12 Common Yahoo Issues and Errors You Can Tackle Today

Is something wrong with your Yahoo account? Well, you're not alone — the email with the purple exclamation point has been a source of confusion for millions of users.

Hunting down a quick solution for a Yahoo issue is not always easy. Because our apps and operating systems change often, you need to find up-to-date information. That's why we have compiled a list of some of Yahoo's most persistent problems and outlined exactly how to resolve them.

Browse our table of contents and select the Yahoo issue you'd like to tackle first. Jump ahead to learn about how Mailbird can get you out of the troubleshooting trenches.

Yahoo's Most Common Issues

Lost passwords, blocked login attempts, and saved bookmarks misbehaving are some fairly typical Yahoo issues that don't take much time to resolve. So let's get these out of the way first.

Yahoo Sign-In Not Working

When you enter your email address and password, but they don't sign you in, it's an issue with either your username or your password. Recover them, and your sign-in should work.

Note: If your account has been inactive for over 90 days, there is a chance it won't be recoverable.

Here are a few instructions you can follow to recover your account.

How to Recover a Yahoo Username

If you can't remember your username, there is a prompt for that right on the sign-in page.

• Select Forgot username?

Yahoo will then give you the option to log in using a phone number or recovery email address you previously supplied.

How to Recover a Yahoo Password

If you know your username but cannot remember your password, the steps to recover it are fairly similar.

Select Forgot password?

Yahoo will take the recovery options they have on file for you and offer you a chance to recover your password. A common example is a phone number to receive a code via SMS.

If you don't have access to any of your recovery options, you may not be able to get back into your account. It is worth speaking with a live agent from Yahoo to hear about additional steps.

Sign In Page Keeps Reappearing

There is also a possibility that you are repeatedly being asked to sign in, even though your credentials are correct. You can try the following:

1. Clear your cache. (For instructions on how to clear your cache, scroll to Yahoo Browser Issues.)
2. Restart or try a different browser.
3. Then try signing in only from login.yahoo.com.

Yahoo Account is Blocked

After too many unsuccessful login attempts, you may have blocked your account. This is an especially common problem on mobile, and you may see a message reporting "Mobile Locked."

The duration of your block on mobile is typically 12 hours. However, if you log in from your computer, you can potentially restart the sign-in process on your mobile device within a few minutes.

The Bookmark Feature Not Working

It makes perfect sense to bookmark your most frequently visited sites. If you're a Yahoo user and you cannot access your email via your bookmark, this could be due to a browser or program update.

The solution is to remove the bookmark and replace it with a new one.

How to add Yahoo Mail to your Chrome Bookmarks

• Launch your Google Chrome browser.
• Next, type in the web link to Yahoo Mail's login page in the address bar.
• Then, sign into your account.

• Once you've successfully logged into your account, click on the Star icon on the right side of the address bar.

• Rename the bookmark to your preferred name.
• Then, choose the folder where you want to save your Yahoo Mail bookmark.

• Finally, click on Done to complete the bookmarking process.

Yahoo Browser Issues

A lot of users set Yahoo.com as the homepage on their browsers. From here, they can access their email, news, weather updates, a search bar, etc. For some, this page is the first online activity they will have for the day.

So if the Yahoo web page is suddenly not working properly, it's not only irritating, but it can also mess up your workflow because you'll be forced to load everything separately.

Reasons Yahoo Doesn't Work On Your Browser

• The browser page loads very slowly, or does not load at all.
• The browser doesn't display images or parts of text.
• When clicking on the mail icon, it does not redirect to Yahoo Mail.

Here's what you can do to try to get the browser to cooperate with Yahoo services:

"Is Yahoo Down?"

If your internet connection is strong, you can always see if Yahoo Mail is inaccessible for everyone. Head to downdetector.com or isitdownrightnow.com for more information.

Clear Your Cache

The main reason it can be beneficial to clear your cache is because it is storing a lot of unnecessary data for you. By deleting some of that data, your browser can load a lot faster.

