How to Change Your Email Password in Apple Mail on a Mac

AvatarByEric Dawson Computers & Software

To change your password on Mac Mail, change it with your email provider first, then tell Mail about it. Open Mail, choose Mail > Settings from the menu bar, click Accounts, select the account, then open Server Settings and type the new password into both the Incoming Mail password field and the Outgoing Mail (SMTP) password field. Click Save, quit the app, and open it again. If the account is iCloud Mail, its password is your Apple Account password, so you change that under your name in System Settings. Everything below gives the exact menu paths, the System Settings alternative, and the fixes for when the password box keeps coming back.

Change the Password with Your Email Provider First

Change your password with your email provider before you touch anything in Mail, because Mail on a Mac cannot set a new password for an account itself. What sits in the Server Settings pane is a stored copy of the password, not the password itself. Editing that copy tells the mail server nothing at all.

So the order matters. Sign in to your provider’s website, change the password there, confirm the new one works in webmail, and only then open Mail and update the stored copy. Reversing those two steps leaves you typing a credential the server has never seen.

Why Mail Cannot Change the Password for You

Email passwords live on the provider’s servers, not on your Mac. Mail is a client program. Every time it collects new messages or sends one, it presents your user name and password and waits to be let in. Nothing in that exchange gives a client the authority to rewrite the credential at the other end, which is why resets run through the provider’s own account pages, where identity checks and recovery options live.

That design also explains why one password change can lock several devices at once. Your iPhone, your iPad, and any other mail program hold their own stored copies, and each keeps offering the old password until you update it. The Mac is simply where most people notice first, because Mail is blunt about asking.

What Happens if You Skip This Step

Skipping the provider step produces the most common complaint about Mail on a Mac: a password box that will not go away. Mail offers the stored credential, the server refuses it, and a dialog appears asking you to retype it. Retyping the same wrong password earns the same refusal, so the prompt returns a few minutes later. Accounts can also drop offline and quietly stop collecting new mail.

Apple’s troubleshooting page for repeated password prompts starts from the same assumption. Before you touch a single setting on the Mac, it asks you to sign in to your provider’s webmail using the password you believe is correct. That one test separates a wrong stored password from a broken account setting, and it takes about a minute.

I would treat the provider first rule as the one step I would not skip, even if I planned to use System Settings instead of Mail. The two Mac paths are alternatives for updating a saved credential, but neither can make a new password valid on the mail server. That makes the provider change the real turning point and the Mac update a follow-up task. In the reader’s position, I would confirm webmail works before changing any Mac settings, then update Mail once.

How to Change Your Mail Password in Mail Settings on a Mac

Open Server Settings for the account and replace the password in both the Incoming Mail field and the Outgoing Mail (SMTP) field, since Mail stores two separate copies for most accounts. Updating only the incoming side is the usual reason mail starts arriving again while outgoing messages stack up in the Outbox.

  1. Open Mail Settings. Click Mail in the menu bar at the top of the screen, then choose Settings. On older versions of macOS the same item is named Preferences.
  2. Go to Accounts. Click the Accounts tab in the settings window.
  3. Pick the account. Select the account whose password you changed from the list on the left side.
  4. Open Server Settings. Click Server Settings in the row of tabs on the right.
  5. Replace the incoming password. Under the Incoming Mail section, clear the Password field and type the new password.
  6. Replace the outgoing password. Under the Outgoing Mail (SMTP) section, clear the Password field and type the same new password.
  7. Save the change. Click Save.
  8. Restart the app. Quit Mail with Command-Q and open it again, because Apple notes the change may not take effect until Mail has been closed and reopened.

Updating the Incoming Mail Password

Incoming settings control how your Mac collects messages. The Password field sits in that section directly below the User Name field, and it shows dots rather than characters. Clear the whole field before typing, since a stray character left behind looks identical to a clean field when everything is masked. Nothing validates the entry as you type, so the first real test comes after you save and Mail talks to the server.

One detail catches people out here. The user name is not always the full email address; some providers want only the part before the at sign, and a password change is a bad moment to discover that the user name was wrong too. Leave that field exactly as it was unless your provider told you otherwise.

Updating the Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Password

Outgoing mail travels through a separate server with its own stored credential, and that second copy is the one people forget. Apple documents the outgoing settings on a different help page from the incoming ones, which is a fair hint that the two are handled separately. Same account, same password, two places to type it.

At the top of the outgoing section sits an Outgoing Account pop-up menu. Most accounts keep a single SMTP entry there, named after the provider. Several accounts can share one outgoing server, though, so the menu sometimes lists entries that belong to addresses you set up years ago.

Using the Edit SMTP Server List Window

When the outgoing Password field is not where you expect it, or the server is shared between accounts, edit the server list directly.

  1. Open the menu. In Mail > Settings > Accounts > Server Settings, click the Outgoing Account pop-up menu.
  2. Choose Edit SMTP Server List. That option sits at the bottom of the menu.
  3. Select the server. Click the entry that matches the account you are fixing.
  4. Enter the new password. Find the Password field and type the password exactly as your provider gave it to you.
  5. Confirm. Click OK to save the change.

