How to Turn Off Mail Categories in iOS 18.2

[Westside guy]

Also, if you want to get rid of the eye sore contact photo next to each email:

Where's the "only show contact photos from attractive people" setting?

 

[cgs1xx]

I would really like to know who at Apple thought this was a useful feature and why ...

I mean this screams "messy Gmail" to me... or why friends who only use gmail report they never receive all sorts of emails...

 

[Apple_Robert]

18.2 is live

 

[Brian_v11]

One thing that is unclear: does categorization get enabled on iPhone 15 (non Pro) and earlier?

(I guess I'll find out soon but was curious...)

It did for me. 15 Plus.

 

[Sippincider]

Apple needs to stop being so “helpful” and maybe just work on fixing bugs for a while. This change reminds me of the App Library.

Shades of MS’s Clippy/Ballmer era.

“What can we do to HELP?”

“Get out of the way and let me get things done. Please.”

 

[Apple_Robert]

I am surprised that you can’t add categories to the default categories list.

 

[Markgnyc2]

Is this not available on iPad OS 18.2?

 

[platinumaqua]

It's probably just me getting old, but I find technology is becoming more and more annoying and "disabling" rather than "enabling." I don't want my mail sorted, thank you. I have my own system and folders that work quite well. I don't want my typing corrected. Half the time the correction is wrong, especially when typing a name or an unusual word. I don't want my photos sorted. I have albums. I don't want Siri suggesting phone numbers and appointments. Again, most of the time they are unhelpful or just wrong. I know you can turn this stuff off, but it's a pain to figure out how. Enough with the rant. I'll go back to my Smith Corona typewriter now...

Feeling the same here. That used to be Google's thing and then Apple started copying that style when they ran out of things to add

 

[Avenged110]

Considering how tone deaf Apple is these days, I'm waiting for the seemingly inevitable MR article "iOS 18.4 Removes 'List View' Option From Mail App."

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Is this not available on iPad OS 18.2?

I have the same question. I updated my 12.9 M1 and mail looks the same. No catagories

 

[Markgnyc2]

I've already turned it off. I dont like the way the mail looks in the various categories. And I dont like that the mail count isn't updated unless its a "primary" email.

 

[bigjnyc]

I've already turned it off. I dont like the way the mail looks in the various categories. And I dont like that the mail count isn't updated unless its a "primary" email.

Settings > Notifications > Mail > Customize Notifications > Select "All Unread Messages"

this feature is defaulted to Unread Messages in Primary only, and you have to change it.

 

[aries81]

guess this is part of the Apple Intelligence package? Because this isn't available in the EU yet it seems.

 

[fotism]

Well, no categories on iPhone SE 2022, is it because of the phone or the location (EU)?

 

[Henry S]

I turned it off; I read my emails, and either delete them, file them, or leave the message until I take action on it. Right now, there's one message in the inbox.

 

[bmark]

Apple straight copied the categories from Gmail!

 

[Fluffyk]

If this blows up more, Tim Apple will have to find a Scott Forstall to blame and fire.

Firing Scott Forstall was Tim Apple's biggest mistake he could've ever done. Lots of brilliant people left too after his departure and Apple lost it's soul.

 

[jz0309]

THANK YOU MR for posting this!
What a stupid update, why not make this optional vs change for change sake?
Anyways, I read this article this morning, just upgraded, opened mail and changed back to list view.

Some of us have used email for40 or so years and don't need some marketing/developer team to tell us how to be more "efficient" with email ... of course those of you who like this "feature", I'm also happy for you

 

[Devnul0]

The only reason I leave analytics on is so Apple can hopefully see how quickly I disable misfeatures like this. Grateful for the instructions!

 

[Nightflyer720]

I actually like the Category view and think it will only get better over time. So far it's doing a pretty good job of organizing my emails.

However, the issue is that I'm not able to see email summaries when in this configuration - though they show perfectly fine in List view. It's been several hours since I updated and they still don't show in Category view, despite restarting and toggling the setting on and off. I've become a big fan of these summaries, so this is problematic for me. I was expecting better than this.

 

[funkright]

All I want, Apple, is an effective snooze feature in Apple Mail. On the Mac, iPad, iPhone. Is this too much to ask? It appears so and is pretty much the only reason I keep google mail on my devices.

 

[ifxf]

It's probably just me getting old, but I find technology is becoming more and more annoying and "disabling" rather than "enabling." I don't want my mail sorted, thank you. I have my own system and folders that work quite well. I don't want my typing corrected. Half the time the correction is wrong, especially when typing a name or an unusual word. I don't want my photos sorted. I have albums. I don't want Siri suggesting phone numbers and appointments. Again, most of the time they are unhelpful or just wrong. I know you can turn this stuff off, but it's a pain to figure out how. Enough with the rant. I'll go back to my Smith Corona typewriter now...

At least Apple hasn’t taken the Facebook route and ordered your email by a secret algorithm.

 

[Devnul0]

Settings > Notifications > Mail > Customize Notifications > Select "All Unread Messages"

this feature is defaulted to Unread Messages in Primary only, and you have to change it.

Why in the world would this stay on Primary when I’ve disabled categories? This is awful. Thanks for the heads up as to how to fix it.

So many things are embarrassingly bad, like how if you go to customize the behavior of swiping in Mail, and it tells you “Quickly access features like Trash, Flag, and Archive” and NONE of the actual selectable options is Trash.

 

[Biro]

The update to 18.2 brought Mail categories to my iPhone 16 Plus but not my M2 iPad Airs (13- and 11-inch), latest-gen iPad Mini and M2 Max Mac Studio. Not that I think I want them but it is interesting that Mail categories didn’t appear on all of the devices - which are the most current.

 

[IT Troll]

I’d be willing to give this a try except that it is missing from iPadOS. I don’t want a different experience across my devices which makes this feature DOA. Have Apple explained this fragmentation?