Several users have reported that they are unable to send emails on iPhone and receiving this error message: “A copy has been placed in your Outbox. The recipient [email address] was rejected by the server because it does not allow relaying.”
How to fix
- If this is an AOL issue, try these: go Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > select your AOL.com account > SMTP from the Account Info Page > SMTP from the SMPT Page > make sure that the Server is ON, make sure that the Host Name is smtp.aol.com. Further make sure your username and password are correct and added in the Outgoing Mail server; make sure that Authentication is set to Password and make sure that Server Port is 587
- If this is not an AOL email: go Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Accounts >Account Info > SMPT> turn off primary server, turn on other (e.g. AT&T) SMTP server.
- Go into Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Your Account > Outgoing mail Server SMTP > Primary Server then turn Server ON and fill in both User Name and Password under Outgoing Mail Server.
February 3, 2012 at 3:20 AM
I have got this problem on my ipod touch, where AOL is not my primary email. All the info in the smtp.aol.com section is as it should be here, but it is also greyed out so I couldn’t amend. I have tried deleting the AOL account and readding it but it still has the same problem. Equally, it makes no difference whether the “other SMTP Servers” are on ON or OFF. Can you help?
February 3, 2012 at 3:41 AM
I have since found a fix for this – it involves turning off the AOL “primary server” (which has the greyed out information) and then adding an “Other SMTP Server”, using “smtp.aol.com”, my aol username (without the “@aol.com” suffix) and password. This then sets up automatically as “On” under the “Other SMTP servers” which has now cleared my Outbox.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/17415848?tstart=0#17415848
February 19, 2012 at 4:44 PM
Thank-you thank-you thank-you!!! Finally a simple solution! All the spiel that’s out there I’m so glad I stumbled across your fix! Brilliant! I run a charity web-site for my daughter and my email has just been dumped in outbox for weeks – now this is fixed by following your iphone solution I can carry on with the fund-raising! It really was as simple as that – nobody seemed to have a clue – including local apple shop “genius” bars!
June 27, 2012 at 7:11 PM
Thank you so much i can finally send emails from my iphone!!!
March 6, 2012 at 9:29 PM
You are a genius! Works perfectly…
March 10, 2012 at 2:37 PM
Thank you so much for this very simple fix!! My iPhone finally works!!
March 13, 2012 at 7:18 AM
thanks! works
April 17, 2012 at 2:20 PM
Genius! The Primary Server addition solution appears to have worked after months of frustration. I thank you (the other solution didn’t seem to work for me).
April 20, 2012 at 3:48 AM
Thank you so much. I have tried various ‘fixes’ for one year and this works first time.
May 11, 2012 at 3:54 PM
Much appreciated, had this problem for months and so easy to fix…… Thanks
May 12, 2012 at 1:49 PM
This has not worked for me
am i doing something wrong?
June 7, 2012 at 10:10 AM
I have since found a fix for this – it involves turning off the AOL “primary server” (which has the greyed out information) and then adding an “Other SMTP Server”, using “smtp.aol.com”, my aol username (without the “@aol.com” suffix) and password. This then sets up automatically as “On” under the “Other SMTP servers” which has now cleared my Outbox
All of this is right but make sure you turn off the PRIMARY SERVER OFF, and have the OTHER SMTP SERVERS swirched ON, i hope this helps.
July 26, 2012 at 11:37 AM
Hi, I have done as you have suggested but still does not work, is there anything else I can try as been on it nearly all day!
thanks sarah
July 27, 2012 at 8:12 PM
I am the biggets dummy in the world when it comes to computers. I can not sent a reply to anyone, I hope this goes through. They all say the same thing didn’t go through. Its the same with emails when i TRY TO SEND ONE.Ok I have a google account, I use aspire-acer labtop. Can you help.
jamesspoon29305@gmail.com
August 27, 2012 at 12:14 AM
Ah finally A solution! Thanks a million!
September 21, 2012 at 4:42 AM
Darren I have tried all of this. Question. When you finish the Steph and tap save does it go to verifying and you wait a time and then it verifys the account? Some times it does and others it does not. I have had my emails with aol for years only started having this problem on my iPad in the last couple of weeks. Do you know Why this has happened? I am just sick over this as it has stressed me and as I read I am not alone. Can’t the “great apple” do something for this problem? THANK ALL OF YOU FOR HELPING US.
