How to Update an Email Password on Mac in 2026, Step by Step

To update an email password on a Mac, change it with your email provider first, on the Gmail, Microsoft or Yahoo website, or in System Settings for iCloud. Then give your Mac the new password: sign in again when Apple Mail or Outlook asks, or use System Settings > Internet Accounts. Typing it into Mail alone changes nothing at the provider.

That two-part job is where it usually goes wrong: the password gets changed somewhere else, and the Mac is left holding the old one. When I changed my Gmail password on my phone before a trip, the Mac at home had no idea, and Mail greeted me with a password box the next time I opened it. This guide covers both halves for each major provider, then the other places an old password hides, what to do if Mail keeps asking, and what to do if you've forgotten the password altogether.

Where to change your email password, by account

Your email password lives with whoever runs your mailbox, not on your Mac. Find your address below, change the password there, then follow the section for the app you read mail in.

For a domain or host that isn't listed, Apple's advice is simple: reset the password through the provider's website, or contact the provider directly. Menus differ too much from host to host for any one set of steps to hold.

How to change a Gmail password on a Mac

A Gmail password is your Google Account password, and on a Mac you change it in a browser on Google's site. Google's password help page lays it out:

1. Open Safari and go to myaccount.google.com. Sign in if asked.
2. Open Security & sign-in.
3. Under How you sign in to Google, click Password. You may need to sign in again.
4. Type the new password and click Change Password.

Google signs you out everywhere once the change goes through, with a few exceptions: devices you use to verify your identity, and some third-party apps and home devices you've given access. So don't be alarmed if your phone asks you to sign in a minute later. Don't assume an app that still works is using the new password, either, because some of them keep their access through the change.

If you're changing the password because you suspect someone got in, finish the job on Google's linked apps page. Pick anything you don't recognize, open its details and remove its access.

How to change an iCloud Mail password on a Mac

The iCloud Mail password is your Apple Account password, according to Apple, so changing one changes what you use everywhere that Apple Account signs in. On a Mac it takes about four clicks, per Apple's password page:

1. Open System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Click your name, then click Sign-In & Security.
3. Click Change Password.
4. Enter the password you use to unlock your Mac, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Apple notes you may have to wait an hour before you can change it, because of Stolen Device Protection. Plan around that if you're doing this just before a flight or a meeting. Also, the password you type in step 4 is your Mac's login password, which is a different thing from the Apple Account password you're replacing, and mixing the two up is an easy way to lose a few minutes.

How to change an Outlook.com or Microsoft 365 password on a Mac

Personal Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live addresses use a Microsoft account, while work and school addresses use a separate portal. Pick the right one first, because each page only changes the password for its own kind of account.

Personal Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live addresses

Microsoft's steps for a password you still know:

1. Sign in at account.microsoft.com with your current password.
2. Go to Security and select Change Password.
3. Enter the new password. You'll see an optional checkbox that prompts you to update it every 72 days.
4. Select Save.

I'd leave that checkbox empty. NIST's digital identity guidelines, the US federal guidance on this, say services shouldn't require periodic changes and should force a change when there's evidence of a compromise. Scheduled changes also tempt me to tweak a password by one digit, which helps nobody.

Work or school Microsoft 365 addresses

Microsoft's work and school steps start at a different address, and they end by asking you to sign in again with the new password:

1. Go to myaccount.microsoft.com and sign in with your work or school account.
2. Select Change Password in the left pane.
3. Enter your old password, then enter and confirm the new one.
4. Select Submit.

How to change a Yahoo Mail password on a Mac

Yahoo Mail passwords change on the Yahoo Account security page, in a browser. Yahoo's help page gives four steps:

1. Sign in to the Yahoo Account security page.
2. Under Ways of signing in, click Password.
3. Enter a new password.
4. Click Continue.

No way to change it on that page? Yahoo says you might have Account Key turned on, and you'll need to disable it before you can set a new password.

How to update the new password in Apple Mail

Mail on your Mac learns a new password in one of two ways: you get asked to sign in again, or you replace the saved password yourself. Which one you get depends on the account, so start with the route Apple recommends:

1. Quit Mail with Command-Q. If it won't quit, force it to quit.
2. Open System Settings (System Preferences on older Macs) and click Internet Accounts.
3. Select your mail account, then click Details if that button appears.
4. If you see a password field, replace the old password with the new one.
5. Close the window, reopen Mail and check that new messages arrive.

Try a test send as well as a receive. Mail keeps a separate outgoing server for some accounts, and an inbox that looks fine doesn't prove your replies are leaving.

If the account has a Server Settings password

Some accounts also show the password in Mail itself. Apple's Server Settings guide gives the path: open Mail > Settings, go to Accounts, pick your address and open Server Settings. Incoming and outgoing servers each have their own Password field, so update both, then click Save. The fields you see vary by account type.

If there's no password field at all

A missing field isn't a fault: Apple's article only says to replace the password if a field appears. For Gmail, Google's help page warns that after a password change you might need to re-enter your account information or repeat the setup in your email app. On a Mac, that means removing the account and adding it back with the Google option in Mail > Add Account, so you sign in on Google's own page.

