AOL Mail and Apple Mail App

[mac_in_tosh]

Several years ago, Verizon got out of the email business and handed things over to AOL, although we retained our @verizon.net addresses. I have been accessing these emails using the Apple Mail app on my MB Pro. I am getting emails purportedly from AOL saying "To help protect the security of your account, starting on June 1, 2021, AOL will stop allowing connections from some third-party apps and programs unless you take action." So first I want to know:

o Is anyone else is getting these emails?

If legit, there are three options provided. I am only interested in options 2 and 3, shown below, as option 1 is for iOS. In reading up on option 3, it appears that if you have established 2-factor authentication (2FA) for AOL mail, then you go to AOL to generate a new password to use in Mail to connect to AOL. I assume this is in addition to the usual AOL Mail password you would use for directly accessing AOL mail on the web.

Some questions:

o If I do option 2, will I lose all of the emails in my Mail folders for this account? If so, is there an easy way to save and restore them?
o Re. option 3, I haven't established 2FA with AOL Mail at this time, although I probably should. But I'm not sure I understand this "new password" concept as then Apple Mail would be accessing my emails without 2FA.
o Which option do you recommend?

Option 2. Remove your AOL account from your third-party app or program, then add it again. This will update the app or program's connection to your AOL account to meet our security requirements. Make sure you know your AOL password before removing and re-adding your account.

Option 3. Generate a unique app password that gives your third-party app or program permission to log in to your AOL account, then update your app or program settings to use this password.

 

[SuperMatt]

I believe this is a real thing; a friend of mine got the same message. If I recall, all they had to do was remove AOL from Internet accounts and re-add it. The help document is here:

Ways to securely access AOL Mail

Learn about the options available for accessing AOL Mail.

help.aol.com

 

[mac_in_tosh]

I believe this is a real thing; a friend of mine got the same message. If I recall, all they had to do was remove AOL from Internet accounts and re-add it.

When the account is removed, won't all of the prior emails associated with that account be lost?

 

[SuperMatt]

When the account is removed, won't all of the prior emails associated with that account be lost?

Is it POP or IMAP? The person I worked with - it was IMAP. The emails were re-downloaded - they may have even been cached because I don’t recall it taking very long for it all to restore itself. If you have a POP account, your mail is already downloaded locally and not kept on the server - but to be safe, before you do this, you could backup all mail associated with the account.

 

[KaliYoni]

I received the message a few months ago for an old AOL account I don't use much. I made the required changes back then. My memory is a little fuzzy but I think I did Option 2, which switched the account from POP3 to IMAP.

I'm on Mojave. My Apple Mail is used with both POP3 and IMAP accounts. I'm pretty sure this is what happens with Option 2 and Option 3:

• Option 2 integrates Mail log-ins for AOL with System Preferences/Internet Accounts. When AOL requires a login on Mail (this seems to happen periodically, perhaps for security purposes), System Preferences shows a popup that then launches Safari for a log-in on an AOL webpage. I use my existing AOL password there. This is similar to how gmail works with Mail.
• Option 3 creates an exclusive password for Mail that is different from my existing AOL password. The exclusive password is entered into Mail/Preferences/Accounts and becomes the only password Mail uses to log-in to AOL.

I think Option 2 does have the risk of losing stored emails. The safest thing to do might be to start with Option 3.

 

[ThrowerGB]

Take a look at https://christianboyce.com/make-aol-work-again-iphone-ipad/
It's a fairly comprehensive description of the cause and how to fix the problem.

 

[SuperMatt]

I received the message a few months ago for an old AOL account I don't use much. I made the required changes back then. My memory is a little fuzzy but I think I did Option 2, which switched the account from POP3 to IMAP.

I'm on Mojave. My Apple Mail is used with both POP3 and IMAP accounts. I'm pretty sure this is what happens with Option 2 and Option 3:

• Option 2 integrates Mail log-ins for AOL with System Preferences/Internet Accounts. When AOL requires a login on Mail (this seems to happen periodically, perhaps for security purposes), System Preferences shows a popup that then launches Safari for a log-in on an AOL webpage. I use my existing AOL password there. This is similar to how gmail works with Mail.
• Option 3 creates an exclusive password for Mail that is different from my existing AOL password. The exclusive password is entered into Mail/Preferences/Accounts and becomes the only password Mail uses to log-in to AOL.

I think Option 2 does have the risk of losing stored emails. The safest thing to do might be to start with Option 3.

I’ve used something similar to Option 3 when I needed to use iCloud email with 3rd-party email apps on iPhone. It’s nice too because you can revoke those credentials at any time if you have a security concern.

 

[mac_in_tosh]

Thanks all for the information so far but for some reason I'm finding all this very confusing.

The article referenced in post #6 says that the "app password" is for Mac OS 10.13 or older, but the link to AOL provided there says "Some older third-party email apps (that do not use our AOL-branded sign in page) require you to enter a single password for login credentials. If you've activated 2-step verification for your AOL account, you'll need to generate and use an "app password" to access AOL Mail from these apps." So the "app password" is just if you've set up 2FA with AOL mail?

The article also states "If you’re using the Mac Mail app on a Mac with Mojave (10.14) or Catalina (10.15), you don’t need the app-specific password. Instead, you’ll have to delete the account and then add it again." I'm on Catalina right now but will probably update to Big Sur in the near future. Will this fix provided for Catalina continue to work with Big Sur?

I'm using POP. I think the article assured me that if I do option 2 I will not lose all my emails in the account if I delete and then re-establish the AOL account.

Ugh.

 

[KaliYoni]

Option 4: switch email providers. This could even be the best option, despite the short-term inconvenience, because the recent purchase of Yahoo and AOL by private equity means that cost cutting and cash extraction is going to be the #1 priority from now on.