Mail on MacBook constantly unable to recognise Hotmail account name & password (and app-specific password)

deleting the actual Hotmail account on Mail App on my MacBook and setting it up again as an Exchange account worked out!!!

It is shocking to see the lack of interest on the part of Apple to support Outlook accounts. Very disappointing. I too will be migrating to Outlook and not looking back to Apple Mail which I have been using for more than 15 years.

I experienced the same issues on my phone iPad and MacBook since several weeks, now. I finally got a mail (12sept) from Microsoft that they are suspending third party mail mail apps without Microsoft’s modern authentication methods. It will end on 16th of this month.

It also tells me to upgrade to programs that use these new methods.

In the iPhone and iPad you can delete your “old” Hotmail mail account and when adding a new account you can choose an “outlook” mail account and provide your login data. After that everything works fine again.

On the MacBook (macOS BigSur) this option of making an “outlook” mail account is not offered and therefore not possible. It would be handy and correct if Apple fixes this problem, as they have done so in IOS.

As I had stated in my prior message, I am only having issues with Apple Mail in macOS. Since then, I have removed the imap Outlook account setup and instead, I set up my Outlook account as MS Exchange. This has allowed me to overcome the repeated username/password issue. No additional authentication is required. Let's hope that the Sequoia Apple Mail will finally have an option for a real Outlook setup like the iOS Apple Mail which works perfectly fine.

Don't blame Apple for this. It's Microsoft's doing.

Microsoft deprecated Outlook/Hotmail support. This was announced in an email from Microsoft a few months ago.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/outlook-blog/keeping-our-outlook-personal-email-users-safe-reinforcing-our/ba-p/4164184

Where they really dropped the ball (IMHO) is in lack of clarity over what users need to do.

In the case of using Mail.app, I believe need to re-add your account as an Exchange account, which supports the current authentication standards that hotmail lacks.

THE ANSWER, AS OTHERS HAVE MENTIONED.

• UPDATE LAPTOP TO SEQUOIA
• GO TO YOUR "MAIL" APP AND DELETE YOUR HOTMAIL ACCOUNT. I GOOGLED HOW TO DO THIS. IT'S ONLY A COUPLE STEPS.
• AFTER DELETING THE ACCOUNT, GO TO MAIL (at the top of the screen)>ADD ACCOUNT. YOU'LL BE GIVEN A LIST OF BROWSER APPS. BECAUSE MY EMAIL IS HOTMAIL, I CHOSE MICROSOFT EXCHANGE.
• THEN YOU'LL LOG ONTO YOUR ACCOUNT AS THOUGH YOU ARE CHECKING YOUR EMAIL. YOUR MAIL ACCOUNT SHOULD UPDATE FULLY.

THIS WORKED FOR ME! HOPE IT WORKS FOR YOU!

I have tried to follow that original poster's steps but Mail still won't work. The additional information I can provide is that:

1. Mail (hotmail in Apple Mail) has worked for several days since I upgraded to MacOS Sequoia;
2. Deleting and recreating the account seems to work for some time;

I remove old account and add it new as Microsoft Exchange. Everything work fine now.

Does that still work for you?

I had the issue and thought I should try enabling 2-factor with app specific password which worked up until I close the mail program. Upon reopen, immediately asked for password and won't connect.

I disabled 2-factor and deleted app passwords and it won't log in at all still.

This happens with Apple Mail app and my Outlook for Mac app.

Very frustrating...

I can log in using a browser via Outlook.com and my iPhone mail works like the OP stated but I can't use my computer apps at all.

Can anyone get reliable access to Hotmail from Mail on a Mac?

I echo the above reports, and have tried everything they have without success.

In summary: Mac Mail is very unreliable, essentially unworkable, on my iMac. Buy Mail works well to access Hotmail on my iPhone. iPad access to Hotmail is also troublesome and unreliable, rather less so that Mac Mail.

Access in my case includes Hotmail folders (which were not accessible tieing in via Exchange servers)

Mozilla Thundersbird solved getting access on the iMac, and that's what I rely on. Thunderbird seems to tie in instantaneously, including recognising the Hotmail folders.

Access via an Outlook App is fine. And via the web version.

I have been having the same problem for weeks now. Initially, I had to "take the mailbox online" for my hotmail account and it would sync. Then even that stopped working. I was just fiddling with my security settings in my Outlook account in a browser and noticed you can get an app password for devices that don't accept the 2 factor authentication process. I figured it was worth a shot, created a new app password and put that into the password space in Accounts..... under the Mail tab (NOT Preferences, I didn't change anything there) and lo and behold, my hotmail account synched. Whether it continues to do so, I don't know, but for now, I am delighted it worked!