything is stored in the cloud — your mail, your documents, your movies, videos, and more. All of those will come back, once you reset up your account. It is a nuclear option of sorts, but it’s also the easiest way to wipe everything and bring it all back. It’s nuclear, but simple. To do so:

1. go to Settings > Mail > Accounts
2. Select the account you are having problem sending emails with.
3. Tap on Delete Account
4. Tap on Delete from my iPhone. Then, re-add the same account using the option in settings app.

7. Restart your iPhone

If you are still having problems sending emails, you should try restarting your iPhone to give everything a clean start – hopefully, this will get the Mail to start sending emails again.

1. If you’re using an iPhone X or newer, press and hold the Side button and either of the Volume buttons together. On iPhone 8 or earlier, press and hold down the Side button only. Do this until you see the power off slider.
2. Move the power off slider from left to the right to turn off the phone.
3. Press and hold the power button until you see the Apple logo.

8. Reset Network Settings

You can fix any underlying connectivity issues by resetting your network settings. You can do so in the reset iPhone section, which allows you to reset your iPhone’s Home Screen layout, network settings, location, and keyboard dictionary.

Follow the steps below:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Select Transfer or Reset iPhone.
4. Choose Reset.
5. Tap Reset Network Settings. This will reset Wi-Fi networks and passwords, cellular settings, and any VPN/APN settings you’ve used before. After completing the network settings reset, you must manually reconnect to any Wi-Fi network.

9. Uninstall and reinstall the Mail app

If you still can’t send emails from the Mail app on your iPhone, try deleting the Mail app and then reinstalling it again.

1. Press and hold the Mail app’s icon on the Home screen.
2. Select Remove App in the menu that appears.
3. Choose Delete App.
4. Hit Delete.
5. Now go to the App Store and reinstall the Mail app.

10. Contact your email provider

If you still can’t send emails on iPhone, it’s time to contact your email provider. There may be a high-level issue with your account that only a customer support representative can fix.

Solve can’t send emails on iPhone Issue

There’s no need to panic if you can’t send emails on your iPhone. You can resolve the problems by trying the troubleshooting solutions we discussed.

Regardless of what is preventing you from sending emails, one or more of these fixes will help you resolve the problem. And if none of them helped, you can always contact Apple Support for expert assistance.