Deleting an unused SMTP entry while you are in that window is tempting. Resist it until mail is flowing again, because another account may depend on the server you are about to remove, and you would then be troubleshooting two faults instead of one.

When Automatically Manage Connection Settings Is Turned On

A checkbox named Automatically manage connection settings appears in the Server Settings pane. With it switched on, Mail picks ports, authentication methods and security options for you, which works well for the large consumer providers. Some fields are dimmed while the checkbox is active, and Apple’s guidance is that you may need to clear it before you can adjust settings by hand.

Do that only with instructions from your provider in front of you. Guessing at a port number or an authentication type adds a second fault on top of the password problem, and the symptoms look identical from the outside. Write down whatever the fields say before you change them so you can put everything back.

How to Update the Password in System Settings Instead

Update the password under System Settings > Internet Accounts when the account was added through macOS rather than from inside Mail. Apple’s own page about repeated password prompts sends readers there rather than into the Mail app. Both routes reach the credential your Mac hands to the mail server, so use whichever one actually shows you an editable Password field.

Internet Accounts Step by Step

  1. Open System Settings. Click the Apple menu in the top left corner of the screen and choose System Settings, called System Preferences on earlier releases of macOS.
  2. Select Internet Accounts. Click Internet Accounts in the sidebar.
  3. Choose the account. Click the email account that keeps asking for a password.
  4. Open the details. Click Details if that button appears for your type of account.
  5. Replace the password. Delete what is already in the password field, then type the correct password.
  6. Test the result. Close System Settings, open Mail, and watch whether the account connects and pulls in messages.

Which Route to Use When the Password Field Is Dimmed

Apple does not publish a table of which account types expose which fields, so a little trial and error is normal. Start in Mail > Settings > Accounts > Server Settings. If the Password field there is dimmed, missing, or refuses to accept a change, close Mail and try System Settings > Internet Accounts instead.

Accounts signed in through the system, such as those added from the Internet Accounts list, tend to keep their credential under macOS control, and the Mail pane for them can be sparse. Nothing is lost by trying both panes in turn. Once one of them accepts the new password and the account connects, you are done and the other pane needs no attention.

How to Change the Password for an iCloud Mail Account

An iCloud Mail account has no mail password of its own. Its credential is your Apple Account password, the same one that signs you in to iCloud Drive, iMessage, FaceTime and the App Store. Changing it happens in the Apple Account area of System Settings, not anywhere inside the Mail app.

  1. Open System Settings. Choose System Settings from the Apple menu.
  2. Click your name. Your name and picture sit at the top of the sidebar.
  3. Go to Sign-In and Security. Click Sign-In & Security in the list of options.
  4. Unlock the change. Enter the password you use to unlock the Mac when macOS asks for it.
  5. Follow the prompts. Work through the onscreen instructions to set and confirm the new Apple Account password.

What Else Changes When You Change Your Apple Account Password

One change ripples across everything signed in to that Apple Account. Apple warns that you may be asked to enter the new password on your other devices, so expect prompts on an iPhone, an iPad, a Watch or a second Mac. Each of those prompts is genuine, and each wants the new password rather than the old one.

Give yourself a quiet ten minutes for this rather than doing it as you run out the door. Anything still holding the previous password stops syncing until it is updated, and that includes Mail on any other computer where the same account is set up. Working through the devices in one sitting saves a week of stray notifications.

Every Password Path on a Mac Compared

Four separate places can hold or set an email password on a Mac, and which one you need depends on the account. The table below lays out each path, so you can jump straight to the right pane instead of hunting through settings.

Method Menu path What you do there
Mail Settings, incoming Mail > Settings > Accounts > Server Settings Select the account, replace the Incoming Mail password, click Save
Mail Settings, outgoing Mail > Settings > Accounts > Server Settings > Outgoing Account > Edit SMTP Server List Replace the Password field for the SMTP server, then click OK
System Settings System Settings > Internet Accounts > account name > Details Delete the old password, type the new one, close settings and reopen Mail
iCloud Mail System Settings > your name > Sign-In & Security Enter your Mac password, then follow the instructions to change the Apple Account password

Notice that none of those paths includes a way to invent a new password for a non-Apple account. Only the iCloud row actually sets a password, and it does so because the credential belongs to Apple. Every other row updates a copy of something you changed elsewhere.

A Worked Example: Changing One Account End to End

This worked example changes the password for a single work email account end to end: an IMAP account set up in Mail, with the same address also configured on an iPhone. Follow the sequence below in order, since it is what avoids repeated password prompts on either device.

