About Categories in iPhone Mail
Similar to Google’s categories for Gmail, Apple introduced categories for Mail with iOS 18.2. This feature allows you to view messages on your iPhone based on four categories. Using these categories, which work like automatic email filters on iOS and Mac, you’ll hopefully have a more organized inbox.
The categories currently include the following:
- Primary: Time-sensitive or personal emails.
- Transactions: Purchase confirmations, shopping receipts, and shipping notifications.
- Updates: Newsletters, social media updates, and news.
- Promotions: Sales, discounts, and coupon-related messages.
These categories display along the top of your mailbox. Simply tap one and you’ll see all emails that fall into that category. You can also group messages in a category by sender or manually recategorize emails as needed.
💡 Tip: Considering the category feature but wish the options weren’t so limited? Learn about Clean Email’s Smart Folders which automatically filter related emails in over 30 categories.
How to Turn Off Email Categories on iPhone
While Apple has good intentions with this update to the Mail app, the email categories feature on iPhone isn’t for everyone. Some users find themselves reclassifying messages and others simply believe the categories are distracting.
If you’re in one group or the other, or just don’t want to use them, here’s how to get rid of categories on iPhone email.
- Open the Mail app on your iPhone.
- Choose All Inboxes or a particular mailbox.
- Tap the three dots on the top right and select List View.
You should see your mailbox refresh to remove the email categories on iPhone and can use the app as you did before. Well, sort of.
You may notice that although you’re using List View instead of Category View that the category icons remain next to your emails. If you find these annoying or consuming excessive screen space, read on for how to get rid of the category icons on iPhone.
💡 Tip: Concerned that you’ll be back to searching your iPhone for emails you need once you turn off the categories? Check out Clean Email’s automation features for easy organization and effortless message handling.
Remove Category Icons in iPhone Mail
Before we walk through the steps to remove the category icons in Mail, be aware that there are two caveats.
First, you’ll no longer see the contact photos next to your emails. Second, the setting only applies to icons and photos in your message list, not on individual messages. Unfortunately, these are limitations at the time of this writing.
To remove the category icons, follow these steps:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Select Apps and choose Mail.
- Scroll down to the Message List section and turn off the toggle for Show Contact Photos in the Message List section.
When you return to the Mail app, you’ll no longer see category icons or contact photos next to emails in your message list. But as mentioned, you will still see photos and icons when you open individual emails which is the default.
Clean Email: A Smart Inbox Organizer for iPhone
Whether you like the idea of email categories but find those in Mail too limited or would like alternative ways to organize your mailbox, Clean Email is the solution for you. Using smart features and automations, you can maintain a tidy inbox without sacrificing your time or useful tools.
Smart Folders for a Categorization Alternative
Smart Folders are pre-made folders that automatically filter related messages for you. They don’t hinder your email management process because they don’t actually move messages out of your inbox. They merely filter them into handy folders for easy viewing.
You’ll see Smart Folders for things like Travel, Online Shopping, Newsletters and Magazines, Job Search, Seasonal Sales, and many more — all set and ready to go.
Useful to those who like the category concept, this Clean Email feature gives you an efficient way to navigate your mailbox, find related emails quickly, and manage messages in bulk.
Benefits of Smart Folders
Unlike the categories in Apple Mail, the Smart Folders in Clean Email provide these advantages:
✅ Smart Folders don’t invade your inbox. You only have to view the Smart Folders when you want to; they don’t automatically consume screen space in your inbox. Plus, there’s no separate setting to enable and they are conveniently located in the menu.
✅ Smart Folders offer a larger variety of options. Not all emails fall into one of four categories, right? You can take advantage of over 30 Smart Folders for a more structured mailbox.
✅ Smart Folders are available for mailbox rules. If you want to automatically move or archive messages that arrive in a Smart Folder, you can simply set up an Auto Clean rule for the folder.
With these benefits of Clean Email’s Smart Folders over Apple Mail’s categories, you can enjoy more control, flexibility, and automation options.
Automated Cleaning for Category-Free Organization
If you’re not akin to the category idea but still appreciate ways to better manage your mailbox, you’ll love these Clean Email smart features. They help you automate inbox organization, remove unwanted messages, and maintain a clean mailbox.
Auto Clean: Set up mailbox rules to manage new and existing messages in your inbox. This lets you mark, move, archive, label, or delete emails automatically.
Cleaning Suggestions: See recommendations for handling groups of emails based on previous or common actions like mark, archive, or trash. These allow you to do a quick inbox cleanup without the work.
Unsubscriber: Unsubscribe from mailing lists in bulk rather than one at a time. You can also temporarily pause subscription messages with Unsubscriber.
Screener: Review emails from unknown senders in one spot. Then, allow or block future messages from the list of senders.
Wrap-Up
As mentioned, Apple introduced categories in Mail to provide automatic sorting, mailbox organization, and faster message management. For many, the biggest problem with the feature is the implementation.
Sure, most people would like help with sorting, organization, and email management. But there are alternative email apps for iPhone that provide those functions while offering less limitations and more useful features.
Using Clean Email, you can organize emails efficiently and use a category-free inbox while maintaining order through automation.
