Yesterday, my wife and I were jumping into the car about noon to go grab lunch together. “Ugh,” she said after she got settled and we started driving away. “Something changed in Apple Mail and I don’t like it.” It turns out that she was referring to categories in Apple Mail on her iPhone 15 Pro, after it had updated to iOS 18.3.1. “You’re not alone,” I responded. I explained that a lot of marketers have been freaking out about categorization of their messages in the latest versions of Apple Mail, even since the functionality was first announced back in June 2024, but what they’re forgetting is that we already lived through this with Gmail.
Years ago – back in 2016 or 2018 (I forget which, and Google is unclear), preeminent deliverability organization Return Path published results from a study that suggested that only about a third of Gmail users loved the Gmail tab structure enough to leave it enabled – meaning that an awfully large percentage of the users of the world’s most popular webmail platform found tabs (categories) to be unworkable in their day-to-day.
Will this be true of Apple users as well? I think there’s a chance. I don’t think tabs/categories appeal to everyone, and while I think it’s too soon to see how things will shake out in the long term, and I think there’s something to the theory that a significant number of Apple Mail users might not like the way that categories work.
Don’t just take my word for it, either. Multiplefolks have been posting about this recently (and I even stumbled across a Newsweek article talking about it), and so, as I mentioned to my wife yesterday, I was already planning to blog about this today to remind folks that:
Categories in Apple Mail are not the end of the world;
They’re awfully new and we really ought to be in more of a "wait and see" mode;
Lots of users are probably going to disable the functionality.
If you don’t like categories in Apple Mail on your iPhone, here’s how to turn them off. Inside of Apple Mail, click on the three dots menu when viewing the categorized inbox. A pop-up will allow you to select “List View” instead of the current “Categories" view. Do that, and the categories will go away.
Stay calm and carry on.
(Apologies for the Apple News article link; I couldn't find a non-Apple link to that particular article. I'll update the post if/when I find one later.)
Yesterday, my wife and I were jumping into the car about noon to go grab lunch together. “Ugh,” she said after she got settled and we started driving away. “Something changed in Apple Mail and I don’t like it.” It turns out that she was referring to categories in Apple Mail on her iPhone 15 Pro, after it had updated to iOS 18.3.1. “You’re not alone,” I responded. I explained that a lot of marketers have been freaking out about categorization of their messages in the latest versions of Apple Mail, even since the functionality was first announced back in June 2024, but what they’re forgetting is that we already lived through this with Gmail.
Years ago – back in 2016 or 2018 (I forget which, and Google is unclear), preeminent deliverability organization Return Path published results from a study that suggested that only about a third of Gmail users loved the Gmail tab structure enough to leave it enabled – meaning that an awfully large percentage of the users of the world’s most popular webmail platform found tabs (categories) to be unworkable in their day-to-day.
Will this be true of Apple users as well? I think there’s a chance. I don’t think tabs/categories appeal to everyone, and while I think it’s too soon to see how things will shake out in the long term, and I think there’s something to the theory that a significant number of Apple Mail users might not like the way that categories work.
Don’t just take my word for it, either. Multiple folks have been posting about this recently (and I even stumbled across a Newsweek article talking about it), and so, as I mentioned to my wife yesterday, I was already planning to blog about this today to remind folks that:
- Categories in Apple Mail are not the end of the world;
- They’re awfully new and we really ought to be in more of a "wait and see" mode;
- Lots of users are probably going to disable the functionality.
If you don’t like categories in Apple Mail on your iPhone, here’s how to turn them off. Inside of Apple Mail, click on the three dots menu when viewing the categorized inbox. A pop-up will allow you to select “List View” instead of the current “Categories" view. Do that, and the categories will go away.Stay calm and carry on.
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