Other accounts give you something to try first. A user on an Apple Support Community thread reported in 2025 that the field was gone from Internet Accounts after updating to macOS Sequoia, and replies said passwords for IMAP accounts (typically mail set up with server details, often from a web host) can be changed in the Passwords app. Another reply said Mail should ask for the new password once the provider has changed it. Those are other users' reports, not Apple's instructions, so I treat the Passwords app as worth a try before a full remove and re-add, and no more than that.

How to update your email password in Outlook for Mac

Outlook for Mac can't change an email password either; the change has to happen with your provider first. Microsoft's pages describe two routes, depending on your account and version. If you see a disconnect icon beside the account, use the second route; otherwise, start with the first:

• Microsoft 365 or Exchange with modern sign-in: Microsoft says to open Outlook > Settings > Accounts, select Manage to remove and re-add the account, sign in again when prompted, then check that Outlook can send and receive.
• Outlook 2024, 2021 or 2016 showing a disconnect icon: Microsoft's other page says to go to Tools > Accounts, select the account, click the disconnect icon beside its name and enter your username and password in the window that opens.

The disconnect icon is the useful clue. Microsoft says it appears when a password was changed but hasn't synced to the Mac, so seeing it tells you the second half of this job is still waiting.

What happens to app passwords when you change your email password

An app password is a separate code some apps use instead of your main password, so if you never created one, you can skip this section. App passwords don't behave the same at every provider, and it's easy to get this wrong in both directions. Google and Apple kill them when your main password changes. Yahoo keeps them alive.

The Yahoo row matters most if you're changing a password after a scare, since the old app password still works until you delete it. Yahoo's fix for a stuck email app is also worth knowing: delete the saved password in the app and enter the current one, or generate a fresh app password and use that.

On Gmail, Apple's Mail password article says an account with two-step verification needs an app-specific password in Mail. Google's page is narrower: use one only if the app has no Sign in with Google option. Mail on a Mac offers the Google option, so I'd go there first and keep app passwords for the older apps that really need them.

Other places your old email password is saved

Mail and Outlook are rarely the only places holding the old password. After a change, I work down this list so nothing surprises me mid-week:

• Safari and the Passwords app. Update the saved login so autofill stops offering the old one. On macOS Sequoia and later, open the Passwords app, pick the entry, choose Edit and enter the new password. On Sonoma or earlier, use System Settings > Passwords.
• Other email apps on the Mac. Each app that holds its own copy will need the new password or a new sign-in.
• Your iPhone and iPad. Mail there may ask for the new password too, so have it handy.
• A browser password manager. If you use one, update it now, before you forget which password is current.
• Printers, scanners and scan-to-email devices. I forgot the office scanner the last time I changed a work password, and it failed quietly until someone asked why their scans never arrived.

Why Mail keeps asking for your password after you changed it

Mail keeps asking because it can reach your provider but the provider is rejecting what it sends, Apple explains. The stale password is the common cause, though not the only one. Work down these checks in order:

1. Test the password in a browser. Sign in to webmail in Safari (iCloud.com for iCloud Mail). If that fails too, the password itself is wrong, and no setting in Mail will fix it.
2. Check for a suspended account. Apple lists a deactivated or suspended account as a cause, and only the provider can fix that.
3. Take the account out of Mail and add it back. This is Apple's last step, and Apple also points to it when a provider has changed how apps sign in.

Before step 3, read Apple's warning: the Mac loses that account's messages, while the server keeps its copies, so first save what matters to On My Mac: choose Mailbox > New Mailbox, set the location to On My Mac, and drag the messages in. To remove the account, open Mail > Settings > Accounts, select it and click the minus sign. When Calendar or Contacts share the account, Apple says to delete it from Internet Accounts instead, and that can remove data those apps hold, which may come back once the account does. When you add it again, choose the right provider: Microsoft Exchange for Outlook.com and Hotmail addresses on a Mac, Google for Gmail, yahoo! for Yahoo.

If the password works in webmail and the error mentions the account name or password, our guide to fixing "unable to verify account name or password" goes through it provider by provider. If Mail can't reach the server at all, start with our server connection fixes instead.

How to reset an email password you forgot on a Mac

A forgotten password takes a recovery flow instead of a change, and you still run it from the provider's side rather than from Mail:

• Google: start Google's account recovery. You'll answer questions to prove the account is yours, and Google will send an email, so check junk and spam folders if it doesn't arrive.
• Apple: on a Mac where you're already signed in, Apple says to change the password there. Otherwise go to iforgot.apple.com. If you can't reset it at all, account recovery can take several days or more.
• Microsoft personal: use Microsoft's Reset password link. It sends a code to your recovery email or phone.
• Microsoft work or school: reset with your security info and a mobile device.
• Yahoo: use the Sign-in Helper from Yahoo's password page.

Recovery options only help if they're current. After a password scare, I check that the recovery phone and email on the account still reach me, since the day I need them is a bad day to find out they don't.

How to pick a password worth keeping

A good email password is long and used nowhere else. Google's advice is at least 12 characters, a different password for each important account, and no obvious words, keyboard patterns or personal details like your nickname or phone number. A password manager handles the remembering.

Email deserves extra care, because password resets for your other accounts tend to land in that inbox. Whoever gets in can start resetting everything else. For Gmail specifically, our guide to using Gmail safely on a Mac covers passkeys and 2-Step Verification, and the Apple Mail guide walks through account setup if you end up adding one from scratch.