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With the release of iOS 18.2, Apple overhauled the look and layout of its Mail app for the iPhone.
By default, the latest version lumps all your messages into different categories based on the sender and content. Another new option groups all emails by the same sender. A third feature puts "priority" emails at the top of your inbox. A fourth one displays a contact photo or image next to each email.
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Those don't sound too bad. What's the problem?
Well, a lot of people aren't happy with these changes, complaining that they clutter the app or make it difficult to find specific messages. Of course, no one likes change, so folks may just need to get used to these new features. Or not.
If you're an Apple Mail user bothered and bewildered by these changes, there are ways to combat them. In most cases, you can simply turn them off. But for that, you need to know where to go and what to do. And that's where I'm happy to pave the way.
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Now, let's look at each feature to see how to disable it.
How to disable Apple Mail's new design on your device
What you'll need: Apple Mail's redesign is currently limited to iOS. Apple plans to add the new features to Mail with iPadOS and MacOS. But you should be able to use the same tactics to disable them on your iPad and Mac as well as your iPhone.
Open Apple Mail, and you'll see new categories at the top of your inbox. Tap each one -- Primary, Transactions, Updates, Promotions, and All Mail -- to view your categorized emails. Sounds like a good way to organize them. Well, maybe not. The problem here is that you may have trouble finding a specific message, forcing you to waste time hunting it down.
If you leave categories enabled, another option groups all emails from the same sender together. Check the Transactions, Updates, and Promotions categories. Select an email from a sender who's emailed you more than once, and you'll see the headers for all received email from that person. Tap a specific header from the group to view the email in full. Yep, those seem like a lot of steps just to read an individual message.
A third new option in Apple Mail uses AI to place priority emails at the top of your inbox. But how does it decide? The AI looks for keywords and phrases that convey urgency. It also considers the sender and the time sensitivity. But AI being imperfect, the wrong emails could mistakenly be tagged as priority, or it could miss ones that are actually important.
By default, the new Mail displays a contact photo or image next to each email you receive. That may be a handy way to visually identify who sent you a certain message, but it does clutter your inbox.
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