Would really like Mail notifications to go away when read on a different device

[DesertSilver]

Anyone also find it strange/annoying that mail notifications (lock screen, badge count) don’t go away on a device when it’s read/deleted on another?

I could kind of understand if I was using a 3rd party mail app and/or a non-icloud.com email but I’m using default mail.app with an icloud.com email address, so both native to Apple. So unless I’m doing something wrong, mail notifications stay on my phone lock screen when I read/delete them on my iPad or Macbook.

I can’t think of any technical reason this can’t be done, especially fully utilizing Apple’s own ecosystem. I don’t think anyone can say it’s due to bandwidth, processing, or lack of communication protocols.

I wonder what the reasoning is…

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Been this way for years, Mail sync is trash across devices and still doesn’t work on the new OS. No idea why but I’m sure Apple has some lame excuse for not doing the most basic things on 1st party software.

 

[DomC]

I agree. I've always wanted my iCloud notifications to be removed if read on another device.

But hey, Liquid Glass...

 

[DesertSilver]

It seems to me like it’d be such a relatively insignificant code change to make it work better and here we are. Every engineer at Apple, and Tim Cook himself, would seemingly notice this behavior with their numerous devices. So bizarre that it works this way.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Here’s what chatgpt says:

Why iCloud Mail doesn’t sync unless the app is open:

• Background push limitations:
  Unlike iCloud Drive, Notes, Contacts, or Calendar (which use Apple’s push notification service), Mail relies on IMAP IDLE for push. On iOS and iPadOS, Apple restricts background network activity to save battery. If the Mail app isn’t open (or hasn’t recently been used), the device won’t maintain a live connection to iCloud Mail’s servers, so new mail isn’t pushed until the app wakes up.
• No system-level push for Mail:
  Gmail, Exchange, and some enterprise servers support Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) for mail, which lets them trigger system-wide push instantly. iCloud Mail does not use APNS for new mail. Instead, it depends on the Mail app staying connected via IMAP IDLE.
• Result:
  • On macOS, Mail can stay open in the background and keep syncing.
  • On iPhone/iPad, Mail suspends in the background, so you only get updates when:
    • The Mail app is open or recently active.
    • The system wakes it on a schedule (fetch, e.g., every 15 minutes).
    • A manual refresh is triggered.

iCloud Mail is technically push-capable, but iOS/iPadOS doesn’t let the Mail app stay connected 24/7 in the background like macOS does. That’s why it feels more like fetch unless the app is open.

 

[DesertSilver]

Limiting background activity for the sake of battery life can the thought behind a lot of limitations but our phones are doing so much more in the background already that seemingly would be a lot more intensive than updating an email status. iCloud Photos showing up on my phone if I take pictures and videos on another device is a huge one.

Oh well, first world problem.

 

[VigneshB]

Here’s what chatgpt says:

Why iCloud Mail doesn’t sync unless the app is open:

• Background push limitations:
  Unlike iCloud Drive, Notes, Contacts, or Calendar (which use Apple’s push notification service), Mail relies on IMAP IDLE for push. On iOS and iPadOS, Apple restricts background network activity to save battery. If the Mail app isn’t open (or hasn’t recently been used), the device won’t maintain a live connection to iCloud Mail’s servers, so new mail isn’t pushed until the app wakes up.
• No system-level push for Mail:
  Gmail, Exchange, and some enterprise servers support Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) for mail, which lets them trigger system-wide push instantly. iCloud Mail does not use APNS for new mail. Instead, it depends on the Mail app staying connected via IMAP IDLE.
• Result:
  • On macOS, Mail can stay open in the background and keep syncing.
  • On iPhone/iPad, Mail suspends in the background, so you only get updates when:
    • The Mail app is open or recently active.
    • The system wakes it on a schedule (fetch, e.g., every 15 minutes).
    • A manual refresh is triggered.

iCloud Mail is technically push-capable, but iOS/iPadOS doesn’t let the Mail app stay connected 24/7 in the background like macOS does. That’s why it feels more like fetch unless the app is open.

Not completely accurate.
For eg, Fastmail worked with Apple and their service gets proper push sync with Apple mail

 

[doogm]

I'd love that for all app notifications.

 

[Shin-Ra]

My only way to rationalise this is that the average Apple employee, perhaps like the average person has dozens or hundreds of unread email messages so the difference in badge count between devices isn’t very meaningful.

But if you keep on top of your email so any badge count other than NONE is an indication that you’ve got new email, this lack of syncing is a misleading irritation.

 

[DesertSilver]

My only way to rationalise this is that the average Apple employee, perhaps like the average person has dozens or hundreds of unread email messages so the difference in badge count between devices isn’t very meaningful.

But if you keep on top of your email so any badge count other than NONE is an indication that you’ve got new email, this lack of syncing is a misleading irritation.

I get what you’re saying that the number on the badge count wouldn’t matter if it was 215 or 216, but for me personally, the annoyance is that the email(s) that I’ve already read/deleted stay on my iPhone lock screen.

Looking back at the response above from chatgpt that mentions Mail works more as fetch than push, I guess that doesn’t make complete sense since new mail comes in as push so it is always connected somehow.

Would be nice for it to work like iMessage where the notification goes away on my phone right after I read it on another device.