Connect iCloud Mail to Mailbind

iCloud Mail IMAP and SMTP settings

Apple documents the incoming username as the part of your address before the @ — johnappleseed, not johnappleseed@icloud.com — and the outgoing username as the full address. Mailbind lets you set the two sides separately for exactly this case; if the short form is refused, Apple says to try the full address.

An app-specific password is not optional

Apple does not accept your Apple Account password in a third-party mail client. The settings page says to generate an app-specific password and use it for both the incoming and the outgoing server. Two-factor authentication has to be on for your account before Apple will issue one, which it is for almost every account by now.

1. 1Sign in to your Apple Account in a browser.
2. 2In the Sign-In and Security section, choose app-specific passwords.
3. 3Generate one, label it Mailbind, and copy it — Apple shows it once.
4. 4Use it as the password in Mailbind for both IMAP and SMTP.

Apple’s app-specific passwords look like four groups of four lowercase letters separated by hyphens. If what you have is not that shape, you are holding your Apple Account password.

Connect iCloud Mail to Mailbind

1. 1Sign in to Mailbind and choose “Connect a mailbox”.
2. 2Type the address. Mailbind looks up the domain and names iCloud Mail itself when the records say so; otherwise pick iCloud Mail from the list.
3. 3Enter your name as you want it to appear on outgoing mail, then paste the app-specific password Apple generated.
4. 4Check the server settings. They are filled in from the preset, and you can edit either side if your account is on a different host.
5. 5Press “Test and connect”. Mailbind opens IMAP and SMTP before it saves anything, so a wrong password or a blocked port is a message on the form rather than a mailbox that silently never syncs.
6. 6Name the mailbox for the sidebar, pick a colour, and the first sync begins immediately.

Mailbind only connects to the four ports email uses — 993 and 143 for IMAP, 465 and 587 for SMTP — and refuses private or loopback addresses. If your provider asks for a different port, it cannot be used here.

iCloud aliases, custom domains and the +suffix

iCloud lets you add up to three email aliases and, on iCloud+, your own domain. All of them arrive in the same mailbox, which is precisely the case Mailbind’s send-as handling exists for: add the alias to the mailbox, verify it with the code Mailbind sends, and a message that arrived at the alias is answered from the alias.

A @me.com or @mac.com address from an older account works the same way as @icloud.com and uses the same servers; Apple treats them as the same mailbox.

• iCloud supports IMAP and SMTP only — there is no POP access at all.
• Mail rules you set in iCloud keep running on Apple’s side; Mailbind’s rules run on top.
• Hide My Email addresses forward into the mailbox and can be added as send-as addresses once verified.

If it does not connect

• “Invalid credentials”: you used your Apple Account password instead of an app-specific password.
• Incoming works, outgoing refuses: the outgoing username needs the full address while the incoming one needs the short form.
• An SSL error on either side: Apple documents TLS, or STARTTLS for outgoing, as the alternative.
• Nothing after a password change: changing your Apple Account password revokes every app-specific password. Generate a new one.

Common questions

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