Apple Tweaks Mail Toolbar Once Again in iOS 13.4 Beta 2, Replacing Flag Button With Compose Button

Wednesday February 19, 2020 10:16 am PST by Juli Clover

With the first beta of iOS 13.4, Apple introduced a redesigned Mail toolbar that moves the reply icon away from the delete icon, a design that people had complained about since the release of iOS 13 because it made it easy to accidentally delete an email by tapping the wrong button.

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The first beta featured the delete button on the far left, the reply button on the far right, and folder and flag buttons in the middle, but with the second beta that was released this morning, Apple has once again tweaked the design.

As seen in the image above, the new toolbar features a compose icon on the far right, a reply button next to it, a folder icon, and then the delete icon, still on the far left.

The updated design eliminates the dedicated flag icon, which is presumably not a feature that most people use on a regular basis. The inclusion of a compose button makes more sense and offers more utility than the prior flag icon. For those who do often use the flag icon, it can be accessed after tapping the reply button.

We may see more tweaks to the Mail toolbar in upcoming betas, but this at least seems like a much more logical design that should satisfy people who have been unhappy with the iOS 13 Mail app toolbar.

Related Forum: iOS 13

Top Rated Comments

zachdog

47 months ago

Is it too much to ask to go back to the iOS 12 version, which had a flag, folder, trash, reply, and compose icons?

Apple, this is DUMB. Mail in iOS 13 has been three steps back.

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

itsmilo

Why can’t we just pick what we want there ourselves. Choices are good sometimes, Apple

IMPOSSIBLEMAN

"The inclusion of a compose button makes more sense and offers more utility than the prior flag icon "

No it is not. I can compose by hitting the reply button. Flagging is good for Follow-up and highlighting important emails.

And it bugs me we are at iOS 13.4 still without a dedicated number row at the top of the keyboard!

Razeus

Looks like there's still a lot of white space for a flag button. Jesus.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

cmaier

Until you have to provide I.T. Support to your family members who accidentally replaced the buttons and can’t figure out how to reply to an email anymore.

ghanwani

Somebody got paid a lot of money to create the mess. Now somebody else will get paid a lot of money to "fix" it. We could have just stayed where we were without these two glorious innovations.

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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