iOS 18 and iPadOS 18: Massive problems with email retrieval for IMAP accounts
More and more users complain that iPhones and iPads no longer retrieve new emails via IMAP. Apparently, this issue is also causing problems for mail providers.
(Image: Sebastian Trepesch)
A bug in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 appears to be causing significant problems in interaction with IMAP accounts: more and more users are reporting that email communication is disrupted after updating their iPhones and iPads: retrieving emails via IMAP sometimes fails completely, and in some cases there are errors when synchronizing individual mail folders. The mail server does not respond and terminates the connection, iOS states in a warning dialog. The user is prompted to check the access data. Sending emails also appears to work unchanged for those affected.
Mail providers also report IMAP problems
According to the reports, re-entering the access data does not provide a remedy. In addition to Apple Mail, the error can also be observed with some other email clients such as Outlook, also specifically when using IMAP accounts. The problem apparently cannot be limited to a specific email provider: Apple's iCloud mail service seems to be affected, as well as Gmail (integrated via IMAP) or other services such as GMX and web.de.
Vodafone explained on Monday that the network operator had been struggling with a malfunction of the IMAP mail server for several days. This was triggered by the iOS 18 update, which has been available for over a week and is likely to be gradually installed on more and more devices. The IMAP dropouts do not appear to occur in the macOS 15 Sequoia released by Apple at the same time.
The specific cause of the error remains unclear, and obviously not all users of IMAP email accounts run into the error: On devices in the Mac & i editorial office, no abnormalities were observed with IMAP under iOS 18.0 (final version and beta versions). In combination with Exchange and when using email apps from the respective provider, everything else seems to work as usual.
No tangible workaround for IMAP bug
Accordingly, there is as yet no tangible workaround for retrieving emails via IMAP again. Some users experiment with the IMAP path prefix in the advanced IMAP settings ("Settings > Apps > Mail > Mail accounts > [account name]"). Other users report that it worked again after deleting and re-adding the email account. Others are trying their luck by installing the iOS 18.1 beta, although it remains to be seen whether IMAP will then work consistently without errors. Otherwise, the only option is to wait for an imminent bug fix update from Apple. The manufacturer usually delivers a .0.1 version quite quickly after operating system upgrades.
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