VPN seems to cause problems with Apple Mail for Mac OS

VoxMechanica · 2025-07-01T04:49:27+00:00

There was an error rendering this rich post.

Since returning to Apple Mail I am finding that Bitdefender VPN seems to conflict with the mail client. I have three mail feeds, Fastmail; GMail and another.
When VPN is not connected there are no problems but when VPN is connected all three feeds report "Mail was unable to connect to server “imap.xxxxxx.com” using SSL on the default ports. Verify that this server supports SSL and that your account settings are correct."

My research so far indicates the following potential problem scenarios:
Mail App Can't Connect to Server.
IMAP/SMTP Connection Timeouts
Blocked Ports
Location-based Filtering.

I am running Mac OS Sequoia 15.5 - all updates are installed.

Any ideas what I can do?

Find more posts tagged with

Accepted answers

All comments

Petersl

Hi @VoxMechanica

Try changing the VPN protocol, go to "settings" then "advanced" then "protocol".

Alexandru_BD

Hi,

In addition to switching between protocols, have a look at this article as well:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/30765/

Regards