One day your Telstra or Bigpond email is working perfectly in Apple Mail; the next, your Mac or iPhone keeps popping up “the password for [your email] is incorrect” — even though you’re certain the password is right. It’s one of the most common email headaches we see, and the cause almost always comes down to one thing: Telstra now wants an app-specific password for mail apps like Apple Mail. Here’s how to sort it in a few minutes.
What’s an app-specific password — and why do I suddenly need one?
An app-specific password is a separate, unique password that you create just for one application — in this case, Apple Mail. You use it instead of your normal Telstra email password inside the mail app.
Telstra introduced this for security. It means your main account password never gets stored in a third-party app, so if an app is ever compromised, your actual account isn’t. The catch is that when Telstra switched this on, a lot of people’s existing Apple Mail setups suddenly started rejecting their old password — hence the dreaded “password incorrect” loop. The fix isn’t to keep retyping your password; it’s to generate an app-specific one.
Step 1: Generate your app-specific password
You do this in Telstra’s webmail, on a computer or in a browser:
- Go to email.telstra.com and sign in with your Telstra email address and your normal password.
- Open Settings, then go to the Accounts section.
- Find the app-specific password section and click to generate a password.
- A long, random password appears. Copy it straight away (and if you’re asked, give it a name like “Mac Mail” or “iPhone Mail” so you know which device it’s for).
Keep that password handy for the next step — you’ll paste it into Apple Mail. It’s fine if it looks like gibberish; that’s the point.
Step 2: Know your Telstra server settings
If Apple Mail doesn’t fill these in automatically, you’ll enter them by hand. These work for @bigpond.com, @bigpond.net.au and @telstra.com addresses:
| Incoming (IMAP) | Outgoing (SMTP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Server | imap.telstra.com | smtp.telstra.com |
| Port | 993 | 465 (or 587) |
| Security | SSL/TLS | SSL/TLS (465) or STARTTLS (587) |
| Username | your full email address | your full email address |
| Password | your app-specific password | your app-specific password |
Step 3: Put it into Apple Mail
If the account is already there but broken
You usually don’t need to delete and re-add it — just update the password:
- On a Mac: when Apple Mail asks for the password, paste the app-specific password instead of your usual one. If it doesn’t ask, go to Mail > Settings > Accounts, select your Telstra account, and update the password there (check both the incoming and the Outgoing Mail Server/SMTP settings).
- On an iPhone or iPad: go to Settings > Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts (or Settings > Mail > Accounts on older versions), tap your Telstra account, and re-enter the app-specific password.
If you’re adding it fresh
- Mac: Mail > Settings > Accounts > + (or System Settings > Internet Accounts). iPhone/iPad: Settings > Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts > Add Account.
- Choose Other (not iCloud or a named provider), then Add Mail Account.
- Enter your name, your full Telstra email address, and the app-specific password.
- When prompted, enter the IMAP and SMTP server details from the table above. Finish, and your mail should start flowing.
The one gotcha that catches everyone
If you ever reset your main Telstra password, all of your app-specific passwords stop working too. You’ll need to log back into webmail, remove the old app-specific passwords, and generate fresh ones for each device. It’s easy to forget this and think your email has “broken again” when really it just needs a new app password.
Quick troubleshooting
- Still “password incorrect”? Double-check you entered the app-specific password, not your normal Telstra password.
- Paste, don’t type. The app password is long and random — one mistyped character and it fails.
- Can receive but can’t send? Check the Outgoing (SMTP) server has the app password too, and that “requires authentication” is ticked.
- Option missing in webmail? If there’s no app-specific password section, contact Telstra — or bring it to us and we’ll take a look.
Frequently asked questions
Because Telstra now expects an app-specific password in third-party mail apps rather than your normal account password. Generate one in Telstra webmail (Settings > Accounts) and use that in Apple Mail instead.
Sign in to email.telstra.com, open Settings, go to the Accounts section, find the app-specific password area and generate one. Copy it immediately and paste it into your mail app as the password.
Incoming IMAP: imap.telstra.com, port 993, SSL. Outgoing SMTP: smtp.telstra.com, port 465 (or 587), SSL/TLS with authentication on. Username is your full email address; password is your app-specific password.
If you reset your main Telstra password, every app-specific password stops working. Log back into webmail, remove the old app passwords and generate new ones for each device.
Rather not wrestle with it?
Email setup is fiddly, and Telstra’s app passwords trip up plenty of people. If you’d rather it just worked, bring your Mac, iPhone or iPad in to Geekworks in Coorparoo and we’ll get your Telstra or Bigpond email running properly across all your devices. We’re Apple Authorised specialists and we sort this kind of thing every day.