Syncing email across iPhone and MacBook

Question

Level 1

4 points

Syncing email across iPhone and MacBook

I have a new MacBook that I purchased a couple months ago and a new iPhone 17 Pro, and I use an old Hotmail account on both. When I delete a Hotmail message on my iPhone, it does not delete on my Mac so it seems they aren't synced but I can't find anywhere manually opt in to syncng them. I did not have this issue prior to upgrading my devices.

While trying to troubleshoot, I've looked for the POP vs IMAP settings but I don't see anything labeled that way on either device, and I I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling my Hotmail account and rebooted my laptop but still no luck. I also downloaded the most recent software to my MacBook and my new phone automatically updated to 26.2 on my phone and Sequoia 15.7.3 on my Mac. Any advice?

Posted on Dec 17, 2025 10:30 PM

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Answer 1

AlWeir

Level 5

4,989 points

Dec 18, 2025 5:16 AM in response to Srore

The settings for POP and IMAP are on the Microsoft server. You shouldn't see them on a MacBook or iPhone. Most email in this day and age are IMAP. I am not sure but I don't think that Hotmail or Outlook use POP or even if Microsoft supports it.

One way you might try is using the Outlook app for both Mac and iPhone.

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Answer 2

Dec 18, 2025 5:31 AM in response to Srore

You’re not wanting to use POP.

Mail has two servers and two sets of server details snd credentials, one for outgoing (SMTP, ESMTP) mail and one for incoming and reading mail (IMAP, POP).

In iPadOS 26.2 and likely iOS 26.2:

Settings > Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts > select the account > Account Settings > [outgoing SMTP server]

Settings > Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts > select the account > Account Settings > [outgoing SMTP] > Advanced > [scroll down; server port shown as 993 is secure IMAP; other ports are not]

I don’t have a Mac running macOS 15 handy to check the path to that, but it’s there (somewhere).

The mail clients will resync the display of the server contents after all next poll the server again, or after the next push of the status of the mail server if both the mail server and mail client are capable and configured for that.

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