1. Home
  2. Support
  3. AT&T Mail

Create a secure mail key

Learn about secure mail keys—including why and when you need one.

About secure mail keys

Do you use a desktop program or a mobile app to access and manage AT&T Mail? If so, we suggest you use one with Open Authentication (OAuth) technology. OAuth encrypts your username and password. Learn about OAuth and find out if your app uses it

What if your email program or app doesn’t use OAuth technology? In that case, you’ll only be able to access AT&T Mail with a 16-character secure mail key. Be sure to create a secure mail key for each of your AT&T email addresses and subaccounts. By doing so, you’ll be able to:

  • Access your AT&T Mail using your favorite email apps
  • Synchronize other account info, such as your calendar and contacts, to your email app.

Create a secure mail key

It’s easy to create a secure mail key from your mobile device, tablet, or computer. Have your user ID (email address) and password ready to sign in to AT&T.

  1. Go to your account profile. Sign in, if asked.
  2. Choose Settings and confirm the account you’re updating. Select Switch to update a different service
  3. Select Add secure mail key, enter a nickname for the secure mail key, and select Create.
  4. Copy your secure mail key to clipboard.
  5. Go to your preferred email app, replace the existing password with your secure mail key. For an IMAP account, delete the existing password for both the IMAP and SMTP servers. Replace them with your secure mail key.

Good to know: Each device you use to access your email will have its own secure mail key.

Additional secure mail key info

A secure mail key won’t affect your AT&T email password

You’ll still use the same password for your AT&T Mail account in OAuth-compatible apps and other AT&T products like currently.com and webmail. When you change your AT&T email password, you won’t need to get a new secure mail key.

Keep your secure mail key as long as you like

Secure mail keys never expire.

Create a new secure mail key for a blocked or locked account

For safety reasons, we delete secure mail keys whenever we have to lock or block your account. If that happens, you’ll have to create a new secure mail key for each AT&T Mail account.

Last updated: December 19, 2025

Did you get the help you needed?

Did you get the help you needed?