Setting up Apple Mail on iPhone and iPad

On iPhone and iPad there are two ways to set up your Mailcow mailbox in the iOS Mail app: via a configuration profile or manually with IMAP/SMTP. Calendar and contacts come on top via CalDAV and CardDAV (SOGo). We recommend the profile — it sets up all three services in one step.

Prerequisites

• Mailbox exists (see Creating mailboxes)
• With 2FA active: app password created (see App passwords)
• iOS 14+ (older iOS versions work too, but have outdated profile importers)

Option 1: Profile import — the recommended way

.mobileconfig profiles set up mail, calendar and contacts in one step — IMAP/SMTP plus CalDAV and CardDAV, without you creating three accounts individually. That’s why we recommend this route on iOS.

Requesting the profile

Open a ticket saying “iOS mail profile for <your-mail-address>”. We generate the profile and send it by mail or via the user login page for download.

Installing the profile

1. Tap the attachment or the download link of the .mobileconfig on the iPhone/iPad.
2. iOS says: “This profile has been downloaded. You can install it in Settings.”
3. Settings → Profile Downloaded (sometimes visible right at the top) → Install.
4. Enter your iPhone passcode.
5. During account setup, enter the mailbox or app password.

After installation:

• Mail app: the mailbox appears, mail comes in.
• Calendar app: the Mailcow calendar appears.
• Contacts app: the SOGo address book appears.

Option 2: Manually with IMAP / SMTP

If you don’t want the profile (or Apple Mail on iOS gets stricter with profiles):

1. Settings → Mail → Accounts → Add Account.

2. Select Other.

3. Add Mail Account.

4. Fields:

   • Name: your display name
   • Email: full mail address
   • Password: mailbox / app password
   • Description: your choice (e.g. “Club”)

5. Next. iOS attempts auto-discover. Often works, but if not:

6. Manual configuration:

IMAP tab:

Field	Value
Hostname	mail.xaweho.de
Username	full mail address
Password	mailbox / app password

SMTP tab:

Field	Value
Hostname	mail.xaweho.de
Username	full mail address
Password	same

7. Save. iOS checks the connection.

Checking SSL

After saving, go to Settings → Mail → Accounts → <your-account> → Account → SMTP → <server>:

• Use Server: enabled
• Use SSL: enabled
• Authentication: password
• Server Port: 587

Same in the IMAP entry:

• Use SSL: enabled
• Server Port: 993

Calendar and contacts: adding CalDAV and CardDAV

The manual IMAP setup covers mail only. You add calendar and contacts as two separate accounts — the standard route for SOGo on iOS:

CalDAV (calendar):

1. Settings → Calendar → Accounts → Add Account → Other.
2. Add CalDAV Account.
3. Server: mail.xaweho.de, Username: full mail address, Password: mailbox / app password.
4. Next — iOS finds the calendars via auto-discover.

CardDAV (contacts):

1. Settings → Contacts → Accounts → Add Account → Other.
2. Add CardDAV Account.
3. Same data as for the CalDAV account.

Details on calendars and address books: SOGo calendar and SOGo contacts.

Fetching data: how fast does mail arrive?

Straight up: the iOS Mail app polls IMAP accounts at intervals; there is no real push for IMAP there. You set the interval here:

1. Settings → Mail → Accounts → Fetch New Data.
2. Pick the fetch interval at the bottom: Automatically, Manually or every 15 / 30 / 60 minutes.
3. “Automatically” prefers fetching new data when the iPhone is plugged in and on Wi-Fi.

If 15 minutes is too slow for you: other mail apps keep the IMAP connection open (IMAP IDLE) and deliver new mail almost instantly — Apple’s own Mail app is not one of them.

What iOS does specially

Smart mailboxes: combine different accounts into one inbox. Handy if you want private Gmail + your xaweho mailbox in a single overview.

Customize swipe gestures: Settings → Mail → Swipe Options — what happens on a left/right swipe (delete, archive, flag).

Fine-tune notifications: per account you can choose whether you get no notifications, only for VIPs, or for all mail.

Frequently asked questions

The profile won’t install — error “Profile is not signed”. For some setups, iOS 16+ requires signed or MDM-managed profiles for mail profiles. Fix: load the profile as a mail attachment from within the iOS Mail app itself — there are fewer restrictions there than with a browser download.

New mail only arrives after minutes. That’s normal iOS behavior: the Mail app only polls IMAP accounts at intervals. Set a shorter interval under Settings → Mail → Accounts → Fetch New Data — faster than 15 minutes is not possible with Apple Mail.

Setup fails, “Unable to verify account”. Common causes: with 2FA active you need an app password instead of the mailbox password, and the username is always the full mail address. App passwords apply to IMAP, POP3 and SMTP — check in the Mailcow user login whether one exists, create a new one if needed.

Why don’t my iPhone contacts end up in SOGo? You need the CardDAV account for that (see above) — then sync runs both ways. When creating a new contact, check that it lands in the right account: Settings → Contacts → Default Account. Details: SOGo contacts.

What about POP3? POP3 practically never makes sense on mobile devices. You want mail in sync on iPhone, iPad and Mac — IMAP is the right protocol.

Does mail fetching drain the battery? Barely. One fetch every 15 minutes is a short connection; it doesn’t register in battery usage. “Automatically” is even more frugal because iOS prefers to sync on Wi-Fi and while charging.

Mailcow profile and iCloud Mail on the same iPhone? Both in parallel is no problem. iOS handles multiple accounts side by side in the Mail app.

What’s next

• Setting up Apple Mail (macOS)
• App passwords for mail clients
• Server data reference