Hotmail not receiving emails usually means the message is already in the mailbox, just not in the list you are looking at. Hotmail, Live, and MSN addresses all run on Outlook.com, so this guide also covers Outlook.com not receiving emails.
The mail often landed in Junk, in the Other tab, or in a folder an old rule chose. The other usual causes are a full mailbox, a blocked sender, forwarding, a locked account, or a mail app that can no longer sign in.
Start with the checks that take a few minutes. Stop when the mail shows up.
Quick-fix checklist
1. Open Outlook.com in a browser. Send yourself a test from another account.
2. Look in Junk Email, the Other tab, Archive, and Deleted Items.
3. Select Filter, then All. If the list looks out of order, sort by Date.
4. Open Settings > Mail > Rules and look for rules or Sweep rules that move mail.
5. Open Settings > Mail > Junk email and check blocked senders and domains.
6. Open Settings > Account > Storage. If the mailbox or the Microsoft cloud storage is full, delete large emails and empty Deleted Items.
7. Open Settings > Mail > Forwarding. Turn forwarding off, or keep a copy of forwarded messages.
8. Check Microsoft's service status for an outage.
9. In other mail apps, remove the account and add it back using the Outlook.com option.
10. Ask the sender whether they got a bounce.
The email often arrived. It just did not land where you were looking.
First, find out where it is broken
Check the web first. Sign in at Outlook.com in a browser. If the mail is there but missing on your phone or in another app, the account is fine. Skip to the section on apps and iPhone.
Send yourself a test. Use a different account, such as Gmail or a work address. If the test arrives, the inbox can receive mail and the problem is tied to certain senders. If the test never shows up anywhere, look at storage, forwarding, and account status first.
One sender or everyone? If only one person's mail is missing, the cause is usually Junk, a rule, or a block. If all mail has stopped, it is usually storage, forwarding, an outage, or a locked account.
1. Check Junk Email and the Other tab
Junk Email. Outlook.com moves mail it treats as spam into Junk Email. If you find the message, select it and choose Report > Not junk. Microsoft clears Junk on its own, and those messages are not recoverable once they are removed, so check soon.
To keep the same sender out of Junk, add them under Settings > Mail > Junk email, then Safe senders and domains. (Microsoft: Safe senders in Outlook.com)
The Other tab. With Focused Inbox on, the inbox has two tabs: Focused and Other. Microsoft says Focused Inbox filters "noisy sources like automatically generated or bulk email," so receipts, codes, and newsletters often land in Other. (Microsoft: Focused Inbox)
If the message is in Other, right-click it and choose Move > Always move to Focused inbox. If you want one plain inbox, go to Settings > Mail > Layout and choose Don't sort my messages.
The Filter menu. A filter such as Unread or Flagged hides everything else. Select Filter above the messages and choose All. If the order looks wrong, choose Filter > Sort > Date.
Archive and Deleted Items. A swipe can archive or delete a message. Open both folders. From Deleted Items, select the message and choose Restore. If it is already gone from that folder, choose Recover items deleted from this folder. Microsoft says you can recover those for 30 days, and you need a computer to do it. (Microsoft: Email is missing from your Outlook.com inbox)
For a longer walkthrough, see recovering deleted emails in Gmail and Outlook.
2. Look for a rule or Sweep rule
A rule you set years ago can still move one sender into a folder you never open.
Go to Settings > Mail > Rules. If a rule moves, deletes, or forwards the missing mail, edit it or delete it. Microsoft says you must use a computer to view and edit rules.
Sweep can create rules too. It can delete all mail from a sender, keep only their latest email, clear mail older than 10 days, or always move that sender to another folder. Sweep rules run once a day. Inbox rules run as soon as mail arrives. A Sweep rule can make a message vanish hours after you saw it. (Microsoft: Archive, Sweep, and other tools)
3. Check blocked senders, including Gmail
When you block someone, Outlook.com sends their mail to Junk. It is easy to block the wrong person.
Go to Settings > Mail > Junk email and look under Blocked senders and domains. Remove any address or domain you still want mail from, then save. (Microsoft: Filter junk email and spam)
Hotmail not receiving emails from Gmail. Look for gmail.com in that list. Microsoft lists this as a known cause: blocking one Gmail user can block the whole Gmail domain. If gmail.com is there, remove it and save. (Microsoft: recent Outlook.com issues)
A full mailbox does not hold the mail for later. Microsoft sends it back.
