Introduction to Apple Intelligence in Mail
Launched in late 2024 in the U.S., Apple Intelligence is Apple’s way of jumping on the advanced AI bandwagon. Going beyond the original capabilities of Siri, it provides tools like the Image Playground, notification summaries, and natural language search as well as features you can use in apps like Messages, Notes, Photos, and of course, Mail.
With our focus on Apple AI in Mail, we’ll walk through the features and how to use them effectively along with the availability of Apple Intelligence in Mail and how to turn it off if it’s not for you.
Key Features of AI in Apple Mail
So, what exactly can you do with Apple Intelligence as an Apple Mail AI assistant? From streamlining message writing to spotting important emails quicker, let’s take a look!
- Email Summarization: View summaries of lengthy emails and threads.
- Smart Replies: Reply to messages with relevant, auto-generated suggestions.
- Priority Messages: See time-sensitive emails at the top of your inbox.
- Summary Previews: View automated summaries below emails in the message list.
- Writing Tools: Proofread, rewrite, organize, summarize, and compose messages.
Clean Email Benefits That Exceed Apple Mail AI
Even with the finest help from AI, email management can still be a challenge. This is where supplementary tools like the Clean Email app can ease the burden. Clean Email is a mailbox organization, cleanup, and overall management tool with a robust feature set.
Because Clean Email’s smart features provide benefits that exceed the Apple Mail AI offerings, you can consider using it as either a powerful complement or supreme alternative to the Mail app.
✅ Advanced organization tools allow you to sort your inbox and group emails to more easily find what you need. For example, you can sort your mail by size and then group by date or sort by age and then group by sender.
✅ Automations help you organize your inbox as messages arrive. You can use the Auto Clean feature to set up mail rules to automatically move messages to folders, mark them as read, or archive them for better mailbox management.
✅ Smart Folders automatically filter related emails for you. You have pre-made folders for Online Shopping, Travel, Seasonal Sales, Newsletters and Magazines, and many more.
✅ Unsubscriber, the subscription management feature, lets you see all subscription messages in one place and then unsubscribe in bulk rather than one at a time.
✅Cleaning Suggestions help you keep your mailbox neat and tidy. You’ll see recommendations for things like archiving, deleting, or marking groups of emails.
✅ Additionally, the Screener tool can help filter spam, along with other features designed to boost your productivity.
You can use Clean Email as a desktop application for Mac and mobile app for iPhone and iPad (and Android), but also via the web where you can access it from anywhere. Clean Email works with any IMAP email service provider and is committed to your privacy and security.
How to Use AI in Apple Mail
Here’s how you can best use the Apple Mail AI features mentioned earlier for improved email communication and inbox management.
Summaries
Summarizing lengthy messages or email threads helps you get the gist of the content quickly. This is ideal for those drawn-out, less important messages or super-long threads that include many recipients.
Just select Summarize at the top of an email or thread.
Smart Replies
Smart Replies help you respond to emails when you’re in a hurry or aren’t quite sure what to say. These suggestions are usually short and sweet, helping you get to the point fast.
On iPhone and iPad, you’ll see these at the top of the keyboard, and on Mac, you’ll see them when you click the top of the email body.
Writing Tools
The Writing Tools are useful for conveying your message clearly, organizing the content, and rewording text to use a particular tone. This is one of the best Apple Mail AI features, especially for business communications, letting you do things like rewrite professional inquiries, compose friendly requests, list key points, and proofread for errors.
Select the Show Writing Tools icon at the top of the keyboard on mobile or toolbar on desktop.
📌 Note that ChatGPT is required to compose new emails and use some non-Mail AI features. You’ll be prompted to turn on the ChatGPT Apple Mail AI extension to use the Compose feature. You do not need a ChatGPT account but can connect one if you like.
Priority Messages and Summary Previews
Finally, the Priority Messages and Summary Previews can speed up inbox checking. Not only can you see your time-critical emails at the top but also a synopsis below each message in your list.
Select Show Priority using the three dots on mobile or View → Show Priority on Mac.
Summary Previews are enabled by default, but you can view the setting location in the section below.
💡 Tip: Learn how to refresh the Mail app if it appears new messages aren’t arriving as expected.
Category View
Although not a feature exclusive to Apple Intelligence and available to all iPhone users running iOS 18.2 or later, mailbox categorization is an AI tool worth mentioning. Similar to Gmail, you can sort your inbox based on Categories including Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions rather than the original default List View.
Tap the three dots on the top right of your mailbox in Mail to switch between Categories and List View.
How to Turn Off AI in Apple Mail
If you try Apple Intelligence for Mail and decide it’s just not for you or you opt to use Clean Email instead, you may want to turn off the AI feature.
First things first, the Apple Intelligence setting on your device is currently a single switch. This means that turning it off not only disables the feature for Apple Mail but your other apps and tools as well.
As an alternative, you can turn off just one AI feature in Mail and that’s the message Summary Previews.
Here’s how to disable both features on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Turn Off Apple Intelligence
On iPhone and iPad:
- Open Settings.
- Select Apple Intelligence & Siri.
- Turn off the toggle for Apple Intelligence.
- Acknowledge the statement and tap Turn Off Apple Intelligence to confirm.
On Mac:
- Open the System Settings.
- Select Apple Intelligence & Siri on the left.
- Turn off the toggle for Apple Intelligence on the right.
- Acknowledge the statement in the pop-up window and click Turn Off Apple Intelligence to confirm.
Turn Off Email Summary Previews
On iPhone and iPad:
- Open Settings.
- Select Apps and choose Mail.
- Turn off the toggle for Summarize Message Previews.
On Mac:
- Open the Mail app.
- Select Mail → Settings in the menu bar.
- Choose the Viewing tab in the pop-up window.
- Uncheck the box for Summarize Message Previews.
💡 Tip: If you change your mind down the road and decide to use one or all features of AI in Apple Mail again, simply return to the corresponding area and re-enable it.
Availability of Apple Intelligence
📌 Note that the following Apple Intelligence requirements are effective as March 2025 and may be updated by Apple at any time.
Device Compatibility
- iPhone 16 series, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 18.1 or later
- iPads with A17 Pro or M1 running iPadOS 18.1 or later
- Macs with M1 or later running macOS Sequoia 15.1 or later
Additionally, you need at least 7 GB of available storage space.
Language Support
Your device and Siri must both be set to supported languages. Apple Intelligence is available in English in most worldwide regions with expanded language support over time to include Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and more.
Region Availability
- Available to U.S. residents with supported devices as of October 2024.
- Available for European Union residents with a supported Mac running macOS Sequoia 15.1 or later. For iPhone and iPad, Apple Intelligence will not work if you and your Apple account are located in the EU. Further AI features are planned to begin rolling out in April 2025.
- Unavailable in China for devices purchased in the China mainland. Also unavailable for supported devices purchased outside the mainland if you and your Apple account are located in the China mainland.
Will You Try AI in Apple Mail?
With all of this in mind, are you going to try Apple Intelligence in the Mail app? Or maybe you’re more interested in the smart features that Clean Email provides? Remember, Clean Email is a fantastic supplementary tool. So, if you can’t decide between the two, then why not combine the apps to get the best of both!
