How to Mark All Messages as Read in Gmail on iPhone

Method 1: Mark All Unread Emails as Read Automatically

It’s not possible to automatically mark unread emails as read using the Gmail app for iOS because only the desktop version of Gmail can create email filters. Luckily, there are third-party inbox organizers for iOS like Clean Email that can automatically perform actions such as “mark as read” when a new message matching specified conditions arrives in your inbox.

Let us illustrate how to mark all emails as read on the following example:

1. Download the Clean Email app from the App Store.
2. Launch Clean Email and sign in to your Gmail inbox.
3. Tap the “Clean or organize new mail automatically” button.
4. Tap the plus icon to create a new rule.
5. Name the new rule and specify the desired conditions as well as the desired action (Mark Read).
6. (Optional) Choose to apply the rule retroactively to existing messages by flipping the switch next to “Apply to existing messages”.
7. Tap Create Rule.

That’s how easy it is to mark all as read in Gmail on iPhone using Clean Email. You can also mark all unread messages as read without creating a rule:

1. Launch Clean Email and sign in to your Gmail inbox.
2. Scroll down until you see the Unread Mail option in the Favorite Mail Filters section. Tap it.
3. Tap Select and Select All.
4. Tap Mark Read.

In addition to marking messages as read, Clean Email can perform many other actions to help you keep your Gmail inbox organized. For example, you can use the Keep Newest feature to ensure that there’s never more than one message of a certain kind in your inbox (great if you want to automatically delete old newsletters).

Method 2: Mark All Unread Emails as Read Manually

Here’s how to mark all as read in the Gmail app for iPhone:

1. Open the Gmail app and go to the inbox or label you want to clear.
2. Tap the sender's profile image on the left of any message to start selecting.
3. At the top left, tap the box next to Select all.
4. To include older messages, scroll down and tap the Select all box again.
5. Tap Mark as read at the top right.

Select all only picks up the messages loaded in the list, so clearing a large inbox can take several rounds of scrolling and selecting. The solution is to use a third-party inbox organizer like Clean Email or the desktop version of Gmail, which has far more features than the mobile app.

In Gmail on a computer, you can select every conversation that matches a search and mark thousands of emails as read at once. See our guide on how to mark all messages as read in Gmail.

Summary

Unread messages can steal your attention and waste your time. The good news is that it’s easy to mark them all as read. You can do so directly from the Gmail app, or you can use a third-party inbox organizer like Clean Email, which lets you automate the process so that you never need to label emails as read manually.