Your Hotmail inbox should show new emails the moment they arrive. But sometimes, your phone stops pulling in those messages, and you find yourself refreshing over and over with nothing happening. It is frustrating, especially when you are waiting for something important.
This problem affects both iPhone and Android users more often than you might think. The good thing is that most sync issues have simple fixes you can do yourself in just a few minutes.
In this guide, you will learn exactly why your Hotmail stops syncing and how to get it working again on your phone.
What Happens When Hotmail Stops Syncing
When your Hotmail account stops syncing, your phone and your email server stop talking to each other. New emails sit on the server, but your phone has no idea they exist. You might see an old inbox from hours or even days ago, while fresh messages pile up online.
This disconnect means you could miss time-sensitive emails. A work message, a shipping update, or a password reset code might be sitting in your inbox online, but your phone shows nothing new. Some people only realize the problem when someone asks why they never replied to an important email.
The sync issue can show up in different ways:
- No new emails at all even though you know messages were sent to you
- Emails appearing hours late instead of in real time
- Error messages popping up when you open your mail app
- The app getting stuck on “Updating” or “Checking for mail” forever
If left unfixed, this problem can cause real headaches. You might miss deadlines, forget to respond to people, or lose track of important information that came through email. Fixing it quickly saves you from these troubles.
Hotmail Not Syncing on iPhone and Android: Likely Causes
Before you start fixing anything, it helps to know what went wrong in the first place. Here are the most common reasons your Hotmail stops syncing with your phone.
1. Poor or Unstable Internet Connection
Your email needs the internet to sync. If your Wi-Fi keeps dropping or your mobile data signal is weak, your phone cannot reach the Hotmail servers to grab new messages.
This sounds obvious, but it trips up a lot of people. You might have one bar of signal that looks like it should work, but it is too weak to complete the sync. Or your Wi-Fi router might be having a bad day, cutting in and out without you noticing.
Sometimes the connection looks fine on the surface. Your phone shows the Wi-Fi icon, but the actual data flow has stopped. This silent failure is sneaky because everything appears normal until you try to load something.
2. Outdated Mail App or Phone Software
Apps and phone systems get updates for good reasons. These updates fix bugs, patch security holes, and improve how apps talk to servers. When you skip updates for too long, your mail app might use old methods that the Hotmail servers no longer support.
Microsoft changes things on their end from time to time. If your app has not been updated in months, it might be trying to connect using outdated instructions. The servers reject these old requests, and your sync fails.
3. Incorrect Account Settings
Your email settings include things like server addresses, port numbers, and security options. If any of these get changed or corrupted, your phone cannot connect to Hotmail properly.
This sometimes happens after a phone update or when you restore your device from a backup. The settings might look right at first glance, but one wrong number or toggled option can break the whole connection.
4. Sync Turned Off or Set to Manual
Both iPhone and Android let you control how often apps fetch new data. If you or someone else changed these settings, your email might be set to sync only when you open the app or not at all.
Battery-saving modes can also mess with sync settings. These modes often limit background activity to save power, which means your mail app cannot check for new messages while your phone sits idle.
5. Corrupted App Cache or Data
Over time, apps store temporary files called cache. This cache helps apps load faster, but it can become corrupted. When the mail app’s stored data goes bad, it can cause all sorts of strange behavior, including failed syncs.
Android phones are especially prone to this issue. The cache builds up over weeks and months, and sometimes it just needs a fresh start to work properly again.
Hotmail Not Syncing on iPhone and Android: How to Fix
Now that you know what might be causing the problem, let us fix it. Work through these solutions one by one until your Hotmail starts syncing again.
1. Check Your Internet Connection
Start with the basics. Make sure your phone actually has a working internet connection before blaming the email app.
Try these quick tests:
- Open a web browser and load any website
- Try watching a short video on YouTube
- Turn Wi-Fi off and on again
- Switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data to see if one works better
If your internet is the problem, restart your router or move closer to it. For mobile data issues, try toggling airplane mode on and off. This resets your connection to cell towers and often fixes spotty data.
2. Force Close and Restart the Mail App
Sometimes the app itself gets stuck in a bad state. Closing it completely and reopening it can clear up temporary glitches.
On iPhone, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and hold, then swipe the mail app off the screen. On Android, go to Settings, then Apps, find your mail app, and tap Force Stop.
Wait about 10 seconds before opening the app again. This gives it time to fully shut down before starting fresh. Check if new emails come through after the restart.
3. Update Your Mail App and Phone Software
Keeping everything updated is one of the easiest ways to prevent sync problems. Check for updates and install anything available.
For your phone’s operating system:
- iPhone: Go to Settings, then General, then Software Update
- Android: Go to Settings, then System, then System Update
For the mail app itself, visit the App Store on iPhone or Google Play Store on Android. Search for your mail app and tap Update if the option appears.
After updating, restart your phone completely. This helps the new software settle in properly.
4. Remove and Re-Add Your Hotmail Account
If settings got corrupted, the cleanest fix is removing the account and adding it back from scratch. This wipes out any bad configuration and lets you start fresh.
On iPhone:
- Go to Settings, then Mail, then Accounts
- Tap your Hotmail account
- Tap Delete Account and confirm
- Go back to Accounts, tap Add Account, and choose Microsoft Exchange or Outlook
- Enter your Hotmail email and password
On Android, the steps vary by phone brand, but you generally go to Settings, then Accounts, find Hotmail, and remove it. Then add it again using the same menu.
Make sure you know your Hotmail password before removing the account. You will need it to add the account back.
5. Check Your Sync and Fetch Settings
Your phone might be set to sync less often than you want. Adjusting these settings can get your emails flowing in real time again.
On iPhone, go to Settings, then Mail, then Accounts, then Fetch New Data. Make sure Push is turned on if available, or set Fetch to every 15 minutes for frequent updates.
On Android, open your mail app and look for Sync settings or Account settings. Enable auto-sync and set the sync frequency to your preference. While you are there, make sure battery optimization is not limiting the app’s background activity.
6. Clear the App Cache (Android Only)
Android users can clear the mail app’s cache without losing any emails or settings. This removes corrupted temporary files that might be causing problems.
Go to Settings, then Apps, and find your mail app. Tap on it, then tap Storage, then Clear Cache. Do not tap Clear Data unless you want to remove your account and start over.
After clearing the cache, open the mail app and let it sync. It might take a minute to rebuild its temporary files, but it should work better afterward.
7. Contact Microsoft Support or a Professional Technician
If none of these fixes work, the problem might be on Microsoft’s end or something deeper in your phone’s configuration. At this point, reaching out for expert help makes sense.
You can visit the Microsoft Support website and describe your issue. They have tools to check if their servers are having problems and can guide you through advanced troubleshooting steps.
A professional phone technician can also help if you suspect something is wrong with your device itself. They can dig deeper into settings and logs that most users cannot access on their own.
Wrapping Up
Getting your Hotmail to sync again usually takes just a few minutes once you know where to look. Most of the time, a quick settings check or app restart does the trick.
If you tried everything and still have trouble, professional help is always an option. Your emails are too important to leave sitting unseen on a server somewhere, so keep working at it until messages flow to your phone like they should.