Create iPhone Mail Filter Rules
There are many ways you can filter emails using various service providers on your iPhone. Here are some iPhone email filters you can use.
How to Filter Emails in Mail Using an iOS Device
As the default email app on iPhone and iPad, Mail can support your other accounts from Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, etc. Here's how you can set up Apple Mail rules and filters with the Mail app:
- Open the Mail app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap the filter button, the round icon with three horizontal lines in the lower left-hand corner.
- You'll find Filtered by: at the bottom of your screen—next to the filter button, which has now turned blue. Tap Filtered by: to choose from various filters and iPhone Mail rules.
- Select the filter you want by tapping on each of them. You can select multiple filters at a time.
- Tap Done.
- Repeat the steps to adjust and select/deselect any of the filters.
While the app allows you to filter your messages with iOS Mail rules, it has its limitations. You can't filter by sender, keywords, or subject and there's no search function to help you dig through hundreds of messages in your inbox.
This is where inbox management tools like Clean Email enter the picture.
How to Filter Emails on iPhone with Clean Email
Clean Email makes message filtering easy, especially when using an iPhone. Take advantage of the Auto Clean feature through the following steps:
- If you haven't yet, download the Clean Email app for iPhone.
- Tap the icon with three blue lines on the upper left corner of the screen. It should pull up the options.
- Scroll down until you find Auto Clean. Tap it.
- Tap Create Rule to begin setting up your filters.
- Name the rule, i.e., newsletters to be read later.
- Sort through messages from various folders in your mailbox, such as Inbox, Sent, Read Later, Trash, Spam, Starred, etc.
- You can also pick the messages to filter from any sender or recipient.
Essentially, the Auto Clean feature allows you to filter messages by criteria:
- From (sender)
- To (recipient)
- Email address / domain
- Subject
- Date
- Size
- Status (read / unread)
- Search in Gmail's folders and labels
- Search in Smart Folders
- Sent by (people / mailing list / automated system)
- Once you picked the messages to filter, decide what you want to do with these messages. Choose from any of the actions in the dropdown menu, such as the following:
- Trash (delete from the Inbox, by moving to Trash folder)
- Star / Remove Star
- Mark Read / Unread
- Keep Newest
- Move to (folder)
- Move to Read Later
- Change Labels
- Archive
- Delete (permanently)
- Mark as Spam
- Click Create Rule to confirm and the rule is set. You can edit or pause it anytime from your Auto Clean dashboard.
Of course, you can always manually filter your messages, but it's tedious and not the best use of your time.
How to Filter Emails in Gmail on iPhone
It's impossible to set up Gmail filters on iPhone and iPad (though you can do it using the app's web version). On mobile, you can only sort your mail by various criteria, but can't save actions applied to the search results as a rule.
If you're on the go and your preferred mailing app is the Gmail mobile app, you can use the Clean Email app instead. Just follow the instructions above.
How to Filter Emails in Outlook on iPhone
You can filter emails in Outlook in two easy steps:
- Tap Filter on the upper right-hand corner of the screen, just below the bell and magnifying glass icons.
- You can filter by Unread, Flagged, Pinned, To Me, Has Attachments, and Mentions Me.
However, these filters are quite limited; they are essentially just sorting options without a variety of criteria and actions.
How to Filter Emails in Yahoo on iPhone
Like with Gmail, you can't filter emails in Yahoo using your iPhone. You can only view emails with attachments, that are starred or unread in one place. We recommend using Clean Email if you want precise sorting done on your iPhone.
Master Advanced Email Filtering with Clean Email
With Clean Email, you can go even more granular with filters, thanks to additional features like Smart Folders, Unsubscriber, Screener, and the Unread/Old Mail/Large Mail filtering buttons.
Smart Folders
Make the most of the 33 predefined filters to organize messages into categorized folders—no need to set up your own.
Go to the main menu on your mobile app and scroll down to Smart Folders. You'll find the different folders, and your existing messages automatically placed in each folder.
Unread/Old Mail/Large Mail Buttons
When you open your Inbox, All Mail, or any other folder, you'll find these three buttons above the messages: Unread, Old Mail, and Large Mail. These pre-set filters make it easier for you to reach messages that are—you guessed it—unread, old, and large.