4. A full Hotmail mailbox
A full mailbox is one of the few things that truly stops Hotmail from receiving mail. Microsoft's current limits:
Free Outlook.com accounts get 15 GB of mailbox storage. Separately, a Microsoft account gets 5 GB of cloud storage, shared by OneDrive files and photos, Outlook.com attachments, and Microsoft 365 app files. Microsoft 365 subscribers get a 100 GB mailbox.
If you go over either limit, you cannot send or receive in Outlook.com. Mail sent to you is returned to the sender. It is not saved for later, so people need to send it again after you free space. A full OneDrive can stop email even when the mailbox itself still shows room. (Microsoft: Storage limits in Outlook.com)
How to free space:
1. Go to Settings > Account > Storage. You will see how much space each folder uses.
2. Delete items in a folder, or only items older than 3, 6, or 12 months.
3. Find big emails with Filter > Sort by > Size. Save attachments you still need before you delete the message.
4. Empty Deleted Items. Deleted mail still counts until you empty it, or until Microsoft removes it after 30 days. The same is true of mail you clear with Sweep.
5. To delete something for good in one step, select it and press Shift + Delete.
The longer cleanup is in Outlook.com storage full. If the meter still says full after you delete mail and empty Deleted Items, check Microsoft's known issues page. Storage-display bugs have been listed there before, and some were later marked fixed.
5. Check whether forwarding is on
If forwarding is on and "keep a copy" is off, new mail leaves Hotmail and does not stay there.
Go to Settings > Mail > Forwarding. Clear Enable forwarding and save, or tick Keep a copy of forwarded messages so the original stays. (Microsoft: automatic forwarding in Outlook.com)
Mail that was forwarded without a copy was never stored in this mailbox, so you cannot recover it here. Check the inbox it was forwarded to, or ask the sender to send it again. More on the setting: forwarding email in Gmail and Outlook.
6. Make sure the account is not blocked or closed
Blocked for unusual sign-ins. Microsoft may block an Outlook.com account for a while if sign-in activity looks unusual. You cannot send or receive until you get back in. Use the sign-in helper on Unblock my Outlook.com account.
A recent password change. Update the password in every app that uses this Hotmail. Old passwords stop syncing.
Who signed in. The Recent activity page shows Microsoft account sign-ins for the last 30 days. If you do not recognize one, change your password, then check rules and forwarding again in case they were changed.
Long gaps. If you do not sign in to the Outlook.com mailbox at least once a year, Microsoft closes the mailbox and deletes the email. If you do not sign in to the Microsoft account at least once every two years, it closes the account. An old Hotmail you only check now and then needs a sign-in at least once a year.
7. See whether Outlook.com is down
If all mail stopped at once and nothing above explains it, check Microsoft.
Open status.cloud.microsoft and look under Microsoft consumer products. That is the service health page for personal accounts. The old portal.office.com/servicestatus address now goes there.
Also read Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on Outlook.com.
If Microsoft lists an outage, wait until the status page clears, then ask senders to resend anything that bounced.
If the website has the mail and the phone does not, the account is fine.
8. Hotmail not receiving emails on iPhone or in another app
If the message is on Outlook.com in a browser but missing in an app, the app is the problem.
Modern sign-in is required. Since September 16, 2024, Microsoft has blocked apps that sign in to Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live with only a username and password. Apps have to use Modern Authentication, also called OAuth2. Older apps that cannot do this stop syncing. (Microsoft: Modern Authentication now needed)
The usual fix. Remove the Hotmail account from the app, then add it back. When the app asks what kind of account it is, choose Outlook.com if that option is there.
On iPhone. Remove the account from Mail, add it again, and choose Outlook.com. Microsoft has also noted that the iPhone Mail app can keep asking for the password, and it recommends the Outlook app for iOS instead.
Old Outlook on a PC. Microsoft says Outlook 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 (MSI), and 2019 (LTSC) do not support Modern Authentication for Outlook.com. Those versions need a newer Outlook.
