How to set up Exchange accounts on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

By Drew Kozub
last updated

Exchange is Microsoft's corporate email, calendar, and contact service, built on top of the company's lightning-fast ActiveSync protocol. Many companies use Exchange for their email services; if yours happens to be one of them, we've got the guide to help you set it up on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Even if you don't have a company Exchange account, you may still be able to take advantage of Exchange syncing on the iPhone through a paid Google account. Google licenses Microsoft's technology so that it can provide Google Sync service for Gmail, Contacts, and Calendars; if you have a paid Google account, you can set up Google Sync through an Exchange account on the iPhone, as well.

No matter whether you use Exchange via Microsoft, Google, your company, or a third-party service, it's all set up the same way: All you need to know are your credentials.

How to set up a mail, calendar, and contacts Exchange account on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
  3. Tap Add Account.
  4. Tap Microsoft Exchange.
  5. Enter your Exchange ActiveSync account settings (see your IT administrator or service provider if you don't know them).


  1. Tap Next.
  2. Select what you want to sync (Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Reminders).
  3. Tap Save.

You can go back to Settings and configure how many days of mail you want to sync, along with advanced settings like SSL and S/MIME as well.

How to set up Google Sync on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

The Google Sync setup is nearly identical to Exchange: You just need to have a paid Google account and enter the following settings.

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
  3. Tap Add Account.
  4. Tap Microsoft Exchange.
  5. Under Email, enter your full Gmail or Google Account email address (i.e. name@gmail.com or name@mygoogleaccountdomain.com).
  6. Enter m.google.com as the Server.
  7. Leave the Domain field blank. (Really.)
  8. Enter your full Gmail or Google Account email address as the Username. (Yup, just like above.)
  9. Enter your account password next to Password.
  10. Tap Next.
  11. Select what you want to sync (Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Reminders).
  12. Tap Save.

Running into problems with Exchange sync? Let us know and we can try and help you out.

Rene Ritchie contributed to an earlier version of this article.

Drew Kozub
Drew Kozub

"Siri, write a really funny bio for me to use for Mobile Nations" "Okay, Drew, here's your really funny bio: How-to writer, fiddle player, retro gamer."

8 Comments
  • There are some extra steps you should take to sync all your shared calendars and email settings.
    1. In Safari on your iPhone go to m.google.com/sync/settings
    2. Select your device
    3. Tick the boxes you require such as Enable "Send Mail As" for this device, Enable "Delete Email As Trash" for this device, and then select any calendars you might also want to sync from the list shown. I have Birthdays, Holidays in the UK and Manchester United calendars that I like to have synced on my iPhone.
  • I thought Google's exchange service was dead. I thought you had to setup Gmail (with Gmail), Google Calendar (with CardDAV), and Google Contacts (with CardDAV)?
  • Those who pay for Google Apps can use the Exchange service.
  • I haven't been able to get Google Apps working on iOS Mail for years. Everything appears fine until you archive a message—you'll get an error "unable to move message" and it'll pop back into your mailbox. Google Apps support confirmed the problem but offered no solution other than to use the Gmail app. I'd really love to use Mail.app though… has anyone seen this issue and figured out a solution?
  • I'm having problems with when I restore from a backup and then log into my emails it erases some of my contacts that were there from the iCloud backup, any suggestions?
  • Still no joy. I have a thread on apple support pages you should follow, and also check out the recent workaround by "neoteric5"… it's somewhat ridiculous but it works for him. I haven't tried it myself yet but might. (Oh joy, you can't post URLs here. Go to Apple community support and append the following to their base URL to find my thread, or search "Can't archive mail with Google Apps mail as Exchange") thread/7055625 Hey @serenity this is your article… anything to contribute here?
  • a paid google account? could someone elaborate on this please?
  • A paid google account is Google Apps for Work. You pay a monthly fee and you can get unlimited storage and other great features, you can also use your own domain you don't have to use a gmail address e.g joe@bloggs.com. https://www.google.com/intx/en_uk/work/apps/business/