May 13, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Thank you so much!!! What a simple and effective solution
May 23, 2012 at 12:20 AM
Tried it
it sent my email but not I can’t view them.
June 7, 2012 at 10:20 AM
Thank you it worked.
June 12, 2012 at 1:35 PM
Thank you so much it worked!
June 22, 2012 at 3:31 AM
Thanks so much mine now works :£
)
July 2, 2012 at 4:12 PM
At last, a solution that works. Tried every one I could find but only yours worked. What a relief, thank you so much.
July 4, 2012 at 5:27 AM
Omg at last. Thankyou ever so much Simon. Its been driving us mad. I just spent half hour on the phone to aol and they were useless. Doing what you put was 5mins. THANKYOU
July 11, 2012 at 2:39 AM
Darren thanks for this, just saved me copying and pasting from one e-mail account to another on my I-Phone 4. My AOL account has been out of action for months as I could not send e-mail but could receive them.Thanks
July 17, 2012 at 6:52 AM
OMG! Thank you Simon!!! I have been struggling with this for months!!! All it took was correcting my username to not include the aol.com part!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!
July 31, 2012 at 5:55 PM
Just found your solution – worked first time !
Thank you
August 5, 2012 at 5:26 PM
After installing your fix for outgoing mail, not only can I not send messages on my IPhone4, I now get a message “Cannot Get Mail” The username or password for AOL is incorrect. Any ideas for a fix? Thanks.
August 18, 2012 at 3:26 PM
Been struggling for days, Vodafone, couldn’t help, nor could aol but this fix made it work straight away – thank you so much x
August 21, 2012 at 11:06 AM
Works – brilliant, thanks.
September 11, 2012 at 1:45 PM
Thank you soooo much this has been driving me crazy!! do you know why this primary just stops working though in the first place?
September 19, 2012 at 7:26 AM
Tell me instructions how to sort the server out and relaying
September 19, 2012 at 7:27 AM
Tell me instructions how to sort the server out and relaying Out on my I phone
September 25, 2012 at 7:26 AM
Oh wow something that finally works thank you sooooooooo much!. The phone almost was thrown off a high cliff the other day. THANK YOU
September 26, 2012 at 9:21 AM
Brilliant, after weeks of frustration your suggestion actually works.
Thank you so much
September 28, 2012 at 2:22 AM
Many Thanks, after trying everything any many other suggestions, this is the fix that worked, many thanks
November 1, 2012 at 12:01 PM
Thank you.
November 17, 2012 at 3:39 AM
Simon, well done. This has been baffling me for weeks and couldn’t find the solution until I read your post. thanks mate.
December 13, 2012 at 9:54 PM
Thank u so much. This worked. I found a website just b4 I found this one and they wanted $39 for a tech to answer and u just answered for free. Thanks again.
February 28, 2013 at 10:30 PM
You are a life saver. I can’t thank you enough!
February 6, 2012 at 3:21 PM
Absolutely brilliant. The solution with the second server worked perfectly following 2 hours of trying other solutions. Thank you
February 17, 2012 at 12:32 AM
Thank you Simon!!!! I’ve been searching for diffrent fixes and nothing has worked until this!
February 24, 2012 at 6:50 AM
Why do I need to go through another server to send email? Shouldn’t the phone just send through the email server i am currently using rather than trying to access a different email server? There has to be a better answer, because all you are doing is sending through another email server. It is a bypass not a fix.
May 22, 2012 at 7:44 PM
You don’t I got the same message all I did was delete my account and make it again and it worked
July 17, 2012 at 9:38 PM
I tried the easy fix you suggested on my iPad 2 and it worked. Thanks
March 17, 2012 at 12:34 PM
this fixed my problem to, thank you very much
March 28, 2012 at 5:10 PM
Hi I’m with ozemail or iinet, I’ve tried putting in there settings but I can’t get it to work. Any suggestions. Ready to hand my phone back to Telstra I’m so annoyed.
March 30, 2012 at 5:44 PM
thank you so much, also worked for ipad1 – much appreciated!
April 11, 2012 at 11:15 PM
Just wanted to add my thanks as well. Only taken 7 months on my Iphone 4 to sort this out and Apple had no idea at all. Simon, you are a genius and I can finally email again. Best wishes. Kev
April 15, 2012 at 6:27 AM
Thank you soooooo much, this has been driving me crazy for so long!! And it was so simple to fix. Thank you!
