Setting up your email on Outlook, Apple Mail and your phone

Setting up your email on Outlook, Apple Mail and your phone

You add your domain email to Outlook, Apple Mail, iPhone and Android by using your mailbox credentials and the secure IMAP and SMTP settings from cPanel. Use IMAP on port 993 for incoming mail and SMTP on port 465 or 587 for outgoing mail, with SSL/TLS enabled. The username is the full email address. Do not enable SPA.

This guide assumes your mailbox already exists in Hostworld cPanel and you can log in to Webmail. If you have not created the mailbox yet, do that first in cPanel.

Before you start

What you need

• Your full email address and its password.
• Access to your Hostworld cPanel. You will use it to confirm the exact server names and ports under Email Accounts.
• A decision on IMAP versus POP. Use IMAP unless you have a specific reason not to.

IMAP versus POP, and why IMAP wins for most people

• IMAP keeps mail on the server and syncs state across devices. Read, unread, folders and sent items match on your laptop, phone and webmail.
• POP downloads messages to one device. By default many POP clients remove messages from the server after download. That means mail may vanish from other devices and from webmail.

We recommend IMAP with SSL/TLS. If you already use POP on an existing device, read the section below on switching safely before you change anything.

The recommended secure settings for Hostworld cPanel mailboxes

Use the exact values cPanel shows for your mailbox under Email Accounts, then Connect Devices. The table below shows what you should expect to see.

Pitfalls to avoid

• Certificate name mismatch: if the server name you enter does not match the SSL certificate name, you will get warnings or some clients will refuse to connect. Use the exact host cPanel shows under Connect Devices.
• Port 25: many networks block outbound port 25. Do not try to submit mail on 25. Use 465 with SSL/TLS or 587 with STARTTLS.
• SPA: leave SPA disabled. Turning it on will cause authentication failures on cPanel‑hosted mail.
• POP data loss risk: POP can remove messages from the server. If you are changing an existing POP setup, export or back up your data first.

Step 1: Get your exact mail settings from cPanel

This step ensures you use the correct hostnames and ports for your mailbox and avoid certificate warnings.

1. Sign in to your Hostworld cPanel.
2. Open Email Accounts, find your mailbox, then select Connect Devices (sometimes shown as Set Up Mail Client).
3. Under Secure SSL/TLS Settings, note the incoming and outgoing server names, ports and encryption. If the page offers to email the settings or an auto‑configuration file for your client, use it.
4. If the page shows the server hostname rather than mail.yourdomain.tld, that is expected when there is no valid SSL on your domain. Use the server hostname it shows in your mail client.

Step 2: Add your account in Outlook for Windows

Outlook has two Windows variants at the moment. New Outlook supports IMAP and POP, but some work or school licences block adding those accounts. If you see a message that IMAP or POP is not supported due to the licence, use classic Outlook or ask your IT team to allow it.

Add the account

1. Open Outlook. Choose Add Account.
2. Enter your full email address. If Outlook offers you IMAP, pick it. If you see an option for Advanced or Manual setup, choose it and select IMAP.
3. Enter your incoming and outgoing server names exactly as shown in cPanel. Username is your full email address. Enter your password.

Verify security, ports and authentication

After the account is created, check these settings. In classic Outlook you will find them under File, Account Settings. In new Outlook, open the account’s settings panel.

• Incoming mail: IMAP, port 993, encryption SSL/TLS.
• Outgoing mail: SMTP, port 465 with SSL/TLS. If your network blocks 465, use port 587 with STARTTLS.
• Outgoing server authentication: enabled. Use the same username and password as incoming mail.
• SPA: off.

Send yourself a test message. If sending fails with an authentication error, make sure “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” is ticked and SPA is unticked. If you get a certificate warning, check the server names you entered match what cPanel shows.

Step 3: Add your account in Apple Mail on iPhone or iPad

Apple Mail lets you add a custom domain mailbox under “Other”. You will choose IMAP during setup.

1. On the device, open Settings, Mail, Accounts, Add Account.
2. Choose Other, then Add Mail Account.
3. Enter your name, full email address and password. Tap Next.
4. Choose IMAP at the top.
5. Incoming Mail Server: enter the Host Name, Username (full email address) and Password exactly as shown in cPanel’s Connect Devices.
6. Outgoing Mail Server: enter the same Host Name. Username is your full email address. Enter the Password. Apple marks Username and Password as optional, but you must fill them in.
7. Tap Next and save.

Check advanced settings

• Back in Settings, Mail, Accounts, tap the account, then Account, then Advanced. Confirm IMAP Path Prefix stays blank unless you know you need it.
• Incoming settings should show Use SSL on, Server Port 993.
• Outgoing settings: tap SMTP, choose the Primary Server, set Use SSL on and Server Port 465. If 465 does not connect, try 587 and set Authentication to Password. Ensure the Username is your full email address.

