AOL Mail SMTP, IMAP and POP Settings

You can use your AOL Mail account in a third-party email app, such as Thunderbird, Outlook or the mail app on your phone, to send and receive mail or to download a copy of your email. AOL supports both IMAP and POP, and mail is sent through AOL's SMTP server.

Use these settings to set up the incoming mail server information for your AOL Mail account:

Inbound Servers:

Type	Server Address	Port	Encryption
IMAP Server (SSL/TLS)	imap.aol.com	993	SSL/TLS
POP Server (SSL/TLS)	pop.aol.com	995	SSL/TLS

Outbound Servers:

Type	Server Address	Port	Encryption
SMTP Server (SSL/TLS)	smtp.aol.com	465	SSL/TLS

Other Settings

• Username: your full AOL email address, including @aol.com.
• Password: an AOL app password. Third-party email apps that do not use AOL's own sign-in page need a generated app password, not your normal AOL password.
• Encryption: SSL/TLS must be turned on for both incoming and outgoing mail: IMAP 993, POP3 995 and SMTP 465.
• IMAP or POP: IMAP keeps the app and your account in sync, so changes you make in either place appear in both. POP downloads a copy of your mail, and only from the Inbox, not your own folders.

Create an AOL App Password

AOL does not have a separate switch for IMAP or POP. If you use AOL two-step verification or an older email app, you may need an app password. To create one:

• Step 1: Sign in to your AOL Account Security page.
• Step 2: Click Generate app password or Generate and manage app passwords, then click Get Started.
• Step 3: Enter your app's name in the text field and click Generate password.
• Step 4: Use the one-time password to sign in to your third-party app, then click Done.

Troubleshooting

• Use a browser you normally use for AOL: AOL says to create an app password in a browser you have used to sign in to AOL Mail for several days in a row, and not in Incognito mode. If that does not work, use AOL Mail on the web or the official AOL app. AOL customer care cannot override this check.
• Your app is blocked or cannot sign in: By default AOL Mail blocks access from outdated apps. Remove your AOL account from the app and add it again, looking for the AOL logo or provider option so the app uses AOL's secure sign-in. If that does not work, generate an app password.
• Outlook, Windows Mail and the Gmail app: AOL says that, as of May 2020, Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac, Windows Mail and the Gmail app do not support its OAuth2 sign-in for AOL accounts, so use an app password with them.
• The app keeps asking for your password: Re-enter your AOL password in the app's account settings. If you use an app password, you may need to delete it, create a new one and use that instead. Deleting an app password is the only way to cancel it. Changing your main AOL password does not.
• Wrong port or encryption: Check that IMAP uses port 993, POP uses port 995 and SMTP uses port 465, each with SSL/TLS, and that the username is your full address with @aol.com.

Related: Gmail SMTP Settings | Yahoo SMTP Settings | iCloud SMTP Settings | Status pages for various email services | Webmail Wiki Setup tool