How to Add Mail.ru, bk.ru and inbox.ru Accounts

mail.ru, bk.ru, inbox.ru, list.ru, internet.ru and xmail.ru are all one provider. Mail lists those six domains as the addresses a Mail mailbox can have, and they all use the same servers — so one set of settings below covers every one of them.

Start here: your normal password will not work

This is the cause of almost every failed Mail.ru setup. Mail states it plainly: to sign in to a Mail mailbox from a mail program, "обычный пароль от ящика не подойдёт" — your ordinary mailbox password will not do. You need a separate пароль для внешнего приложения (external application password), and you type that into BlueMail in place of your usual one.

Nothing is wrong with your password. It is the right password for the Mail website and Mail's own app, and the wrong one for every other mail app, BlueMail included.

Mail's own instructions: Вход в почтовую программу с ящиком Mail and Пароли для внешних приложений (both in Russian).

Create the password

Two things to know before you start:

• Your mailbox must have a phone number linked to it. Mail won't let you create an external application password otherwise.
• You can't do this in the Mail mobile app. Use Mail in a browser — on a computer, or on your phone's browser.

Then:

1. Open Mail in a browser and go to Настройки (the gear in the lower-left corner) | Все настройки | Безопасность | Пароли для внешних приложений.
2. Click Создать (Create).
3. Type a name for the password, so you remember which app it belongs to. Click Продолжить (Continue).
4. Choose the protocol type. For a mail app, pick Полный доступ к Почте (Full access to Mail). Click Продолжить.
5. Copy the password.

Mail shows this password once. You can delete it later but never look at it again, so copy it now — and if you lose it, just create a new one. Deleting a password signs you out of every app that was using it.

Enter this password in BlueMail instead of your normal one.

Then check that mail-app access is switched on

Mail has a master switch for IMAP, POP3 and SMTP. If the external application password is right and BlueMail still can't connect, turn it on:

1. Open Mail in a browser on a computer and go to Все настройки | Безопасность | Внешние сервисы.
2. Turn on Доступ по протоколам IMAP, POP3 и SMTP (Access via the IMAP, POP3 and SMTP protocols).

This switch is on Mail's website, not in BlueMail. Mail's page: Пароль и настройки безопасности.

Server settings

The same values work for every Mail domain — mail.ru, bk.ru, inbox.ru, list.ru, internet.ru and xmail.ru.

Use your full email address as the username, including the domain — for example ivan.petrov@bk.ru, not ivan.petrov. The outgoing server needs authentication too: Mail returns 503 Administrative prohibition -- authorization required when SMTP is set up without it.

Mail's own settings page: Как настроить почтовую программу.

Where these go in BlueMail

Try the normal sign-in first, using the external application password. On the password screen, Allow BlueMail to auto-detect the server details of your account is ticked by default — leave it ticked and tap Next. If that works, you're done.

If BlueMail can't find the details, enter them by hand:

1. First account? Tap Continue, type your email address, tap Sign in, then tap Having trouble? Manual Setup under the Sign in button. Already have an account in BlueMail? Go to Settings | Accounts | Add Account.
2. On the Choose provider screen, tap Manual Setup at the bottom.
3. Choose IMAP (or POP3).
4. Fill in the form — it holds the server, Security and Port fields. Pick SSL, TLS in the Security dropdown to match the table above, and use your full email address as the username.

Full walkthrough: Configuring your account manually.

If it still won't add

Did you paste the password cleanly? An external application password is copied, not typed. A stray space at either end is enough to fail the sign-in.

Did you delete that password? Deleting an external application password in Mail's settings signs out every app using it. Create a new one and enter it in BlueMail.

Did you register through VK ID or Госуслуги? Mail's own security page says such mailboxes have no password of their own, and creating an external application password asks you to confirm your mailbox password. If you have neither, ask Mail's support how to sign in from a mail program.

Check the address itself. A wrong domain looks like a wrong password. Mail mailboxes end in mail.ru, list.ru, bk.ru, internet.ru, inbox.ru or xmail.ru — nothing else.

Mail's own troubleshooting page: Проблема с почтовой программой.

It worked before and stopped

Check the mail-app access switch and your external application password first — both are at Mail, not in BlueMail. To review what BlueMail is sending, go to Settings | Accounts | [tap the account] | Incoming/Outgoing Settings — see Edit Account.

Still stuck? Can't Add My Account works through the other usual causes, and Connection issues, sync failures or missing emails covers accounts that added fine but won't stay connected.