· 6 min read
BT Email: How to Sign In, Set It Up and Keep Your Address
A plain guide to BT Email. How to sign in, the IMAP and SMTP settings for Outlook, Apple Mail and your phone, the common error messages, the 150 day rule and what happens to your address when you leave BT Broadband.
Jump to section
- Which BT Email Do You Have?
- How to Sign In to BT Email
- BT Email Settings for Outlook, Apple Mail and Your Phone
- Common BT Email Problems and Fixes
- The 150 Day Rule: Don't Let BT Delete Your Address
- Leaving BT Broadband? What Happens to Your Email
- Should You Keep a BT Email Address?
- Frequently Asked Questions
If your email address ends in @btinternet.com, @btopenworld.com or @talk21.com, it’s a BT Email address. A great many people in the UK still have one, often from a broadband package they signed up to years ago. This guide covers how to sign in, the settings you need for Outlook, Apple Mail or your phone, what the common error messages mean, and the rules that can see your address deleted if you’re not careful.
I checked everything below against BT’s own help pages on 9 November 2026. BT does change things from time to time, so if a menu name doesn’t match exactly, look for the closest wording in the same place.
Short answer:
- Sign in: go to email.bt.com/mail and use your full BT email address and email password.
- Settings for an email app: incoming IMAP server
mail.btinternet.comon port 993 with SSL, outgoing SMTP servermail.btinternet.comon port 465 with SSL. Your username is your full email address. - Keep it alive: on Standard and Basic email, sign in at least once every few months. BT deletes an address that hasn’t been used for 150 days.
- Leaving BT Broadband: you can keep your address free on Basic email (webmail only) if you ask for it when you cancel, or pay £7.50 a month for Premium email to keep everything working as before.
Which BT Email Do You Have?
BT has three types of email, and which one you have decides what you can do with it. This catches a lot of people out, especially after they leave BT Broadband.
| Type | Cost | Who has it | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Included with BT Broadband | BT Broadband customers who set up email before 26 October 2022 | Up to 11 addresses, webmail, the BT Email app and any email app such as Outlook or Apple Mail |
| Premium | £7.50 a month by direct debit | Anyone who wants to keep full BT Email without BT Broadband (UK address and bank account needed) | The same as Standard: up to 11 addresses and access from any email app |
| Basic | Free | People who left BT Broadband and asked to keep their address | One address only, and webmail at bt.com only. No Outlook, Apple Mail, phone mail app or BT Email app |
Prices and features from BT’s “BT Email products” help page, checked 9 November 2026.
How to Sign In to BT Email
Sign in on the web
- Go to email.bt.com/mail.
- Enter your full BT email address, including the @btinternet.com part.
- Enter your email password and sign in.
Good to know: your BT email and your BT ID (the login for My BT) are separate, even when they use the same address, and the passwords can be different. If one password doesn’t work, try the other. If you have more than one BT email address, each one has its own sign in.
If you can’t sign in
- Check the address and password for typing mistakes, and make sure Caps Lock is off.
- Use the Forgotten password link on the sign in page.
- If you enter the wrong details too many times, BT locks the account for a short while. Wait, then try again.
- If the password is right and it still won’t let you in, the address may have been suspended or deleted. I cover that further down.
BT Email Settings for Outlook, Apple Mail and Your Phone
Most email apps set BT Email up for you when you type in your address and password. If yours asks for the settings, these are the ones BT recommends. Use IMAP rather than POP3, because IMAP keeps your phone, computer and webmail in step.
| Setting | Incoming (IMAP) | Outgoing (SMTP) |
|---|---|---|
| Server | mail.btinternet.com | mail.btinternet.com |
| Port | 993 | 465 |
| Security | SSL on (not STARTTLS) | SSL on (not STARTTLS) |
| Username | Your full email address | Your full email address |
| Password | Your email password | Your email password |
| Authentication | Normal password | Turn on “My server requires authentication” |
From BT’s “BT Email server settings” help page, checked 9 November 2026. If you must use POP3, it’s mail.btinternet.com on port 995 with SSL, and tick “keep email on server”.
Know the limits: these settings only work on Standard and Premium email. Basic email is webmail only, so Outlook, Apple Mail and phone mail apps won’t connect however you set them up. Don’t turn on Secure Password Authentication (SPA) either. BT says it isn’t needed and won’t work.