How to Clear the Cache on Your Browser

• In the top right corner, click on the three vertical dots.
• Select Settings.
• Select Privacy and Security.
• Select Clear browsing data. You can clear as little as the past day's worth of data or as much as all of your data. A good start is to clear from the past four weeks.
• Refresh your browser.

Update Your Browser

It is worthy to note that the supported web browsers for Yahoo are Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Opera. You should not use an unsupported browser because it can leave you more vulnerable to hacks or viruses.

Ensure that you are using the latest version of a supported browser. Once updated, it should enable Yahoo to load and perform tasks.

The instructions for updating the Chrome browser are below. If you're using a different browser, the settings will lead you to a way to update as well.

Allow Javascript

Multimedia, like videos or images, not loading? It might be an issue with your browser settings and whether or not they allow for JavaScript. There is a quick way to check on this:

How to Enable Javascript on Chrome

• In the top right corner, click on the three vertical dots.
• Select Settings.
• Next, Privacy and Security.
• Then choose Site Settings.

• Select JavaScript.

• Adjust the settings to allow sites to use JavaScript.
• Refresh your browser.

Yahoo Issues With Your Operating System

An email service provider as popular as Yahoo should be 100% compatible with any operating system available today. Instead, there are a few snags that often require troubleshooting. Here's what you need to know about Windows 10, Android, and iOS devices.

Yahoo Mail Is Not Working on Windows 10

It used to be possible to access Yahoo Mail on desktop; however, this feature has been discontinued on Windows 10.

Note: The former app for Windows 10 was a web wrapper for Yahoo webmail and was never a truly native desktop app. If you're interested in learning more about desktop email, we've got you covered. The Mailbird blog can teach you about how to choose an email client and show you what a difference it can make for your productivity.

Yahoo Mail Is Not Working on Android or iPhone

There are many situations where the mobile Yahoo app comes in handy: to pull up tickets to a movie screening, to confirm an address for an appointment, or to show your boarding pass before a flight.

With Yahoo playing such an important role wherever you go, you'll need to be on the lookout for solutions to these issues:

1. The app doesn't connect to the internet.
2. The app crashes when you open it.
3. The app won't accept your login credentials.

Depending on your device, the instructions look a little different. You'll find tips for how to fix Yahoo on both Android and iPhones below.

How to Fix Yahoo Mail on Android

Check the network and internet settings:

Ensure that your Android is able to connect to the internet. You should also check that Yahoo has permission to use data if you are not on Wi-Fi.

Update the app:

Not all updates are automatically applied, so it's a good idea to check on the status of your Yahoo app. If there is an update available, install it, restart your device, and log in again.

Verify your phone number:

If you head to the web browser, you can confirm your phone number. This could help if you've changed your number or your app was outdated for some time.

How to Fix Yahoo Mail on iPhone

The same strategies we outlined with Android will apply to iPhone, but it will look a little different. Here are some instructions to help guide you through.

Check the network and internet connection:

Update the app.

Verify your phone number:

Update iOS:

It might be your iOS that is not cooperating with other apps. If you update it, it could help the Yahoo app know to sync up with the server again.

Yahoo Syncing or Loading Issues

A couple of issues can happen with email providers that require a bit of investigating to fix.

1. Emails don't appear where you expect them to.
2. Emails don't seem to be arriving in your inbox.
3. Your colleagues say they didn't receive your email.
4. A third-party app like Thunderbird doesn't grant you access to your email.

There's a chance that the settings on your account need to be reconfigured. It might also be that you're exceeding a daily message limit. In the case of Thunderbird, you'll require a special password. Let's take a look at some solutions.

Yahoo Doesn't Properly Display Emails

Are some emails not showing up how you expect them to? You may not know this, but there are two ways to view your inbox, and that might impact the view.

There's a full version of Yahoo, which includes high-definition images, video, etc. There's also the very aptly named basic mail, which just shows email text.

If you'd like to see a bare-bones version of your inbox, all you need to do is go to Settings and select Switch to basic Mail on the right-hand side. You can switch back to the full version the same way.