If you see “Cannot Verify Server Identity”, check that the host name in the warning exactly matches the one cPanel showed. If it does, continue. If it does not, edit the host name to match and try again.

Step 4: Add your account in Apple Mail on macOS

You can add the account from Mail or from System Settings. The manual path gives you control of IMAP and SMTP details.

1. Open Mail, then Mail menu, Add Account. Alternatively, open System Settings, Internet Accounts, Add Account, then choose Add Other Account.
2. Select Other Mail Account and continue.
3. Enter your name, full email address and password. Choose Sign In. When prompted, pick IMAP.
4. Enter the Incoming Mail Server and Outgoing Mail Server hostnames exactly as shown in cPanel’s Connect Devices. Username is your full email address for both incoming and outgoing.
5. Finish and save the account.

Set ports and encryption

1. In Mail, open Mail, Settings, Accounts, select your account, then Server Settings.
2. Incoming Mail Server: IMAP on port 993, Use TLS/SSL enabled, Authentication Password.
3. Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP): click the Outgoing Server drop‑down, then Edit SMTP Server List. Set the server to port 465 with Use TLS/SSL enabled, Authentication Password. If your network blocks 465, use 587 and set Authentication to Password with Allow insecure auth unticked.

Step 5: Add your account on Android using the Gmail app

The Gmail app supports IMAP for other providers.

1. Open Gmail, tap your profile icon, then Add another account.
2. Choose Other. Enter your full email address and tap Next.
3. Choose IMAP. Enter your password and tap Next.
4. Incoming server settings: for Server, enter the host from cPanel’s Connect Devices. Security type SSL/TLS. Port 993. Username is your full email address.
5. Outgoing server settings: SMTP server is the same host. Security type SSL/TLS and port 465. If that fails on your network, use STARTTLS and port 587. Require sign‑in enabled. Username is your full email address with your password.
6. Complete the prompts to finish.

If you see a certificate warning, you are likely using a host name that does not match the certificate. Return and enter the exact host from cPanel.

Step 6: Test sending and receiving, and check folder sync

Testing now saves time later.

1. Send an email from the device to another address you control. Reply to it. Confirm both messages send and arrive.
2. Check that the message you sent appears in Sent on the device and in webmail. If Sent items do not match, check that you added the account as IMAP and not POP, and that the Sent folder is mapped to the server version.
3. Move a message between folders in the client and confirm the move appears in webmail.

Step 7: Switching safely from POP to IMAP

POP can remove mail from the server. If you have years of mail in a local Outlook data file and you swap to IMAP without a plan, you can orphan that mail on one device. Do this instead.

1. Back up your mail. In Outlook, export your mail to a PST file. This preserves your local folders.
2. Check the POP account settings. If you must keep using it for a short period, enable “leave a copy of messages on the server”. This reduces the risk of gaps while you add the IMAP account.
3. Add the same mailbox again as IMAP using the settings in this guide.
4. Drag mail from your old local POP folders to the IMAP folders so it uploads to the server. Give it time to sync. Large moves will take a while.
5. Verify that your historical mail is visible in webmail and on another device.
6. When you are happy, remove the old POP account from Outlook to prevent duplicate downloads.

Step 8: Fix common errors fast

• Authentication failed: confirm the password is correct by logging in to webmail. In the client, ensure the username is the full email address, not only the part before the @.
• Cannot send but can receive: enable “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” and use the same username and password as incoming. Make sure you are on port 465 with SSL/TLS or port 587 with STARTTLS.
• Stuck on port 25: change SMTP to 465 or 587. Many ISPs and Wi‑Fi networks block 25.
• Certificate warnings: use the exact host that cPanel shows under Connect Devices. If your domain does not have valid SSL, use the server hostname given there.
• Outlook says your account type is not supported: some work or school licences disable IMAP and POP in new Outlook. Use classic Outlook or ask your Microsoft 365 administrator.
• SPA prompted or enabled: leave SPA off. cPanel mail does not support it.

If you are still stuck after checking the above, open a support ticket and tell us the mailbox, the client you are using, and the exact error text. Screenshots help.

What next

If you are running your own server and want to host mail yourself, see our VPS guides. For UK locations we operate our own data centre in Berkshire. If you need a new server, see Linux VPS.

If you have added the account on all your devices, the next step in the playbook is to configure authentication records so your mail is accepted by other providers. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your domain in DNS, then test outbound delivery from your new client.

If anything in this guide does not match what you see in cPanel for your mailbox, open a support ticket and we will check your account and confirm the settings.