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Am I stupid or is Mail just not really good?

M

Motawa

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Original poster
Jun 24, 2012
710
1,706
My problem is, if I read an email on my Mac, the notification still stays on my iPhone. The mail only gets read on my phone when I open the app.

Why doesn't the notification go away on my iPhone when I read the mail on my Mac?
 
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Go to Settings > [your name] / Apple ID, iCloud, Media & Purchases > iCloud > iCloud Mail and be sure it's turned on. At least I think that might be it. I don't use Mail on Mac (just on iOS), but I had an issue where text messages were only deleting from one device and not both and the problem was I didn't have "Messages" enabled under the iCloud settings.

Also be sure on your Mac that Mail is enabled in System Preferences > Internet Accounts > iCloud
 
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usagora said:
Go to Settings > [your name] / Apple ID, iCloud, Media & Purchases > iCloud > iCloud Mail and be sure it's turned on.
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its on. I only use iCloud mail. I wouldn't get a mail notification at all on my phone if it weren't on.
 
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Motawa said:
My problem is, if I read an email on my Mac, the notification still stays on my iPhone. The mail only gets read on my phone when I open the app.

Why doesn't the notification go away on my iPhone when I read the mail on my Mac?
Click to expand...
Really depends on what e-mail you are talking talking about.

If you have setup email as a POP account then you’ll need to read it on all devices.
If you have setup email as IMAP then reading it on one device will set it read on all.

Most email accounts will allow either service, and most should give you details on how to setup each.
My provider provides a file that can be used to auto configure accounts simply requiring password to be added.
 
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CyberDavis said:
Really depends on what e-mail you are talking talking about.

If you have setup email as a POP account then you’ll need to read it on all devices.
If you have setup email as IMAP then reading it on one device will set it read on all.

Most email accounts will allow either service, and most should give you details on how to setup each.
My provider provides a file that can be used to auto configure accounts simply requiring password to be added.
Click to expand...
I use iCloud mail
 
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Motawa said:
its on. I only use iCloud mail. I wouldn't get a mail notification at all on my phone if it weren't on.
Click to expand...
Sorry was tong my reply whilst others were posting.
The iCloud email should synchronise across devices as described by the others.
 
Motawa said:
its on. I only use iCloud mail. I wouldn't get a mail notification at all on my phone if it weren't on.
Click to expand...

I misread your OP. I thought you were saying you have to READ the email on both devices to make it show up as read. You're just saying you have to open the Mail app on your phone before it syncs. I have that happen all the time, so I think it's normal. And I don't believe notifications ever go away from Notification Center unless you dismiss them.
 
usagora said:
I misread your OP. I thought you were saying you have to READ the email on both devices to make it show up as read. You're just saying you have to open the Mail app on your phone before it syncs. I have that happen all the time, so I think it's normal. And I don't believe notifications ever go away from Notification Center unless you dismiss them.
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gotcha. that's kinda annoying because I have to dismiss the notification every time on my phone when I am on my Mac.
 
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Motawa said:
gotcha. that's kinda annoying because I have to dismiss the notification every time on my phone when I am on my Mac.
Click to expand...

Now, when you read the email on your Mac, are you clicking the notification that you receive on your Mac to open that email or are you manually opening the email directly in the Mail app on your Mac after you see the notification? I have the (bad?) habit sometimes of not clicking on notifications and just opening the app in question myself from the home screen of my iPhone, in which case the notification will remain there. But I believe if I DO click on the notification, then that notification will disappear on all devices linked to the same iCloud account. The same should apply if you do that from your Mac, I think.
 
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usagora said:
Now, when you read the email on your Mac, are you clicking the notification that you receive on your Mac to open that email or are you manually opening the email directly in the Mail app on your Mac after you see the notification? I have the (bad?) habit sometimes of not clicking on notifications and just opening the app in question myself from the home screen of my iPhone, in which case the notification will remain there. But I believe if I DO click on the notification, then that notification will disappear on all devices linked to the same iCloud account. The same should apply if you do that from your Mac, I think.
Click to expand...
even that doesn't remove the notification on my phone
 
Motawa said:
My problem is, if I read an email on my Mac, the notification still stays on my iPhone. The mail only gets read on my phone when I open the app.

Why doesn't the notification go away on my iPhone when I read the mail on my Mac?
Click to expand...
Mail app sucks. Got rid of it years ago.
 
Motawa said:
even that doesn't remove the notification on my phone
Click to expand...

Hmm. I know for a fact that I've opened my MacBook Air after a few days of not using it, and I'll see a bunch of old notifications pop up from those days, but then they disappear momentarily (obviously it takes a few seconds to sync), UNLESS they were ones that I didn't click on or dismiss on my other devices. Not sure why Mail notifications would be any different. Oh well. I might try sending an email to my iCloud email address to see if i have the same issue you do with the notifications. Like I said, I don't really use Mail on my Mac (I just log in to Gmail's web interface).
 
I know you’re using iCloud, but just posting to say that this is not the behaviour using a gmail account in Mail via IMAP. Reading an email in the Mail app on Mac will result in the notification disappearing on iPhone. I couldn’t tolerate that not being the case!
 
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syncing and notifications have always been an issue on macos. Only time I’ve seen it work is either keeping the program open or closing the window (not quitting). Same with iMessage on mac.
 
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coffeym said:
I know you’re using iCloud, but just posting to say that this is not the behaviour using a gmail account in Mail via IMAP. Reading an email in the Mail app on Mac will result in the notification disappearing on iPhone. I couldn’t tolerate that not being the case!
Click to expand...
so its a bug then?
 
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Are you wanting the notification on the phone to disappear in real-time as it's read on the Mac? Even as much as they try to pretend to be a fully integrated system they're still operating as independent devices with essentially completely separate notification systems.

Also, IMAP syncing is separate from the notification systems on both systems. It's only a bug in that it's not as integrated as a modern chat system like iMessage, Telegram, and so on.
 
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Motawa said:
it only syncs once I open the app. Is this correct behavior? I was thinking the notification on my iPhone should go away as soon as I read the mail on my Mac.
Click to expand...
Does this happen regardless of Low Power Mode being on?
 
What's likely happening in this situation is what @Motawa is expecting and what the phone and computer are doing is only 1% different from what's expected. I run into this all the time at work showing my own boss how to do things with his iPhone and Mac. It's even worse with restaurant owners and point of sale systems. The ultimate result is the same (person asks for food, person gets food, person pays for food) but how that's accomplished is almost completely different from one place to the next.

And sometimes the technology wasn't intended to do what the end user wants and communicating that to the developers is not always easy.
 
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Motawa said:
My problem is, if I read an email on my Mac, the notification still stays on my iPhone. The mail only gets read on my phone when I open the app.

Why doesn't the notification go away on my iPhone when I read the mail on my Mac?
Click to expand...
It's a bug, more noticeable with devices running older iOS versions, also, been like that since what... the entire Monterey cycle? Another gem which just sits there for years, though we'll see when Ventura is released.
 
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