Emails Not Sending or Receiving

This issue is a serious one. Missing an email or a sender not getting an important message from you can have ripple effects that delay projects or cause confusion. Here's what you can check when Yahoo is not sending or receiving emails.

Check Your Spam Folder

If you're expecting an email, you should always check your spam folder. There's no email service with an absolutely perfect spam filtering system. Be mindful not to open unfamiliar links, and always review the sender's email address before moving it to your regular inbox.

Check Your Contact List for Blocked Senders

You may have accidentally blocked one of the contacts you're expecting mail from. You can very easily check this in the Security and Privacy settings.

Check the Reply-To Address

If you receive an email in your personal inbox that you would have preferred to receive via your professional email, you might respond and add a little note with information about a new contact email. Yahoo has a special feature to add a "reply-to address" so that your reader can automatically update that information. Unfortunately, if you leave that reply-to feature on, it could mean all of your readers are updating your contact card with that information. Double-check that this field is usually blank in order to avoid confusion.

How to Change or Remove your Reply-To Address

• Go to Settings.
• Select Mailboxes.
• Under Send-only email address select the address you wish to remove or change.

• Select Remove send-only address and confirm when prompted.

Review Your Filters

It's possible that the settings on your account assign certain emails to go into different folders.

How to Review Yahoo Filters and Rules

• Click on the Settings icon and then More Settings at the bottom.

• Select Filters.

• Here, you'll find all the filters currently in use on your account. Choose whichever you want to review or delete.
• Next, you may choose to edit the filter's name, rules, or folder. You can also click Delete if you want to remove the filter.

• Finally, click on Save to confirm your changes.

Check the Message Limits

Did you send a large mass email?

You may only send a certain number of emails each day (and not all at once) on a regular Yahoo account. In order to prevent spammers in general, the exact number of emails permitted is not public knowledge. You should receive a notice if you've exceeded your limit, so look through your notifications.

Check IMAP / POP / SMTP Settings

If you are using Yahoo with a third-party app (like Mailbird, Outlook, or the Mail app on Mac), you may need to review the configuration settings that connect your app to Yahoo's server. Mailbird has a page to help you with Yahoo settings specifically.

Yahoo Doesn't Load on Thunderbird

Thunderbird is an email app that has been around almost as long as Yahoo has. In fact, it's known for keeping it old-school, so you won't find a lot of bells and whistles or new features on this app.

A lot of troubleshooting is required in general to use this app, and getting Yahoo to load is no exception. The most common issue with Thunderbird and Yahoo is that the app doesn't support Yahoo's primary sign-in method.

Fortunately, it's easy to generate a unique password that Thunderbird does accept, and you will be able to sign in to Yahoo with that.

How to Set up Yahoo Mail on Thunderbird

• Sign into your Yahoo account.
• Click on your avatar and select Account info.
• Go to Account Security.
• Scroll to Generate app password.

• Choose a name for the password you're creating. You could call it Thunderbird and easily know what it is for, if you like.
• Yahoo will generate a password and basic instructions on how to apply it to your Thunderbird app.

Missing Contacts

If your account experiences some issues, there's a chance you'll notice a change to your contacts. Tracking down contact information can be really challenging, so keeping everything in one place is an important feature in an email service.

If you see that your recent contacts are missing, you may have accidentally deleted them. Unfortunately, at the moment there is no option provided to restore your deleted contacts.

Is There a Better Way?

If you're ready to weigh your options against using Yahoo, you've come to the right place. We have a couple of ideas: one would be to try a new email service provider, and the other is to keep Yahoo, but use a desktop email client to offer a clean and simple solution. You'll find Mailbird is lightning fast and boosts productivity tenfold.

Let's take a closer look at these two options.

Try Another Email Service

Yahoo is known for its ample storage, but it's also known for having lots of ads on the free version, not to mention sub-par spam filtering. It might be time to switch your email account to something that is a better fit for your needs.

