Guide to Yahoo Mail IMAP Settings

Send and receive Yahoo email from your mobile device

By
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Writer
  • University of Vienna
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
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Updated on April 11, 2021
Reviewed by
Ryan Perian
Ryan Perian headshot
Reviewed by Ryan Perian
  • Western Governors University
Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

IMAP allows you to use any email client—including Gmail, Outlook, and Mozilla Thunderbird—to send and receive Yahoo mail. This guide shows you how to set it up.

Yahoo Mail IMAP Settings and Yahoo Mail SMTP Settings

To access Yahoo Mail seamlessly in an email program, open the program's new account section, and enter these settings:

  • Yahoo Mail IMAP server: imap.mail.yahoo.com
  • IMAP port: 993
  • IMAP TLS/SSL: yes
  • IMAP username: Your full Yahoo Mail address
  • IMAP password: Your Yahoo Mail password or app password
  • Yahoo Mail SMTP server: smtp.mail.yahoo.com
  • SMTP port: 465 (try 587 as an alternative)
  • SMTP TLS/SSL: yes
  • SMTP username: Your complete Yahoo Mail address
  • SMTP password: Your Yahoo Mail password

Yahoo Mail App Passwords

Yahoo Mail supports application passwords. These single-use passwords allow a specific program to access your Yahoo Mail account, without requiring the use of your account password if you set up two-factor authentication.

It's not uncommon to run into account-access problems. This happens when a user forgets that they set up their account with two-factor authentication. If you set up two-factor authentication, log into your Yahoo account to generate an app password for every computer or mobile device that you use for email.

About IMAP, SMTP, and POP

The Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) governs the receipt and viewing of messages. Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) governs the sending of outbound messages. When you configure IMAP, you also must configure SMTP.

Yahoo Mail also supports Post Office Protocol (POP). POP is an older email standard that governs the receipt of messages.

Avoid using POP, if possible. By design, it deletes messages from the server after they're downloaded to your email client. That means messages are available only on the device to which they were downloaded. IMAP, by contrast, syncs messages with the server, so if you use three devices to connect to your Yahoo Mail account, all three display the same messages.

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