Common BT Email Problems and Fixes
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Your email app suddenly stops signing in, but webmail works | If you have only used webmail for 12 months, BT can turn off access from email apps | Reset your email password, then add the account to your app again |
| Error 530 when sending | Your app isn’t signing in to send | Turn on “My server requires authentication” in the outgoing server settings |
| Error 522 | BT thinks the connection is insecure, or has seen spam from it | Use a secure connection you trust, and change your password from there |
| Error 421 | Too many emails sent in a short time | Wait and send fewer at once. After a locked account is recovered, the sending limit is lower for 7 days |
| “Your email was last used on… we will suspend your mailbox” | The address hasn’t been used for a while and is about to be suspended | Sign in, and the warning goes away |
| “Your session has expired” | A routine security time out | Sign out and back in |
If you changed your password on the web, remember to change it in every app and phone that uses the account too. An old password in one app can lock the whole account after a few tries.
The 150 Day Rule: Don’t Let BT Delete Your Address
This is the part I would take most seriously. On Standard and Basic email, BT deletes an address that hasn’t been used for 150 days, along with every email in it. Signing in on the web or through an email app both count.
- After 60 days without a sign in, BT sends a reminder by email or text.
- After 90 days it sends another, and its help pages say the mailbox can be suspended at this point.
- After 150 days the address and everything in it are deleted, and BT says the emails can’t be recovered.
You may be able to take the address back for a short time afterwards (BT calls this “reuse”), but you start again on Basic email with an empty mailbox. Premium email isn’t covered by this rule while you keep paying, although missed payments lead to suspension and then deletion.
Worth doing: make sure the mobile number and contact email in My BT are up to date, so the reminders reach you. If a BT address is a backup or an old address you rarely use, put a reminder in your calendar to sign in every couple of months.
Leaving BT Broadband? What Happens to Your Email
When BT Broadband stops, Standard email stops with it. You have three choices, and the timing matters.
| Choice | Cost | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Keep it on Basic | Free | Ask for Basic email when you cancel your broadband. You can’t switch to it directly later. One address only, webmail only, and the 150 day rule applies |
| Move to Premium | £7.50 a month | Everything keeps working as it does now. Order it in My BT under Your products, Email, Manage |
| Let it go | Free | The address closes. Move your email and tell people your new address first |
If you already let it lapse to Basic and later want to keep it free, BT says you need to buy Premium first and then downgrade, so it’s much easier to decide before you cancel.
Should You Keep a BT Email Address?
I can see why people keep them. It is the address friends, family, the bank and the doctor’s surgery have had for years, and changing it feels like a big job. But a BT address ties your email to your broadband company, and every time you think about switching broadband, your email becomes part of the decision. £90 a year for Premium is also more than many proper email services cost.
My own view is that it’s worth moving to an address you control, ideally on your own domain, so you never have to do this again whoever supplies your broadband. If you do decide to move, my guide to switching email provider without losing anything walks through it step by step, and you can compare BT Email with other providers on its provider page.
If you’d rather stay, that’s fine too. Just pick the right type before you cancel your broadband, and sign in now and then.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I log in to my BT email?
Go to email.bt.com/mail and sign in with your full BT email address and your email password. Your email password can be different from your My BT password.
What are the BT Email IMAP and SMTP settings?
Incoming IMAP is mail.btinternet.com on port 993 with SSL. Outgoing SMTP is mail.btinternet.com on port 465 with SSL and authentication turned on. Use your full email address as the username for both.
Can I keep my BT email address if I leave BT?
Yes. Ask for free Basic email when you cancel, which gives you one address on the web only, or pay £7.50 a month for Premium email to keep everything as it is.
Why has my BT email stopped working in Outlook or on my iPhone?
The most likely reasons are a changed password that hasn’t been updated in the app, a move to Basic email (which is webmail only), or BT turning off app access after 12 months of webmail only use. In the last case, resetting your email password turns it back on.
Will BT delete my email if I don’t use it?
On Standard and Basic email, yes. BT deletes an address after 150 days without a sign in, and the emails can’t be recovered. It sends reminders at 60 and 90 days first.
Is btinternet.com still BT Email?
Yes. @btinternet.com, @btopenworld.com and @talk21.com addresses are all BT Email, and they all use the same settings.
Sources, checked 9 November 2026: BT Help pages BT Email products, BT Email server settings, BT Email usage policy, suspended or deleted accounts and error messages.
Paul O'Brien
I've spent over 25 years working hands-on with email, DNS and cloud infrastructure. I test email providers and privacy tools for real, then tell you what they're good at and where they fall short.
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