How to set up and access Microsoft Outlook email on iPhone and iPad

June 25, 2014

If Microsoft Outlook is your email provider of choice, it's easy to set up and access your mail right on your iPhone or iPad. You can even sync your contacts and Outlook calendars as well. As it happens, there are actually two ways to access Outlook mail on your iPhone or iPad — through the built-in Mail app and through Safari

How to add Outlook email to your iPhone or iPad's Mail app

By far the easiest and most convenient way to access your Outlook.com email is via the Mail app that comes built right into your iPhone or iPad.

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
Tap on Add Account.
Tap on Outlook.com.
Enter your Outlook.com username and password and then tap Next in the upper right hand corner.
Choose the services you'd like to enable and sync with Outlook and then tap Save in the upper right hand corner.

And you're done! You will miss out on any web-specific features, which are what Microsoft is working to make all shiny and revolutionary, but you will get all your mail in the unified inbox, right beside iCloud and Gmail if you use those services as well. You can also set up Outlook.com as an Exchange account. Just follow the same steps above but choose the Exchange option for account type and use m.hotmail.com as your server.

How to access Outlook.com on your iPhone or iPad via the web

If you need to log in to your Outlook email on someone else's iPhone or iPad, or you just don't need to access it enough to set it up in the built-in Mail app, you can access your Outlook account from Safari the way you would in any web browser.

Launch Safari on your iPhone or iPad
Go to Outlook.com
Log in to your Outlook account.
Choose whether or not you want Safari to remember your Outlook username and password.
That's it, you can use a slimmed down mobile version of Outlook webmail anytime, anywhere.