Add your inbox

Add your Zoho Mail to Roost

Turn on IMAP once in Zoho Mail’s settings. Then use your Zoho password, or an app password if you sign in to Zoho with two-factor authentication.

About 3 minutes · Checked against Zoho’s help pages on

Before you start

  • Your Zoho address and password.
  • A Zoho plan that includes IMAP. Zoho’s paid plans do. New free accounts don’t: Zoho stopped giving IMAP to newly signed-up free users.
  • Your phone, if you sign in to Zoho with a code or the OneAuth app.

Why this is safe

  • The switch and any app password are made on Zoho’s own sites, mail.zoho.com and accounts.zoho.com (or your region’s, like zoho.eu).
  • Roost keeps the password in your Mac’s Keychain and has no server to copy it to.
  • You can turn IMAP off or delete the app password on Zoho’s side at any time.

Step by step

  1. Turn on IMAP Access in Zoho Mail

    Open Zoho Mail in your browser, then Settings, Mail Accounts, and click your address. In the IMAP section, tick IMAP Access and click Save. You only do this once.

    A simplified drawing of Zoho Mail’s Settings, Mail Accounts, with the IMAP Access checkbox ticked and ringed.
    A simplified drawing of Zoho’s page, with Zoho’s words.

    If the box says This feature is not available for your account, your plan has no IMAP. Only a plan change, or your company’s Zoho admin, can fix that.

  2. Do you sign in to Zoho with a code or OneAuth?

    No: use your normal Zoho password in Roost and skip to step 4.

    Yes: Zoho won’t accept your normal password in mail apps. Make an app password (step 3). Zoho suggests one even without two-factor, and it’s a fine habit.

  3. Make an app password

    Go to accounts.zoho.com (or your region’s: accounts.zoho.eu, .in, .com.au, .jp, zohocloud.ca). Open Security, then App passwords, click Generate New Password, type Roost and click Generate. Copy the 12 characters. Zoho shows them only once.

    A simplified drawing of Zoho Accounts, Security, App Passwords, with Roost typed as the app name and Generate ringed.
    Paste it without spaces.

  4. Paste it into Roost and click Connect

    Roost finds your data centre from your address, so you don’t pick servers from a table.

    Roost’s Add your inboxes screen with you@zohomail.com typed and a Password field, and the line With two-factor sign-in on, use an app-specific password. Step by step.
    This is Roost.

If it doesn’t work

Roost says Mail apps are off in Zoho.
IMAP Access is off, your plan doesn’t include it, or your admin blocked it. Do step 1. If the box isn’t there to tick, ask your Zoho admin or check your plan.
Roost says That password didn’t work.
With two-factor on, Zoho needs an app password (step 3). If you signed up for Zoho with Google or another account, Zoho also wants you to set a Zoho password first.
It worked, then stopped after you changed the server names
Zoho has separate servers for each region and for paid plans. Use the ones Roost found, or the ones in your Zoho Mail settings under server details.

Questions people ask

Which Zoho region am I in?

Look at your browser’s address bar while you’re in Zoho Mail: mail.zoho.com is the US, mail.zoho.eu Europe, mail.zoho.in India, and so on. Roost works this out on its own.

Do Zoho app passwords expire?

No. Zoho says they never expire. Delete it if you stop using Roost.

How do I remove Roost’s access later?

In Roost: Settings, pick the inbox, Remove Inbox…. At Zoho: accounts.zoho.com, Security, App passwords, and delete “Roost”. You can also untick IMAP Access.

Sources

Zoho Mail Help: IMAP Access, Apple Mail with IMAP, Two-factor authentication. Zoho Accounts: Securing your Zoho account, Know your data centre. Checked 5 November 2026.

Adding another inbox?

Gmail2-Step Verification, then an app passwordiCloud MailAn app-specific passwordOutlookSign in with MicrosoftYahoo MailAn app passwordYandex MailMail apps on, then an app passwordAOL MailAn app passwordAny other addressUsually your mail password