LoveItKeepIt

How to add your business email to your phone

A tradesman at his van holds a phone as a paper envelope drifts toward it.

LoveItKeepIt · · 6 min read

On an iPhone, open Settings, tap Apps, then Mail, then Mail Accounts, and tap Add Account. Type your full business address, pick Google if your mail runs on Google Workspace, Microsoft Exchange if it runs on Microsoft 365, or Add Other Account for anything else, and sign in with the mailbox password. On Android, the Gmail app does the same job from your profile picture, under Add another account. The whole thing takes a few minutes once you know which company holds your mailbox.

First, find out who holds your mailbox

Your phone needs to know which company to talk to. That is not always the company your website or domain is with. Three quick ways to find out:

  • Think about where you read mail on a computer. If you sign in at gmail.com with your business address, it is Google Workspace. If you sign in at outlook.com or office.com, it is Microsoft 365.
  • Look at your bills. A monthly charge from Google, Microsoft, GoDaddy, Bluehost, IONOS or your web host for "email" or "mailbox" tells you.
  • Ask whoever set it up, and ask for the account's admin login while you are at it. The mailbox should be in your business's name, under a login you control. Who owns my domain shows how to check the domain side of that.

If your business address is only forwarded to a personal Gmail, there is nothing new to add to the phone: the mail already arrives in that Gmail. Using Gmail with your business email address covers replying from the business name.

On an iPhone: step by step

These are the steps on current iOS. On older versions, Mail settings sit directly in Settings, under "Mail" or "Passwords & Accounts".

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap Apps, then Mail.
  3. Tap Mail Accounts, then Add Account, and type your full business address.
  4. If the phone asks you to pick a provider, choose the one that holds your mailbox:
  • Google for Google Workspace. A Google sign-in page opens. Type your password, then any code Google sends you.
  • Microsoft Exchange for Microsoft 365. When asked, choose to sign in and finish on Microsoft's page.
  • For any other company, tap Add Other Account, then Mail Account. Fill in your name, full email address, password and a description such as "Shop email", then tap Next.
  1. Leave Mail switched on. Contacts and Calendars are up to you.
  2. Tap Save (or Done) when it appears.

Now open the Mail app. Your business inbox appears under Mailboxes, next to any personal account.

If the iPhone asks for server settings

With Add Other Account, the phone tries to find the settings on its own. If it cannot, it asks you to choose IMAP or POP and type in an incoming and an outgoing mail server. Get those from your mail company's help pages: they usually look like imap.yourprovider.com and smtp.yourprovider.com. Use your full email address as the user name for both servers, not just the part before the @.

On Android: with the Gmail app

Most Android phones come with Gmail, and it handles business mail well, including mail that is not from Google.

  1. Open the Gmail app.
  2. Tap your profile picture at the top right.
  3. Tap Add another account.
  4. Choose your provider:
  • Google for Google Workspace. Sign in with your business address.
  • The Outlook or Exchange / Microsoft 365 option for Microsoft accounts (the exact wording varies by phone and app version). Sign in on Microsoft's page.
  • Other for everything else. Type your address, pick Personal (IMAP), then your password, and enter the server settings if asked.
  1. Follow the last screens and tap through to finish.

Switch between your personal and business inboxes by tapping the profile picture again. Samsung phones also have their own Samsung Email app that works the same way; use whichever you already like.

When to use the provider's own app instead

The built-in Mail app on iPhone and the Gmail app on Android are fine for most owners. Use the provider's own app when:

  • Your mail is on Microsoft 365 and you also use its shared calendars or shared mailboxes (like an office@ that two people answer). The free Microsoft Outlook app handles those better.
  • Your mail is on Google Workspace and you are on an iPhone. The Gmail app for iPhone gives you the same labels, search and spam filtering you have on the computer.
  • Your business requires it. Some Microsoft 365 setups only allow the Outlook app, for security. If the iPhone Mail app keeps refusing, this may be why.

Having the same mailbox in two apps is harmless, but you will get two notifications for every message. Turn notifications off in one of them.

IMAP or POP: which to choose

If the phone asks, choose IMAP almost every time.

  • IMAP keeps your mail on the mail company's server and shows the same thing everywhere. Read a message on the phone and it shows as read on the computer. Delete it on the computer and it disappears from the phone. This is what you want when you check mail on more than one device.
  • POP downloads messages to one device and, depending on settings, removes them from the server. Mail read on the phone may never reach your computer. It is a leftover from the days of one computer per person.

Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 do not need this choice; signing in with Google or Microsoft takes care of it.

When it says the password is wrong

This is the most common snag, and the password is often right. Work down this list:

  1. Use the full address as the user name. [email protected], not jane.
  2. Sign in on a computer first. Go to gmail.com, outlook.com or your provider's webmail and sign in with the same address and password. If that fails too, reset the password there.
  3. Look for a code or a prompt. With two-step sign-in on, Google and Microsoft may send a code to another device or ask you to approve the sign-in. Check your other phone, computer or authenticator app.
  4. Pick the right provider button. Setting up a Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account as an "other" account often fails with a password error, because those companies want their own sign-in page. Start again and choose Google or Microsoft Exchange.
  5. Ask about an app password. Some older or smaller mail companies need a special "app password" for phones. Their help pages say how to make one.
  6. Check the server names. For Other accounts, one wrong letter in the server name looks exactly like a wrong password.

If it still fails, the person who set up your mail may have turned off phone access for the account. That is a reason to make sure you have the admin login yourself.

What to do this week

  • Find out which company holds your business mailbox.
  • Make sure you can sign in to it on a computer.
  • Add the account to your phone with the matching provider button.
  • Send a test message from the phone to a personal address and reply to it.
  • Replace "Sent from my iPhone" with a short signature.
  • Turn off duplicate notifications if the mailbox is in two apps.

Once mail is reaching your phone, it is worth checking that your website's contact form sends to the same inbox; if the site itself needs work, you can see your site rebuilt first with the right address on it.

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