April 18, 2012 at 3:48 AM
Thank you so much Simon osmond!! Finally I can send emails!
April 20, 2012 at 2:24 AM
Thank you so much for the fix and clearing up an annoying problem for all of us. Genius!
May 7, 2012 at 7:21 AM
Thanks a million for the easy fix. Been using my iphone for a year now and been so frustrated not being able to return mail. Well pleased
May 8, 2012 at 2:01 PM
I want the aol IMAP feature and not SMTP. Any suggestions.
May 14, 2012 at 12:10 PM
Wow… ive tried everything to get my email working… i put in the above info and what a suprise it works… many many thanks
May 15, 2012 at 6:29 AM
Find this blog article curious. Parts 2 and 3 are exactly the same yet you’ve bolded it and used different words to make it look similar.
You’re basically saying turn it off and on again. That advice on it’s own doesn’t work. Maybe this is useful for people with AOL accounts but if you’re trying, say, to get your own website’s email working, then look elsewhere.
Maybe you should re read what you’ve written and come up with something clearer or explain the difference between
Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Accounts >Account Info > SMPT>
and
Go into Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Your Account > Outgoing mail Server SMTP >
As there is no option called “account info”,
The reality is you go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars >
Then you don’t have any choices after that unless you choose an account. “Accounts” is a heading there, but not an option worthy of it’s own bread crumb as you can’t select it.
July 29, 2012 at 6:36 AM
I have the same problem as you- the route suggested does not exist in my iPod touch and fails when I select an existing account…duh
joe
May 17, 2012 at 10:33 AM
Thank you for posting this fixed my issue.
May 26, 2012 at 8:14 AM
Simple. Worked straight away. Thank you!
May 20, 2012 at 3:34 AM
BRILLIANT!!! I live in Australia and have just used this to help my mum in the UK who has been struggling for ages! Thank you!!!!!
May 22, 2012 at 9:40 AM
need to add my thanks…. works brilliantly. Thank you
May 23, 2012 at 12:24 PM
Thanks so much for this info. I looked on the support page for apple and could not find anything to resolve this issue. I am now able to send email from my iPhone. Great info here!
June 6, 2012 at 1:43 PM
Thank you Simon Osmond , you are brilliant! x
September 21, 2012 at 4:32 AM
Simon Osborn please tell all of us what to do. PLEASE HELP US. I am almost sick because no one can tell us what to do. I can’t believe Apple can’t fix this us as there are so many having the same problem. Why has this happened? I have an iPad 2 and all was fine and then one day all went to the hand basket. Someone print out the directions so we can read them when we read the Thank You.
June 6, 2012 at 5:46 PM
What a simple fix for something that no one I asked knew how to fix. They all had the problem but had not addressed it. I had a typed a lengthy email on my phone and didn’t want to retype.
You Rock!
June 6, 2012 at 7:54 PM
Worked! Many thanks!
June 7, 2012 at 10:15 AM
I have since found a fix for this – it involves turning off the AOL “primary server” (which has the greyed out information) and then adding an “Other SMTP Server”, using “smtp.aol.com”, my aol username (without the “@aol.com” suffix) and password. This then sets up automatically as “On” under the “Other SMTP servers” which has now cleared my Outbox
All of the above is correct but make sure the PRIMARY SERVER IS TURNED OFF, and the OTHER SMTP SERVERS are turned ON. This does work and thank you for finding out how to get this to work.
June 12, 2012 at 2:33 PM
Excellent. After four months of frustration not being able to send i-Pad emails from my domain account, it now works. Thanks!
June 21, 2012 at 2:32 PM
Thank your- brilliant fix for a nagging problem.
June 22, 2012 at 10:13 PM
This is the solution that worked for me. Thank you sooooo much.
July 4, 2012 at 6:34 AM
It works. Thank you very much.
July 6, 2012 at 2:16 AM
Thanks is all I can say
July 11, 2012 at 4:53 AM
works great thanks i have been without being able to send emails for 6 months
July 20, 2012 at 10:28 AM
So awesome! Thank you a million times over (one for each unsent email).
