OK, I've had it. I'm a techo idiot and I really hope that someone can help me. I've called Samsung (useless), Sprint (useless), Microsoft (useless), and went to the Sprint store three times (useless). This has been going on for about six months. I've scoured the internet and every solution I managed to find DOES NOT WORK. I have an old hotmail account that I've had for about 20 years. I also have an older android phone (Samsung Galaxy S4). The stock email app on the phone looks like a white envelope with a red @ symbol thingy in the middle. It's been working fine for years, but about six months ago, I noticed that emails in my Inbox on the phone and also in the Sent folder started randomly disappearing. I'd log in to my hotmail account on my PC, and everything is there. Sync the phone, nothing happens. This is going to be very convoluted, so bear with me. I do the logical thing, and delete the account off the phone and put it back on automatically (POP3). Same thing, it won't sync. Just so you all know, I have a ton of subfolders in that hotmail account, and they all showed up after re-installing the account on the phone. However, the only emails this stupid account will retrieve from the server is junk mail, JUNK MAIL AND NOTHING ELSE. If I send an email to myself on the phone, it will come in. If I send an email to myself from my PC, it will come in. Then, after a day or three, Zzzzzzzzzzt! Disappears from both Inbox and Sent all by itself. I sync the phone, nothing happens. I go to both the email Inbox and the Sent folders and refresh it. "NO EMAILS, you may have emails that have not yet been retrieved from the server." I refresh it again. Nothing. Take the acct off, put it back on, lather, rinse, repeat a hundred times with the same result. So then I say OK, let me see if I can put this fckr on manually. I try it as IMAP, Incoming Server Settings imap-mail.outlook.com, Port 993, SSL. AUTHENTICATION FAILED, so it won't even let me get past it. I change it to TLS, same thing. I put Security NONE and the Port changes to 143, AUTHENTICATION FAILED. I try something else: imap.hotmail.com, nope. I log back in on my laptop and make sure that two-step verification is turned off. It is. I check to see if my phone is showing. It is, and says status OK. I change from outlook to outlook.com. Still doesn't work. I have tried every Incoming Server for IMAP out there for hotmail, outlook, outlook live, outlook.com and none of them them work. I've tried everything for POP3, same result. I put the account on the phone as a gmail exchange account or something like that (it says PERSONAL (IMAP) ) when you go to add a new account. It took it, but none of the subfolders showed up and it just sat there and didn't do anything. I deleted it. It seems the only way I can get the account on to the phone at all at this point is if I do it automatically through Microsoft Exchange Active Sync (I can only see the Incoming Server settings, there is no option to see Outgoing). However, it's the same damn thing. New messages disappear on their own from Inbox and Sent, what is viewable on the laptop in Inbox and Sent never shows up, and the account will only retrieve junk mail. Again, I can see all of my subfolders, but it's essentially useless. HAS ANYONE HEARD OF THIS?!!?!!! The last moron that I spoke to at Microsoft told me to call Google (!) and gave me a number. I think I just grunted. I called the number and what else, it's dead air. Another moron at Microsoft gave me a tech support website and it's for Lumia phones. I DON'T HAVE A LUMIA PHONE, you idiot. I just can't believe that I can't find any real information about this and why between my cell carrier, Microsoft, and Samsung, nobody knows ANYTHING about this! Am I the ONLY person is the U.S. with this issue?! To his credit, one guy at Samsung after about the 10th try over the months really tried his best. Went through almost every possible setting with me for IMAP and POP3 that he knew of, and same damn thing: AUTHENTICATION FAILED. The other two error messages I get is Unable to Connect to the Server or Cannot Verify Account or some shit like that. Needless to say, the Samsung guy was completely stumped and flummoxed. Any assistance would be much appreciated, but I'm not holding out much hope. I'm thinking if I factory re-set/hard re-set the phone it'll be the same shit. PRL, Profile, Software, and Firmware are all up to date. Android version is 5.0.1 whatever that means. HELP (hand sticking up out of the water)! I also wanted to add that I have an email account through the stock app on the phone and the account is through my I-net Service Provider. There are no issues. Oh, and yet another Microsoft idiot suggested that I download the Outlook app from the Play Store. How about no? It's full of adware and I never had to use a dedicated app before! Stuff like this makes me nuts, and I know it has to be some simple idiotic solution that no-one is privy to, but I figured I'd give it a shot here. Thanks, all. -jeto
Against my better judgment, I did a hard factory re-set. But let me preface it that I did that 6 TIMES IN A ROW TODAY (as well as three months ago). I don't have one song on the phone, I don't stream anything, and I don't do any gaming. I'm a simpleton. I JUST WANTED TO USE AN EMAIL ACCOUNT THAT USED TO WORK ON MY PHONE. The only apps I have that isn't forced bloatware is a Solitaire game I can play offline when I'm taking a dump and some museum apps. All I do is make phone calls (short and to the point), text (hate it), and take photos. That's it. Well, that hotmail account, I FINALLY GOT IT TO WORK. WHO KNOWS HOW OR WHY BECAUSE IT WAS THE SAME IMAP/POP3 SHIT THAT I KEPT DOING OVER AND OVER FOR MONTHS TRYING TO GET IT TO WORK. And did I say I that also was trying to do it manually?! Today I did it manually and MIRACULOUSLY THE STUPID PHONE RETRIEVED EVERYTHING. WHO KNOWS WHY. I'm going to factory re-set it again tomorrow, because the first few times today, every time I disabled Google spying options (location, targeted ads, voice), it wouldn't do anything at all. Fukk Microsoft, fukk Samsung, fukk Sprint and drop dead Google. I am a goddamn idiot who can't find my way out of a paper bag and and I somehow got it work. Imagine that? Thanks for the feedback and suggestions. When you're bleeding to death on the side of the street, don't call me! Uh, you can try, but my phone probably won't be working! EDIT & P.S.: I'm dumbfounded that between all of these tech Giants, no-one could tell me what to do. Am I smarter than I think I am? No. I just knew it was something simple, and what that simple thing was, the world will never know. Including me. This was a six fuggin' month ordeal with so many phone calls I was screaming in my sleep.
My wife always asks me why her phone is doing this and that. I always tell her to restart it, so far that has worked every time and it's a good thing because if it goes beyond that I am lost.
