Add Business Email to the Gmail App on Android or iPhone

The Gmail app can hold a mailbox on your own domain next to your personal Gmail, with its own inbox, its own notifications and its own signature. It uses IMAP, so the work address is added through the Other option rather than as a Google account, and the sending side is configured separately. Five minutes, and the mistake to avoid is letting the app shorten your username.

Quick answer

In the Gmail app tap your profile picture, Add another account, Other. Enter the work address, choose Personal (IMAP), enter the webmail password, and set both servers to mail.oqumail.com. On the outgoing screen keep Require sign-in on and make sure the username is the full address. The app uses port 993 with SSL incoming and port 587 with STARTTLS outgoing.

The settings you will enter

• Incoming (IMAP) server: mail.oqumail.com, port 993, SSL/TLS on
• Outgoing (SMTP) server: mail.oqumail.com, port 587, STARTTLS (on iPhone this is "Use SSL" on with port 587)
• Username: your full email address, for both incoming and outgoing
• Password: the same password you use for OquMail webmail

Step by step on Android

1. Open Gmail, tap your profile picture at the top right, then Add another account.
2. Choose Other, not Google. Type the work address and tap Next.
3. Choose Personal (IMAP), then enter the webmail password and tap Next.
4. Incoming server settings: check the username is the full address (the app sometimes keeps only the part before @), password filled, Server mail.oqumail.com. Tap Next. Port 993 with SSL is used automatically.
5. Outgoing server settings: Require sign-in on, username the full address, password, SMTP server mail.oqumail.com. Tap Next. If the app shows advanced fields, port 587 and security type STARTTLS.
6. Account options: choose how often to sync and whether to notify, then Next.
7. Give the account a name and set the name recipients will see, then Next. Send a test message to another address you own and reply to it.

Step by step on iPhone

1. Open Gmail, tap your profile picture, Add another account, Other (IMAP).
2. Enter the work address and tap Next, then the webmail password.
3. IMAP server mail.oqumail.com, port 993, SSL on. SMTP server mail.oqumail.com, port 587, STARTTLS or TLS on, with the full address as username and the password filled.
4. Tap Next, then Save. Send the same test message.

Send from the work address by default

The app composes from whichever inbox you are in. To make the work address the default for new messages, open that inbox before tapping Compose, or go to Settings, choose the work account, and set it as the default account. In Settings for the work account you can also write a separate signature, which the app uses only for that address.

Useful settings

• Notifications per account: Settings, the work account, Notifications, and choose All or High priority only. Turn personal Gmail notifications down if work mail is what matters.
• Sync frequency: on Android IMAP accounts poll rather than push. Every 15 minutes is a sensible default; the app offers 5 to 60.
• Folders: the IMAP folders from webmail appear as labels. Archive on the phone moves the message on the server too.
• Two work addresses: repeat the steps for each. The two accounts on one phone guide covers keeping them straight.

If something goes wrong

• Could not open connection to server: a typo in the server name, or no data connection. The host is exactly mail.oqumail.com for both.
• Username or password incorrect: the username is the full address. Scroll the field to check the @ part is there, and test the password in webmail.
• Receives but cannot send: Require sign-in is off or the outgoing username is empty. Open the account settings, Outgoing settings, and fill them in.
• SSL or STARTTLS on the wrong port: incoming is SSL on 993, outgoing is STARTTLS on 587. The reverse fails with a handshake error.

Common questions

Why not use Gmail's "Send mail as" with my domain?

Because that sends through Google's servers, which are not in your domain's SPF record, so the mail fails DMARC alignment at the receiver. Adding the mailbox as an IMAP account sends through mail.oqumail.com, which is what your DNS records list.

Will messages I send from the app show in webmail?

Yes. The app saves sent mail to the server's Sent folder, so webmail, Outlook and any other app show the same history.

Is this the same as adding the account in Android Settings?

No. Android's Settings, Accounts can add an IMAP account for the stock mail app, but the Gmail app only shows accounts added inside Gmail itself.