If an app asks for server settings. Microsoft's current values (POP, IMAP, and SMTP settings):
IMAP: outlook.office365.com, port 993, SSL/TLS
POP: outlook.office365.com, port 995, SSL/TLS
SMTP: smtp-mail.outlook.com, port 587, STARTTLS
Sign-in: OAuth2 / Modern Auth, not a normal password and not an app password
IMAP and POP are off by default. To turn one on, go to Settings > Mail > Forwarding and IMAP. If you do not use either, leave them off.
9. When the problem is on the sender's side
If the account checks out, the message may never have reached Microsoft.
Ask for the bounce. When delivery fails, the sender usually gets an error back, such as a wrong address or a full mailbox. Ask them to read your address back letter by letter.
Hotmail not receiving verification emails. Codes come from companies that send a lot of mail. Since May 2025, Microsoft has required domains that send more than 5,000 emails a day to Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live to pass SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Microsoft's April 2025 update says mail that fails is rejected, with the error 550 5.7.515. Adding the company to safe senders does not override that. (Microsoft: requirements for high-volume senders)
If one site's codes never arrive, check Junk and Other first. Then ask the site to resend, or contact their support.
If the sender runs their own email. Point them to Sender Support in Outlook.com.
Get help from Microsoft if it is still missing
In Outlook.com, select Help, describe what is missing, and if the answers do not help, choose Still need help? > Yes. If you cannot sign in at all, start with the sign-in helper from the account section above.
When it keeps happening
If you fix this once, you are done. If you are clearing storage, rescuing mail from Other, and checking rules every few weeks, the address can stay and the inbox can change.
Hotmail is still Outlook.com. Is Hotmail still around in 2026? explains that. Hotmail vs Gmail vs Outlook is the comparison, and best Hotmail alternatives covers staying or leaving. Yahoo users with the same symptom can use Yahoo Mail not receiving emails. If you do decide to leave Microsoft, migrate Hotmail to Gmail only after delivery is working again.
Where Faraday fits
Faraday is an email app, not an email provider. If Microsoft bounces a message because storage is full, or rejects it from a sender, Faraday never sees that email either. The steps above are still the fix.
Faraday helps with what happens after the mail lands. It signs in with the Microsoft account for that @hotmail.com, @live.com, or @outlook.com address, on the web and on Mac. It reads each message as it arrives and puts the client email, the invoice, and the login code in their own places, so they are not lost under newsletters or an Other tab.
You can try it free for a week at faraday.email.
If you still have questions, we might have answered all of them below for you.
Why is my Hotmail not receiving emails all of a sudden?
The usual causes are Junk, the Other tab, a rule, or a full mailbox. If all mail stopped at once, check storage first. Microsoft returns new mail to the sender when either the 15 GB mailbox or the 5 GB cloud storage is full. Then check forwarding, the account, and Microsoft's service status page.
Why is Hotmail not receiving emails from Gmail?
Check Junk and the Other tab. Then open Settings, Mail, Junk email and look for gmail.com under blocked senders and domains. Microsoft lists this as a known cause, because blocking one Gmail user can block the whole domain. Remove it and save.
Why is my Hotmail not receiving emails on my iPhone?
If the mail is at Outlook.com in a browser but not on the iPhone, the app has lost its sign-in. Since September 2024, Outlook.com requires modern sign-in. Remove the account, add it back, and choose Outlook.com. If Mail keeps asking for the password, Microsoft recommends the Outlook app for iOS.
Why am I not getting verification emails on Hotmail?
Check Junk and the Other tab first. Codes are often sorted there. If they still do not arrive, the sender may be the problem. Microsoft rejects mail from large senders that fail SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and safe senders do not override that. Ask the site to resend, or contact their support.
Does a full Hotmail mailbox stop incoming emails?
Yes. Over the 15 GB mailbox limit or the 5 GB cloud storage limit, Outlook.com stops sending and receiving. Incoming mail goes back to the sender and is not saved. Free space under Settings, Account, Storage, empty Deleted Items, and ask people to resend. The cleanup steps are in Outlook.com storage full.
Why is Hotmail receiving some emails but not others?
When only some senders are missing, it is usually Junk, the Other tab, a rule or Sweep rule, or a blocked address. Check each of those for the missing sender. If they look fine, ask the sender for a bounce message.
How do I know if Outlook.com is down today?
Open status.cloud.microsoft and check Microsoft consumer products. Microsoft also keeps a page of known Outlook.com issues and workarounds on its support site.
