iPhone outlook Unable to send or receive

Question

I have been unable to send or receive emails for about 24 hours. Until then I was able to send and receive emails without any problems. At the moment, it's just spinning around in circles.

Unable to send or receive

I reset the WIFI, but it hasn't resolved the issue.

I've tried turning the power on and off, but it hasn't resolved the issue.

Answer 1

Hello, thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

First, please check whether you can send and receive emails from Outlook.com in a web browser. This will help us determine whether the issue is with your Outlook account itself, the Outlook iOS app, or your network connection.

1. Open an incognito/private browsing tab in Safari.
2. Sign in to your Personal Microsoft account here: https://outlook.live.com/
3. Try sending a test email to another one of your email accounts and check whether it is received successfully.

If the email is not received, check whether you get any bounce-back or error messages. If you do receive an error, please copy the complete error message and share it here.

Additionally, please check that you have enough mailbox storage space available to send and receive emails. To check,

(Go to Settings > Accounts > Storage)

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Answer 2

Follow these steps on the iPhone Outlook account that stopped sending/receiving:

1. Check Microsoft account status and storage
   • If Microsoft cloud storage (OneDrive + Outlook.com mailbox) is full, sending and receiving stops and new messages are bounced and unrecoverable. Check mailbox storage and free space if needed.
   • If email can’t be sent or received at all, the Microsoft account might be blocked or need re‑sign‑in. Update the password in Outlook on iPhone if it was changed recently, or unblock the account if prompted.
2. Confirm the issue is only on the iPhone
   • Sign in to Outlook.com or Outlook on another device (PC or web).
   • If email works there but not on the iPhone, the problem is likely with the device/account sync.
3. Remove and re‑establish the device/mailbox partnership
   • In a browser, sign in to Outlook.com.
   • Go to Settings > General > Mobile devices.
   • Select the iPhone from the list and delete the device partnership, then select Save.
   • Power the iPhone off completely, wait a few seconds, turn it back on, then open Outlook and let it resync.
4. Check Outlook.com rules, filters, and views
   • In Outlook.com, verify there are no rules moving all new mail to another folder (for example, RSS or another custom folder) and that the Inbox view/sort is not hiding recent mail.
5. If still not working
   • Use the Outlook.com interactive troubleshooter for send/receive issues.
   • If the account still cannot send, follow the steps under Microsoft account security verification to resolve any validation issues, then retry on the iPhone.

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References:

• Can't send or receive email in Outlook.com
• Fix email sync issues by removing a device from your Outlook mailbox
• Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on Outlook.com
• Not receiving emails in a timely manner. - Microsoft Q&A
• Stopped receiving emails on my account. - Microsoft Q&A
• MSN email issues - Microsoft Q&A