Yahoo Mail Forwarding and POP Access: What Is Free in 2026
In October 2013, for its 16th birthday, Yahoo Mail finally made POP access and email forwarding free, features Gmail had offered from the start. We were thrilled: it meant we could forward all our old Yahoo accounts into one inbox. But in 2021 Yahoo moved forwarding back behind a paywall. Here’s how Yahoo Mail forwarding and POP work in 2026 and the free workarounds.
Quick answer: Automatic email forwarding in Yahoo Mail is now available only to Yahoo Mail Plus subscribers (Settings > More Settings > Mailboxes > Forwarding, then verify the address). Free users can still download Yahoo mail into another app with POP or IMAP (pop.mail.yahoo.com, port 995, SSL) using an app password, or have Gmail or Outlook fetch it.
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The 2013 Yahoo Mail upgrade
Yahoo’s 2013 refresh added free forwarding, free POP access, 200 filters and disposable addresses, and turned Yahoo Mail Plus into a paid ad-free plan. We planned to revive older addresses like Ymail.com and Yahoo “dot” addresses and forward them all to one account.
How to set up Yahoo Mail forwarding (Mail Plus)
- In Yahoo Mail on the web, open Settings > More Settings.
- Choose Mailboxes and select your Yahoo account.
- Enter the forwarding address under Forwarding and click Verify.
- Open the verification email at the other address and confirm.
According to Yahoo Help (external site), the option requires Yahoo Mail Plus and may not be available in every country.
Free alternatives to forwarding
Use POP or IMAP
- POP: pop.mail.yahoo.com, port 995, SSL.
- IMAP: imap.mail.yahoo.com, port 993, SSL.
- SMTP (sending): smtp.mail.yahoo.com, port 465 or 587.
- Generate an app password in Yahoo Account Security and use it instead of your normal password.
Add these settings in Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail or your phone’s mail app to read Yahoo mail alongside other accounts.
Let another app check Yahoo for you
Outlook and many mail apps can add a Yahoo account directly and sync it, which works like forwarding without a paid plan.
Keep old Yahoo accounts alive
Yahoo can delete accounts that aren’t used, so sign in at least once a year. See how to keep your Yahoo Mail account active.
FAQ
Is Yahoo Mail forwarding free?
No, automatic forwarding now needs Yahoo Mail Plus.
Is POP access free in Yahoo Mail?
You can connect free Yahoo accounts to mail apps over POP or IMAP using an app password.
Why does my mail app reject my Yahoo password?
Yahoo requires an app password for third-party apps. Generate one in Account Security.
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This is “too little too late” for me. Yahoo was inexcusably behind in its free offerings for YEARS, and now that it finally offers industry standard features, it does so without any announcements and with other changes to its offerings that try to extract more money while offering less value. I don’t see any standout features in yahoo mail that would make me want to start using them more, and I’m worried that in the future, they’ll start to charge for things that were previously free, or raise their prices a lot for things that were previously cheap.
I would like to thank you for sharing a new updated yahoo feature, this is good to me and professionals.
thank you for sharing this information about yahoo mails thanks friends
This update is really good especially when you want to save lots of time. Let us just hope that Yahoo! also focuses on its virus programs. So many spams are coming into accounts and they should be filtered by the moderators themselves.
This is good news for yahoo mail user like me. I’ve been waiting free forwarding feature for a long time. Now I can manage my multiple Yahoo account to my main yahoo mail. Thanks Y!
I too have multiple yahoo accounts which I would like to link to yahoo mail. This is a great feature and thanks for the explanation.
Joe
http://tauira.com
The forwarding option is gone now.
They have removed the feature it seems because it is not there any more.
This is good but still Yahoo mail suffers from hang up issue…….Yahoo should look in to this as users are now using better services like Gmail….
Really I am agree with us, yahoo is a good site but i want to see this site similar to gmail .
Yahoomail service is also good option and i used this service for a long time. thanks for share some new about yahoo.
still not seeing the free forwarding options..
Now yahoo user will use it with more freedom because number of people are waiting for it from long time.
Thank you for this article! During the redesign, some very old email forwarding settings were turned on and I couldn’t figure out where they were located to shut them off. I was able to find them with your forwarding tips.
This is good news for yahoo mail user like me. I’ve been waiting free forwarding feature for a long time. Now I can manage my multiple Yahoo account to my main yahoo mail. Thanks Y!