July 22, 2012 at 8:58 PM
Unfortunately this does not work with my iPad 2
Any other suggestions
July 27, 2012 at 2:40 AM
Much slower than the default but works much better. Could just be my connection i guess
July 27, 2012 at 4:15 AM
Thank you so much- I’ve had this problem for months with my iPhone 4 and this has sorted it! Thanks again!
July 29, 2012 at 6:40 AM
I pleased that so many have made this work but not me- the route to account settings is simply not available and after various variations on these suggestions I’m back to square 1 on my iPod touch…
joe
August 3, 2012 at 11:35 AM
Simon what genius! I have struggled with this issue for 12 months and even spent time at apple in NY to see if they can help. They told me to create a new account!
Your fix ends 12 months of frustration. I could kiss you right now.
Sara
August 6, 2012 at 1:35 AM
Wonderfull easy it was the name and pasword working well now
August 15, 2012 at 2:53 AM
Hi
I have tried all the above solutions for ipad2.
my ipad, iphone and mac are all set up the same way and were all working perfectly.
yesterday, just the iPad started not sending emails saying ‘the recipient was rejected by the server because it does not allow relaying’
I have performed all of the above and it still does not work
have you any ideas please?
thank you
September 21, 2012 at 4:18 AM
Mik I have the same problem. I went thru all the steps outgrowing mail works but the relay problems still exist. All the outbox mail will not send, what has anyone told you to fix this. Problem. Can you send me an email as I don’t know how I even got here I have searched so much I almost feel crazy. Thank you for any help. Elizabeth
September 21, 2012 at 4:24 AM
I forgot to say I am referring to an iPad. Do the instruction cover all the Apple productions , pads, phones etc ? I am desperate. See the hour?
September 3, 2012 at 1:08 PM
thanks very mcuh its a problem ive had to deal with for a while until i found this solution.
September 5, 2012 at 6:29 PM
Thanks so much!!!! That worked. I have been able to recieve emails from my business account, but never able send them from my ipad. I have had this issue for months. You just savied my life!!! LOL
September 8, 2012 at 2:49 AM
When I apply this, the email I have sent appear to come from my second email address, the one attached to the other smtp server. This doesn’t fix the problem, I am still one email address down…
September 21, 2012 at 11:19 AM
After a conversation with the IT manager in charge of my account, I have added some security to the SMTP configuration and now I can send all my emails without any problems.
Conclusion, have a word with your email provider and ask for the correct smtp settings for apple products, they are different from the pc products. But it works !
September 8, 2012 at 11:22 AM
Have to add my name to this long list of Thanks, Simon. I was showing my wife how easy it was to add and/or delete email accounts on her iphone, when I inadvertantly disabled her ability to send out AOL emails. Through your posting I was able to regain that ability (not to mention regain some credibility in her eyes).
Thanks again, Diego
September 10, 2012 at 10:02 AM
Well done what a relief to find a solution.
October 15, 2012 at 1:34 PM
Yay,
A fix, a fix, my kingdom for a fix.
THANK YOU.
October 18, 2012 at 10:12 AM
Now mine says it needs an IMAP Path prefix, what is that?
November 21, 2012 at 4:13 AM
I get to the very last step, but you say “make sure the server port is 587. However, my server port says 465, and it’s grayed, so I can’t change it. What do I do now? Thanks for any help.
December 13, 2012 at 9:05 AM
you could set the server port by adding a colon “:” and the port number to the server name, e.g. smtp..com:587
you may need to copy the colon from an app that supports text and then paste it into the server name. The colon character was not on the keyboard displayed to enter the server name.
Good luck!
February 20, 2013 at 10:33 AM
Thank you.
Your solution No.2 solved my problem.
March 11, 2013 at 12:27 AM
Thanks a lot.. It works
April 17, 2013 at 12:59 PM
didnt work for me. im still having relaying issues, guess cause im trying to connecto to my companies exchange server for my email. I can read them and my folders come up but just cant send!! However, everyone else in the company can set up there email on there iPhone except me!! what the HEll!! I have tried setting it up manually and also by my username password and email address like everyone else.
May 7, 2013 at 5:23 PM
As I am overseas I am using the wifi in the hotels. My iPad 2 will receive email but won’t send. Have tried all the suggestions but to no avail. A least I can contact via FB or messages. Anna
June 17, 2013 at 3:33 PM
How simple fantastic thank you for the easiest fix ever