Yahoo Mail app is down on Android and iPhone, but these 5 steps should get your broken email working again

Thousands of Yahoo Mail users are unable to login to check their inbox on the official Android and iPhone app, but a spokesperson for Yahoo has issued an emergency five-step process to get emails working again

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Aaron Brown

By Aaron Brown


Published: 28/02/2024

- 10:28

Updated: 28/02/2024

- 10:29

The bug has been fixed but thousands of Yahoo Mail users across the UK remain unable to check their inbox or send emails

  • Yahoo Mail app has been suffering issues on iPhone and Android since last night
  • Thousands of frustrated email users have been unable to send or receive messages
  • Yahoo has issued instructions to fix the broken email service
  • It has 5 simple steps to get iOS and Android app working again

Yahoo Mail has been plagued with issues since late yesterday afternoon. The outage is concentrated on the Android and iPhone apps, which won't load ― leaving thousands of people unable to send or receive emails.

The outage has been fixed, Yahoo reassured frustrated email users, although it admitted that it could take up to 24 hours for the patch to take affect for everyone. In the meantime, thousands are still unable to check their emails using the Yahoo Mail app on iOS and Android.

"Something went wrong with Yahoo Mail," a pop-up message warns when trying to launch the Yahoo Mail app on Android, "Yahoo Mail closed because this app has a bug."

To resolve the ongoing issue, Yahoo has issued emergency advice to all users with five easy-to-follow steps that it claims will fix everything. The step-by-step guide was first published on X, formerly Twitter.

For those who rely on Yahoo Mail app on Android devices:

  1. Long press the app icon
  2. Click the info icon on the top right corner to open the app settings
  3. Scroll down to the usage section and storage row, and open it
  4. Clear cache and clear data
  5. Reopen the app and it should work as usual

Or, if you use Yahoo Mail with the iPhone app:

  1. Close any existing session of the Yahoo app
  2. Open the Settings app on your iOS Device
  3. Search for the Yahoo App, and click on it
  4. Scrolling to the bottom, you should see a toggle button called “Reset All Accounts”
  5. Toggle on the button and relaunch the app. (You may be asked to login again)

Yahoo has also told customers that deleting and reinstalling the Yahoo Mail app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store could also help to fix the issue.

It's unclear exactly what caused the issue with the Yahoo Mail app. Logging into the email service on a laptop or desktop PC using a web browser was not impacted by the outage, with only those who rely on the mobile app on Android and iOS struggling to check their inbox over the last 18 hours.

According to independent website Down Detector, which monitors outages using mentions across public posts on social media, tracked over 8,500 reports from frustrated users in the UK at the peak of the problems.

Despite the team at Yahoo identifying the problem and issuing a fix, there are still over 2,000 reports today. Using location data embedded into social posts, Down Detector can produce a heat map showing the highest concentration of reports across the UK.

London and Birmingham are the cities with the highest number of reports, with Cardiff and Manchester following behind in third and fourth position.

down detector screenshot shows thousands of reports for an ongoing outage with yahoo mail

Down Detector shows the colossal number of reports across the UK when the problem was identified yesterday, but despite Yahoo issuing a fix... thousands are still struggling to send or receive emails

DOWN DETECTOR

A spokesperson for Yahoo Mail has acknowledged that it could take a while before everything is up and running with the popular email service again. In a tweet, the company admitted: "Thank you for your patience as we have worked to resolve an issue with our Apps today. A fix has rolled out, but this may take up to 24 hours to reach your device.

"To achieve a faster resolution, you can uninstall and reinstall your App. Please note: We recommend not uninstalling your App unless your login credentials (password etc.) are known, or your recovery channels are up to date, as you will be required to log back in upon reinstall."

a map of the uk with heat maps around cities experiencing the highest number of complaints with yahoo mail

Down Detector uses location data to place the complaints on a map of the UK, showing the areas with the highest concentration of problems

DOWN DETECTOR

Despite publishing the step-by-step guide to resolve the problem, social media is packed with Yahoo Mail users who still cannot access their inbox this morning (February 28, 2024).

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"I've done all this and still won't work," one user tweeted. Another struggling Yahoo Mail user added: "This does not work. I can't even log in to your website to get emails that way."

"Hi, I've not got a button as you suggest, I've gone into setting and cleared cache, I will be trying the uninstall as I know my password but my mum (elderly) is panicking because she can't remember her password and needs her emails," one worried Yahoo Mail user posted on X.

Customer service representatives from Yahoo Mail are responding to users experiencing trouble. If you need additional help to get access to your inbox, you can send a tweet to the team @YahooCare.

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