How to configure email on a mobile phone

This is a very common problem

You have changed phones, added your email account, and everything seems correct, but the device does not send, does not receive, or keeps asking for the password again and again.

It can also happen after a system update, after changing the password, or when the phone tries to configure the account automatically.

In many cases the mailbox is not broken. The problem is that the phone has chosen a configuration that does not match the service, or that one value has been entered in a format different from the one expected by the server.

Quick answer

Configure the account as "manual email", not as Gmail, iCloud or Exchange unless that is really the service you are using.

The recommended PRIMARI.NET configuration is:

• account type: IMAP;
• incoming server: imap.primari.net;
• outgoing server: smtp.primari.net;
• encryption: STARTTLS;
• authentication: normal password;
• username: the email address with % instead of the at sign.

For example, if the mailbox is user@domain.com, the username is usually:

user%domain.com

This is a very common mistake and one of the most frequent reasons why email does not work on a phone.

Why does it often fail?

Phones try to guess the account configuration from the email address.

This can work with services such as Gmail, iCloud or Microsoft 365 because the phone already knows them. But with a mailbox for your own domain, automatic detection may choose servers, ports or authentication methods that do not match the service.

It is also common for the phone to keep an old password or to copy an incomplete configuration to both the incoming and outgoing servers.

For this reason, when the account is hosted by PRIMARI.NET, it is usually better to configure it manually and check each value.

What do IMAP, SMTP and STARTTLS mean?

IMAP is what the phone uses to read mail from the server.

SMTP is what the phone uses to send messages.

STARTTLS is the recommended way to encrypt the connection when the phone talks to the server. It is not a password and it is not an account type: it is a security option for the connection.

You do not need to memorise these names. The important part is choosing them correctly when the phone asks for them.

What information do you need?

Before you start, have this information ready:

• the full email address;
• the username in the user%domain.com format;
• the current password;
• the incoming server, normally imap.primari.net;
• the outgoing server, normally smtp.primari.net;
• the recommended account type, normally IMAP;
• STARTTLS encryption;
• normal password authentication.

It is also useful to check first that the password works in webmail. If webmail does not work either, the account or password should be checked before changing more settings on the phone.

Recommended setup

1. Add a new mail account.
2. Choose manual configuration.
3. Select IMAP, unless PRIMARI.NET has specifically told you to use another setup.
4. Enter the username with %, for example user%domain.com.
5. Enter imap.primari.net as the incoming server.
6. Enable STARTTLS if the device allows it.
7. Enter smtp.primari.net as the outgoing SMTP server.
8. Enable authentication for the outgoing server.
9. Select normal password as the authentication method.
10. Enter the same % username and password again for the outgoing server if the phone asks for them.
11. Save the configuration and send a test message.

Common mistakes

The most common mistakes are:

• entering user@domain.com as the username when user%domain.com is required;
• entering only the part before the at sign instead of the full username;
• choosing Gmail, iCloud, Exchange or another account type that does not apply;
• leaving the outgoing server without authentication;
• using an old password saved on the phone;
• accepting an automatically detected configuration that does not match the domain;
• confusing the incoming server with the outgoing server;
• leaving the port or encryption in a combination the server does not accept;
• selecting an authentication method other than normal password.

How to check whether it works

First check that you can log in to webmail with the same password. If webmail does not work either, the account or password must be checked before changing more phone settings.

Then send a message to an external address and reply from that address. This tests both sending and receiving.

If receiving works but sending fails, check SMTP, outgoing server authentication, and whether the username with % is also entered there. If sending works but receiving fails, check imap.primari.net, the username and the password.

If the phone shows a certificate warning, do not accept it without checking it. It may mean that the server name does not match the certificate or that the configuration is incorrect.

When to contact PRIMARI.NET

Contact PRIMARI.NET if you are not sure which server to use, if certificate errors appear, or if the mailbox works in webmail but not on the device.

We can review the account configuration and help you identify whether the problem is the phone, the password, the outgoing server or the general domain configuration.