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Works for me. I find it very useful. To train it.

How to Recategorize a Sender:
  • Open the Mail app: on your iPhone.
  • Tap a message: from the sender you want to recategorize.
  • For Primary messages: Tap the left-pointing blue arrow at the bottom of the screen, then tap "Categorize Sender".
  • For messages in other categories:Tap the three-dot icon (•••) at the top right of the screen, then tap "Categorize Sender".
  • Choose the desired category: (Primary, Transactions, Updates, or Promotions).
  • All future emails: from that sender will now be automatically categorized in the chosen category.
Thanks! My first impression was that I didn't like it because the categories used seemed a bit arbitrary. But I didn't realize I could train it. I'll give it a try. And for all those panning this, well at least it's just an option and easy to turn off. I don't mind features that I don't like if I don't have to use them.
 
Liking it or not isn't the issue, it just doesn't work. It was wrong 80% of the time on my iPhone, so I had to check every category every time I was looking for an email to make sure I didn't miss something. Additionally, it started promoting spam. I switched to Outlook on my work phone.

80% isn't an exaggeration.

You must have been using the betas to test this? I just downloaded it now, so cannot give an assessment yet.

If my experience matches yours, that is indeed a very poor implementation and yet another sign of Apple's problems with software quality.
 
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Categories work great if you train it and then your primary category only has the email that you need to address immediately. I see post down grading it before even trying it. It better then the category in Spark email and google mail.
But isn’t training it only applicable on 15 pro max and iPhone 16 models with Apple intelligence.

You can’t train it on the older devices bc there is no way for it to learn?
 
Unfortunately the categorys icons heading each email are still there.
but it defaults to all mail regardless.

It makes sense why the icons are still there. While you may want to open by default in all mail for your account if you want to quickly filter by category the options is still there.

So if anything it appeals to both. Gmail does the same thing with their filter tabs.
Why would you hate RCS?
I already answered that here 😃


https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-to-turn-off-apple-mail-categories.2454449/post-33835211
 
So many people at work come to me frustrated with how awful the new Mail is and all these default “threaded” emails and weird categories… and I’m not even in IT !! 🤪✨
I mean, Apple, why copy the worst feature in gmail?? You don’t know how many emails go unnoticed buried in threads…
 
I disabled it whenever Gmail introduced the feature and I immediately disabled it when Apple introduced it in iOS. Now time for my iPad… sucks they enabled it by default for those that have no clue how to disable it, which is a lot of people unfortunately. What a shock to see such a drastic change and then just having to live with it until you get lucky and someone shows you how to turn it off.
 
What I really need is the ability to list my emails by sender. I can do that on my Mac but it’s still not available on iPhone or iPad.
 
I still have to scan through my Junk folder every day because they still keep randomly putting good emails into my Junk folder and there doesn’t seem to be any way to teach it to improve.
 
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Seems like every time I master a feature they either change it or kill it. I feel like a dinosaur!
 
Since mail categories have been introduced, my notifications behave weirdly.

I have the following scenario: 2 email accounts - 1 iCloud (private) and 1 Exchange (work).

Usually, when I'm not on call at work, I want to have those notifications muted.

The problem is, if I turn alerts for that account off, they still go through because of the 'Favorite Mailboxes' and 'Primary Inbox' settings as they override all the rest.

Unfortunately those need to be on, otherwise my iCloud notifications land in the notification center instead of showing as alert banners (and yes, for the iCloud account alerts are on).

Is this just buggy or a design flaw with conflicting logic?
 
Whomever thought this categorization idea was a good addition to the Mail app should be demoted.
Fired and publicly humiliated would be even better. The mail app is garbage now. Many of us with early access since the first betas have complained, but Apple is hell-bent on forcing this crap. It's not just the categorization and list view, it's the other interface changes as well.
It's on by default, but users can choose to turn it off if they want. So it's not mandatory as users don't use this much!
But you can't turn it off. April Fools on me I guess for seeing this and thinking, "wow, I can turn it off??"! Nope. All we can choose is to not use the list view, only to have it go back to list view at times when jumping between account views or installing updates. Where can I turn off the stupid icons and attempts at categorizing and identifying? This clutters up the interface, wastes resources and it has no f*&@!%g clue what is what... Can't modify or organize categories, it's just arbitrary nonsense. I can manually "train" it to sort specific senders into the pre-defined categories. Would be better if they gave us smart mailboxes and mail filtering like on the Mac.
 
Apple really messed up when Macrumors of all places (which I perceive as having slightly more favorable opinions of Apple since that's how it got started) is posting info like this, implying the feature is not good haha
 
Man… I’ve been an apple user since the mid 80’s and have loved the innovation over the years until recently.
The number of “how to turn ____ off” articles is very telling. Apple seems to be mired in the fog of bureaucratic group think and closed feedback loops.
 
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I've definitely had issues with it so far on a 16PM.

I am in the process of training it as some of its choices are rather odd. Plus the fact it's really hard to tell you actually have new emails in the other categories. That little dot is useless and a few times the dot hasn't even appeared and I did have time sensitive emails arrive and I didn't find them until a day or so later. That's when I started training it. It's definitely getting better since I started doing that, but it will take time.

One issue I'm still encountering is it won't save drafts on my phone. Several times I've lost critical emails. Now I'm scared to save as draft on phone and instead just downsize the email until a free moment comes to finish it off and send.

But with all the trouble so far, I want to keep using it because it has streamlined my main category.
 
they're giving users an option to use it, not forcing it on you. Don't use it if you don't like it.

Many users are drowning in email and this is a useful attempt to filter emails so you don't have to.

Also: gmail has mail categorization for like a decade and somehow the world is still here.
“Categories is the default view after updating to the new software”.
I wished Apple would not force on me it as a default
 
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“Categories is the default view after updating to the new software”.
I wished Apple would not force on me it as a default
Yeah, I turned it off (for now). But they had a little pop up telling you about it and made it super easy to turn off. And by making it on just after updating they at least let people know clearly this view is an option. Taking two seconds just after an update is far from even annoying let alone a problem.
 
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But isn’t training it only applicable on 15 pro max and iPhone 16 models with Apple intelligence.

You can’t train it on the older devices bc there is no way for it to learn?

Not all of AI is of the "generative" variety that requires the LLMs, and the increase in RAM. Most AI is simpler "machine learning" (ML) implementations that have been around for decades, and this new Category feature is of that variety.

The Photos app surfaces recognized faces using ML.

Your iPhone keyboard learns your typing quirks using ML.

... etc.
 
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