  1. Reset at the provider. Sign in to the company webmail in Safari and change the password there. Nothing on the Mac is touched yet.
  2. Prove the new password. Sign out of webmail and sign back in with the new password. If webmail rejects it, stop and sort that out first, because no Mac setting can fix a password the server does not accept.
  3. Quit Mail. Press Command-Q so the app is not trying to connect while you edit its settings.
  4. Reopen Mail and go to Server Settings. Open Mail > Settings > Accounts, choose the work account, then click Server Settings.
  5. Update the incoming password. Clear the Password field under Incoming Mail and type the new one.
  6. Update the outgoing password. Do the same under Outgoing Mail (SMTP), then click Save.
  7. Restart and watch the sidebar. Quit Mail, open it again, and check that the account is online and pulling messages.
  8. Send a test message. Mail yourself a one line message and confirm it leaves the Outbox. Sending is what proves the SMTP password took.
  9. Fix the iPhone. Tap the password prompt on the phone and enter the new password so the two devices stop disagreeing.

Two checks in that list matter more than the rest. Receiving a message proves the incoming credential, and sending one proves the outgoing credential, and neither proves the other. People who only watch the inbox often declare victory an hour before they discover a full Outbox.

If Mail Still Keeps Asking for Your Password

A prompt that returns after a correct update usually means one of three things: the password is not actually correct, the account settings are wrong in some other way, or the stored account has become confused. Work through them in that order, cheapest test first.

Check the Password in Webmail First

Open your provider’s website in a browser and sign in with the exact password you typed into Mail. Success there tells you the credential is fine and the fault lies in the Mac settings. Failure tells you the opposite, and Apple’s advice at that point is to contact the email provider to verify your account settings or reset the password again.

Copy and paste is worth using for this test. A password typed twice by hand can differ in one character without either attempt looking wrong, and a space picked up at the end of a pasted string is the classic culprit. Paste into a plain text field where you can see the characters before you trust it.

Remove and Re-Add the Account

Removing the account and adding it again is the reset of last resort, and Apple lists it as a valid step when nothing else works. Doing so clears whatever stale settings the account picked up, then rebuilds them from scratch. Choose the correct provider from the list when you add it back, because picking the wrong type gives you the wrong server settings and a fresh round of password prompts.

Before you remove anything, check where your mail actually lives. An IMAP or iCloud account keeps its messages on the server, so they download again after you re-add it. A POP account may hold the only copy of older mail on your Mac, in which case export the mailboxes first from Mailbox > Export Mailbox and keep the exported folder somewhere safe.

When to Call Your Email Provider

Some faults simply are not yours to fix. If webmail rejects the password, if the provider has changed its server addresses, or if the account has been suspended for a security review, no amount of editing on the Mac will help. Apple’s guidance points the same way and tells you to contact the provider to verify settings or reset the password.

Have three things ready when you call: the email address, the exact wording of the error Mail shows, and the incoming and outgoing server names from the Server Settings pane. Support staff ask for those first, and having them to hand turns a long call into a short one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Changing My Mac Login Password Change My Email Password?

No. The login password unlocks the Mac itself and has nothing to do with any email account, except that macOS asks for it to authorize certain changes. Email passwords belong to the provider that runs your mailbox. The one overlap is iCloud Mail, where the mail password is your Apple Account password, which is still separate from the Mac login password on most setups.

Why Does Mail Keep Asking for My Password After I Changed It?

Usually because one of the two stored copies was missed. Mail keeps a password for incoming mail and another for the outgoing SMTP server, and a prompt keeps returning while either of them is stale. Quitting and reopening Mail after the edit matters too, since Apple notes the change may not take hold until the app restarts.

Do I Have to Change the Password in Two Places for One Account?

Inside the Mail app, yes, for most accounts. The Incoming Mail password and the Outgoing Mail (SMTP) password are stored separately, and both are set in the Server Settings pane. Updating the account through System Settings > Internet Accounts is the single field alternative when that route is available for your account type.

Will My Old Messages Disappear if I Remove the Account?

With IMAP and iCloud accounts the messages sit on the server, so they come back when the account is added again. POP accounts are the risk, because mail may have been downloaded and removed from the server already. Export the mailboxes before you delete a POP account, and check with your provider if you are unsure which type you have.

Can I Change My Email Password from the Mail App Itself?

Not for the password on the server. Apple is clear that changes have to come from the email provider, and the Mail app only stores what you give it. For iCloud Mail the answer bends slightly, since the password is your Apple Account password and you can change that on the Mac through System Settings under your name.

Keep the sequence in mind and the job takes five minutes: change the password at the provider, prove it in webmail, then update both the incoming and outgoing fields in Mail > Settings > Accounts > Server Settings and restart the app. iCloud Mail is the exception, handled under your name in System Settings. When a prompt survives all of that, webmail is the test that tells you whether to keep editing settings or pick up the phone to your provider.

What This Page Does Not Publish

  • I do not map these steps to every macOS version, because menu names can differ between releases.
  • I do not list provider-specific SMTP settings here; use the settings your email provider gives you.
  • This page does not give personalised advice for account errors or security notifications.

References

Author Profile

Eric Dawson
Eric Dawson
I'm Eric Dawson, the writer behind The Money Watch. I live in the Columbus, Ohio area and I write about the ordinary questions that turn out to be complicated: computers, shopping, food, travel, parking, small businesses, fees, rules and products. Every article starts with the official page, the maker or the agency, then the sources that check it, and I say plainly where they disagree and what I would do. More about how I work is on the About page.