Our blog is a great resource for anybody shopping for a new email provider. Have a look at our ultimate email account guide to review the top free email providers to choose from.

If you are running a small business, we have lots of information on email hosting. You can always compare and contrast popular business email providers as well.

Whatever provider you decide to go with, there is always room to improve, which is why we have to share how Mailbird can immensely upgrade your email.

Use Mailbird with any Email Address

Whether you want to keep using Yahoo or transition to a new provider, you should consider using it with an award-winning desktop client that can bring your email experience to a new level.

We strive to give our users a stress-free relationship with their email by providing a simple setup process and a clean interface that doesn't overwhelm your senses.

What is Mailbird?

Mailbird is a desktop email client that will host all of your email accounts in one place. You can move between your personal or professional emails easily, or view all of your emails collectively in the Unified Inbox.

Mailbird uses IMAP protocols to connect with most email services (Yahoo, Gmail, Gmx, etc.). You can connect as many email addresses as you'd like; they're all welcome aboard.

How Can Mailbird Help?

You won't have to worry about going to your browser and signing in and out all the time because Mailbird automatically detects the server settings and syncs up your email address to the software.

On Yahoo, you have to dig around for contact information. Our interface makes it easy to click on the avatar of a contact and quickly conduct an action, like setting up a rule or deleting the emails you don't need. The Contact Manager will quickly import your address book from Gmail, Outlook, or a .csv file, so adding contacts is a breeze.

When you're away from an internet connection, you won't be able to do a lot with a web-based email provider like Yahoo. Fortunately, with Mailbird you can still work offline. You can easily access previous messages and write drafts to send later.

If you're a fan of using your browser next to your inbox, you can still do that with Mailbird too. Gain quick access to dozens of integrations, like Google Chrome, all of the Google Workspace apps, Twitter, Slack, WhatsApp, Dropbox, and Evernote.

Mailbird Features You'll Love

• Unified Inbox: Manage all your emails and contacts from multiple accounts easily in one place.Search chat logs
• Unified Calendar:Manage any of your schedules without switching to different apps.
• Email tracking: Never again wonder whether your email has been opened. Track your open rate and even see who's still waiting to respond to your group emails.

• Snooze:Give yourself a chance to focus on high-priority emails by hitting Snooze on a message. Set it to reappear later that day, or even pick another date and time.
• Customizable Layout: Easily adjust the theme to dark mode or another skin of your choosing. You can also change where your emails and apps open on the screen.Contact search
• Custom Sounds:You can even make sure potentially urgent emails get their own special notification sound.
• LinkedIn Lookup: Keep up-to-date on their major career moves with our quick connection over to your contact's LinkedIn profile.
• Attachment Search:Hunting for important files, links, and photos has never been easier.
• Shortcuts: A single keystroke can help you open, reply to, delete, or label your emails.
• Multi-Language Support:17 different languages have been made available to help you navigate with ease.
• 24/7 Support: Any questions you may have along the way will be answered by our stellar support team.

Affordable Price

Using Yahoo might be free on your browser, but it's full of ads and doesn't host multiple email addresses at once. For a very nominal price, Mailbird will help you streamline your work.

We pride ourselves on continuously improving year after year. We regularly implement suggestions from our users and have a great support community to keep you up-to-date with any new features.

Once our users get comfortable with Mailbird, it's not uncommon for them to switch to our Pay Once option, which gets you a lifetime subscription. Have a look at our price options below:

Mailbird also comes with a trial period, so you have an opportunity to get a feel for it and cancel your subscription if it's not the right fit. It's incredibly easy to get started, so feel free to try it out with your Yahoo address today.

Before You Go

Yahoo issues may occur in a number of places: within the operating system, on your browser or it could be an issue with a Yahoo feature like the bookmark or address book.

With this article, you now have a lot of the tools you need to work through a variety of solutions. Yahoo users should be comfortable resetting their browser, or generating a temporary password.

If you are finding that the issues with Yahoo are still piling up, we hope that you'll consider trying an alternative mail client like Mailbird to keep things simple and easy to navigate.