How to Create an 'Unread' Folder in the iOS Mail App

Friday February 12, 2016 8:30 AM PST by Juli Clover
In iOS 7, Apple introduced the option to add an "Unread" mailbox to the iOS Mail app, giving users a place to aggregate all incoming email for quick access. The feature was never widely publicized, and as a result, many iOS users today are unaware that it exists.

Adding an "Unread" mailbox takes just a few taps, but it's highly useful, especially when you've got a lot of incoming emails. We've created a video that shows how to enable the Unread mailbox on your iPhone or iPad, and below that, you'll find step-by-step instructions on the process.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Steps to enable the "Unread" Mailbox:
  1. Open the Mail app.
  2. Tap "Edit" in the upper right corner.
  3. Scroll down beyond the currently enabled mailboxes, and check the "Unread" box.
  4. Use the hamburger button to move the Unread box to a spot that's most convenient for your usage habits.
  5. Tap "Done."
Each incoming email will be filtered into the "Unread" mailbox as its received, and when read, the email will be removed from the box so you can always keep tabs on what hasn't been read. You can also filter emails by other parameters using specialized boxes found in the Mail app, including total emails received in a day, emails with attachments, flagged emails, and more.

For more quick tips on hidden iOS features, make sure to check out and subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel.

Tag: Mail
25 comments

Top Rated Comments

(View all)
Avatar
rdlink
52 months ago

Still doesn't change the fact that I have two thousand unread emails :eek:


Go back and delete anything older than two weeks. Those people have given up on getting a response from you anyway. ;)
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
just.in.time
52 months ago
Still doesn't change the fact that I have two thousand unread emails :eek:
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
JonneyGee
52 months ago

Why would I want a dedicated spot for unread mail?

Isn't just having it marked unread in your inbox good enough?

It's incredibly handy. I've been using this for years now.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
Carlanga
52 months ago

Why would I want a dedicated spot for unread mail?

Isn't just having it marked unread in your inbox good enough?

Not if you have different emails and many emails coming your way daily and many with attachments and other stuff that might take some time to load from different servers. It's a way to only see and reply to the most instant needs of your emails. As someone that doesn't put important and older emails into folders since years ago this is a feature I like using.


---------

Now if only the mail app could get my gmail accounts mail instantly again like the old days I might start using it again. For now outlook all the way for me. Apple has the money they should eat the small cost of people using other mail addresses that are not apples. They need to support the most used mail servers properly if they really cared for people to use the mail app with no way to un-install or have redirects work easier.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
dwfaust
52 months ago

Now if only the mail app could get my gmail accounts mail instantly again like the old days I might start using it again. For now outlook all the way for me. Apple has the money they should eat the small cost of people using other mail addresses that are not apples. They need to support the most used mail servers properly if they really cared for people to use the mail app with no way to un-install or have redirects work easier.


Not to derail this thread too far, but posts like this really torque my jaws. People assume that because Apple "has the money" they should pay for things for their users. Can you say "entitlement"? Just because Apple has the money to fund something, that does not necessarily mean that they should foot the bill for the world.

Of course there's also the fact that, in this case, this was NOT a change by Apple that removed the exchange access to gmail - it was Google. Facts are stubborn things.

Now, back on topic:

This is a great feature, and one that I have been using since Apple introduced it with the release of iOS 7.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
C DM
52 months ago

Not if you have different emails and many emails coming your way daily and many with attachments and other stuff that might take some time to load from different servers. It's a way to only see and reply to the most instant needs of your emails. As someone that doesn't put important and older emails into folders since years ago this is a feature I like using.


---------

Now if only the mail app could get my gmail accounts mail instantly again like the old days I might start using it again. For now outlook all the way for me. Apple has the money they should eat the small cost of people using other mail addresses that are not apples. They need to support the most used mail servers properly if they really cared for people to use the mail app with no way to un-install or have redirects work easier.

Google were the ones that stopped providing exchange access (and thus push) to free Gmail accounts.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
C DM
52 months ago

Why would I want a dedicated spot for unread mail?

Isn't just having it marked unread in your inbox good enough?

It's not really a spot as much as a filter to quickly get to just the unread messages, in case they might be mixed in with read messages in the inbox (so you wouldn't have to hunt them down by scrolling around and looking for them).
Rating: 1 Votes
[ Read All Comments ]