You'll also find the Filter funnel icon next to the Large Mail button that lets you group emails according to a certain label (or the absence thereof), status, message size, and how long ago you received the mail.
Unsubscriber
If you've subscribed to newsletters and promotional emails in the past, this feature allows you to see them all in one place. Moreover, it lets you filter the subscriptions by date, number of messages, email address, or sender’s name.
When you unsubscribe, Clean Email will make sure that the sender's messages won't ever reach your inbox even if they ignore your unsubscribe request and keep sending them.
You can access the Unsubscriber feature from the left-hand navigation pane of your app.
When you're cleaning your newsletters, you'll be given the option to Keep Receiving or Unsubscribe from them.
If you prefer to keep them, select a sender or multiple senders, and tap More. There, you can choose to get the messages delivered to the “Read Later” folder or another one that you can specify.
If you choose the Keep Newest option among the others, you'll be asked whether you want to move existing messages to Trash. After confirming the action, the app will send older messages to Trash automatically when a newer message arrives.
Note that you also have the option to Pause a subscription, a temporary measure that moves the sender to the Paused section, ensuring you won't receive new messages from them without unsubscribing. You can unblock the paused sender or unsubscribe from this newsletter later on.
Regardless of your choice, you can apply the action to existing messages by toggling the switch until it turns green.
Screener
Looking for an iPhone spam filter? Clean Email can filter out spam, preventing it from entering the inbox. The Screener feature intercepts all messages from new senders and quarantines them for your review.
- To enable this feature, scroll down the left-hand navigation pane.
- When you tap Screener, you'll find it's disabled by default. Just tap Enable Screener or toggle the switch in the upper right corner to enable it.
- Confirm your choice by toggling the I understand switch, and press Continue.
- The Settings will show up. Review and adjust them as you see fit.
- Tap Enable Screener again.
iPhone Email Filtering Services
In going through the different ways of filtering your emails using various service providers, you may have noticed one thing: Native email providers’ apps often have limited functionality.
Yes, they do allow you to set up filters. But they either make you go to the web version because their mobile app won't let you, or the options are pretty limited.
Third-party email filtering services like Spike and Spark may bridge this gap by offering expanded filtering options. The right app depends on your email management preferences, how organized you'd like to be, and if you're concerned about data privacy.
Clean Email gives you the basics (thanks to the intuitive and user-friendly features we just described above)—and more. It also has added security checks preventing phishing attacks and a strong commitment to data privacy.
Clean Email does NOT sell, track, or use them for anything other than to help you manage your inbox. In tech speak, it only analyzes subjects and metadata to ensure your message is properly managed according to the iPhone email rules you define. You can rest easy knowing all your data are protected.
Wrap-up
Organizing your inbox on the go is incredibly easy with email filters. You can either do it natively within your chosen mail service provider's app (if it allows you to) or use apps like Clean Email, which can do all the heavy lifting for you.
With automated features and pre-defined filters, Clean Email helps you keep your inbox nice and tidy.
Recommended read: Android Email Spam Filter: How To Filter Your Emails On Android
iPhone Email Filter - FAQs
How do I set up email filters on my iPhone?
To create iPhone email filter rules, you need to set them up through your mail provider—such as Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo—in a web browser, or use the Clean Email app for more advanced filtering options.
How to filter spam emails on iPhone?
You can train the iPhone Mail spam filter by marking emails as spam, or use the Clean Email app's Screener feature for a more effective solution in filtering spam emails. It automatically segregates emails from new senders for your review.
How do I make emails go to a specific folder on my iPhone automatically?
On iPhone, automatically directing emails to a specific folder requires using the Clean Email app to create rules, as the native Mail app does not support this feature.
Where are my email filters on iPhone?
The email filters on iPhone can be found within the Mail app by tapping the filter icon or by using third-party apps like Clean Email for more comprehensive filtering options.
How to set up rules in Apple Mail on iPhone?
Apple Mail on iPhone does not allow the creation of rules directly; for advanced email rules on iPhone, use a third-party app like Clean Email.
How to create Gmail filter on iPhone?
You cannot directly create a Gmail filter on the iPhone's Gmail app; use the web version or the Clean Email app for setting Gmail filters on iPhone.
