This Is the iCloud Mail Email Attachment Size Limit

by Heinz Tschabitscher | Apr 12, 2026 | Email Tips and Resources

Getting an error trying to send an email on iCloud.com? Wondering how many BCC recipients you can have as a maximum? Find here the iCloud Mail limits for sending ⤓ email (SMTP limit and message including attachment size limit).

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First, a One-Ring Clock

With very, very few exceptions, the analogue clocks and watches that surround us operate on two premises: it takes two hands to display time with enough precision; and numbers on the face should be ordered and sequential.

Neither of these assumptions, of course, is mandatory.

Violating, especially, the second will let you violate the first one as well. The resulting designs are as ingenious — one rotating ring with minutes outside and hours on its inner perimeter — as they are counterintuitive — with either the minutes or the hours spread haphazardly (unless you prefer a design that makes use of just a third of the available space for minutes).

In any event, you still read the time by watching two (or four) lines align, something which humans can do with sheer limitless precision.

Now that we’re exploring the frontiers of clock face design, let’s not forget the limits for sending mail within two rotations of the hour hand (or whatever the ring does in that time):

This Is the iCloud Mail SMTP and Email Attachment Size Limit

Action	Limit
Recipients for a single email (in all address fields combined: To, Cc and BCC)	500
Total daily email recipients	1 000
Total daily email messages	1 000
Total message size	20 MB (up to 5 GB with Mail Drop)
Individual attachment file size	20 MB (up to 5 GB with Mail Drop)

So, you can send up to

two emails to 500 recipients or
1 000 emails to 1 recipient each

per day through iCloud Mail.
Their word: Apple include information on iCloud Mail limits in a support article.

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iCloud Mail Sending Limit Error Messages

When you have reached the daily limit, you will receive an error message depending on the application or service used:

iOS Mail: Sending the message failed because you exceeded your sending limit.
macOS Mail: Cannot send message using the server iCloud.
iCloud.com: Cannot send message. You have exceeded the total number of messages you can send each day (or you have exceeded the total number of recipients you can message each day).
Email program using iCloud SMTP server: an SMTP 45x error.

This Is the iCloud Mail SMTP and Email Attachment Size Limit: FAQ

Is there a way to change these limits?

No.

You cannot directly influence the limits for sending email through iCloud Mail.

Where do the limits apply?

The iCloud Mail sending limits apply irrespective of how you send email using an iCloud Mail account:

Using iCloud Mail at iCloud.com,
using a Apple Mail on a Mac, iPhone or iPad or
sending through iCloud Mail SMTP servers from an email program.

When I have reached the limit, what can I do?

Wait for the current period to end to send emails again.

If you are surprised by the error and having reached the limit (because you did not consciously send so much email), it might be an automated process (such as a cron job or monitoring software) sending messages repeatedly.

For sending large files, you can use Mail Drop in iPhone Mail or iCloud Mail at iCloud.com.

(First published June 2023, last updated April 2026)

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