Apple's Redesigned Mail App is Expanding to the Mac — Here's When

[MacRumors]

Apple plans to expand the iPhone's redesigned Mail app to the Mac starting with macOS 15.4, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

The first macOS 15.4 beta should be made available in the coming weeks, and Apple has previously suggested that the iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4 series of software updates will be released to the public in April.

The revamped Mail app debuted on all iPhones compatible with iOS 18.2 last year, but it remains curiously absent on the iPad and Mac. Apple even showed off an image of mail categorization on the Mac last year, but it has yet to arrive.

The upgraded Mail app automatically sorts emails into Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions categories, but not everyone loves this new functionality, and fortunately it can be turned off on the iPhone if desired.

Mail categorization is currently only available in English. While the feature relies on on-device artificial intelligence, the redesigned Mail app does not require a device with Apple Intelligence support. For example, mail categorization is available on all iPhone models that are compatible with iOS 18.2, going back to the iPhone XS.

The redesigned Mail app is also coming to the iPad, according to Gurman. No word on timing, but perhaps it will arrive with iPadOS 18.4.

Article Link: Apple's Redesigned Mail App is Expanding to the Mac — Here's When

 

[abatabia]

To be honest I’m not a big fan of it on the iPhone. I hate that Gmail category thing and I hate it here. Just show me my emails in order. Just me I know.

 

[Kylo83]

I turned off the feature that separates the emails, I just want it to show all of them

 

[nortonandreev]

I think that haas been pretty clear (it coming in the Spring update).

I have to agree with @abatabia – I don't see much use for it on iPhone, I can't say it has improved the Mail experience for me in any way (and I have lots of mails).

 

[switz]

Another unwanted feature......

 

[Zapski]

Since I have zero unread messages, and only get about a dozen or less emails a day, it really isn’t a useful feature for me.

For those that have never turned on JunkMail filtering, or belong to hundreds of spambot lists, or whoever doesn’t check emails regularly and has over 1000 unread messages (I’m looking at you, wife) I can see how it would be useful

 

[surfzen21]

I hope they can add a new category for "poorly summarized" emails they are not showing you.

 

[zedsdead]

I also turn this off - if you use it great, but not for me.

I would much prefer they focus on bugs fixes and performance, better UI for signatures and font resizing, better integration with other services, etc…

 

[tlab]

I tried this for one day on my iPhone and then switched it off. Nothing like a feature that somehow makes email management feel like even more of a chore.

 

[jdclifford]

To be honest I’m not a big fan of it on the iPhone. I hate that Gmail category thing and I hate it here. Just show me my emails in order. Just me I know.

It isn't just you. I see no real benefit from it and it's been around in other IOS mail apps for a few years (i.e. Spark, Outlook) etc. To me, it's developers doing something to move their product along with solutions looking to solve a non-existent problem.

Now if Apple could just sync the unread badge count between different Apple products that would be a step in right direction.

 

[Mr_Ed]

Oh, why so much negativity? It’s a “must have” feature! Because, you know, . . . . AI!!! 🙄

 

[mike090910]

Saves me the trouble of not updating

 

[Kylo83]

Why wasn’t it ready when the iOS one was

 

[amaze1499]

Im wondering how many do actually appreciate and actively use that feature?

 

[Realityck]

I am just used to seeing mail by date, having it sorted means one now needs more time to verify your not missing something important. I also use more than just one email address in Mail.

 

[litmag01]

Please. No.

JK.

Love seeing generic favicons in mail that let me visually see exactly which sector of the economy the email might be from.

 

[Fishrrman]

Mail.app on the Mac has always been OK with me.
Why can't they just "leave it alone" ...??

 

[ZeroInspo]

Another unwanted feature......

Speak for yourself bro. This feature was what I needed to switch from Gmail to iCloud. I get unholy amounts of promotional mail, I wouldn’t be able to see my important messages without categories.

 

[Realityck]

Speak for yourself bro. This feature was what I needed to switch from Gmail to iCloud. I get unholy amounts of promotional mail, I wouldn’t be able to see my important messages without categories.

Not sure Apple’s sorting really helps with the junk mail bane?

 

[PsykX]

Tried it on iOS and turned it off.
I was starting to miss important emails for the first time in my life......

It was a great idea on paper.

 

[orbital~debris]

The upgraded Mail app automatically sorts emails into Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions categories, but not everyone loves this new functionality, and fortunately it can be turned off on the iPhone if desired.

One thing that's often missed in summaries & discussion of the new functionality is that there's a 'have your cake and eat it' option available…

You don't have to completely turn off the new functionality in order to see all emails as they appeared prior to the update. Instead, you can swipe across where the category headers/buttons are to reveal an additional black header/button labelled 'All Mail'.

From Apple's iPhone User Guide:

 

[attila]

> While the feature relies on on-device artificial intelligence, the redesigned Mail app does not require a device with Apple Intelligence support

You mean It relies on on-device MACHINE LEARNING! Please stop using "AI" for anything that's remotely clever on a computer!

 

[stocklen]

awesome article. Headline... "... Here's When"

last sentence

No word on when mail categories will expand to the iPad. Perhaps with iPadOS 15.4.



so... heres not when then.

 

[Saturn007]

Curious about the Mail app on iPhones or the Mac. Does it allow filtering of incoming messages based on user-defined rules? You know a la Thunderbird?

That ability is incredibly useful. I don't find that feature on Mail on the iPad and didn't find it several years back when I tested Mail on the Mac.

Has it ever been added?

 

[parameter]

An optional Mail background daemon would be the top feature that I've always hoped for. Some other clients have this, but it would allow Mail to check for new mail when closed, with just a small helper background app running. Again this should be a feature that can be disabled if you don't want it.

But otherwise, if you want to always see your mail coming in, you must keep the full Mail app open (which is much heavier on resources than a small targeted daemon type approach would be).

I for one would LOVE it if they made this a new feature. This definitely would be my #1 feature request.

Am I really alone here? I'm actually very interested to hear from others if they would find this useful?