When it comes to dealing with emails on your iPhone, you may be surprised at how much space can be taken up. Apple has slowly but surely been updating the official Mail app with better features over the years, and the same is true with iOS 12.
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However, there are still some qualms when it comes to deleting emails entirely from the iPhone. Luckily, Apple made significant changes in the Settings, making it possible to delete emails completely from the iPhone.
Delete emails completely from iPhone
If you are tired of seeing your Mail application full with emails that are too old and won’t go away, here is what you will have to do. Usually, we try to find ways for you to fix issues in just a few steps, but this one is a bit more in-depth.
- Open Settings
- Select Passwords & Accounts
- Choose one of your email accounts from the list
- Select the same email account again
- Scroll to the bottom and tap Advanced
- Under the heading Mailbox Behavior, select Archive Mailbox
- Look for heading On the Server
- Tap to checkmark All Mail from “On The Server.”
- Press <Advanced in the upper-right corner to go to the previous screen and look for the heading Move Discarded Messages Into
- Select Deleted Mailbox
- Tap <Account in the upper-right corner to go back to the previous screen
- Click Done in the upper-right corner to save these settings
- Repeat for all your email accounts
Now that you have gotten all of the settings inputted correctly, the next move is to actually delete emails completely from iPhone. In order to do so, there are only a few steps left to be at “Inbox Zero”:
- Open the Mail app
- Tap ‘Edit’ in the top right-hand corner
- Select all of the emails you want to delete
- You can only delete up to 150 emails at a time
- After iOS deletes those emails, go to the trash and delete again
- Repeat this process until all emails are completely gone
- After you finish, restart your device!
Once completed, iOS deletes all of the emails, and you no longer have to worry about extra storage being taken up. Since we chose to remove emails from the server, you will not even see the emails appear when using the desktop Mail application.
And don’t forget to restart!
It’s crucial to shut down your device after removing your email and changing your settings. Restarting your iPhone, iPad, and iPod clears out all the caches and deleted items from your device!
If you use iOS 11 and above, there’s a new way to restart:
- Open Settings > General
- Scroll all the way down and tap Shut Down
- Slide to power off
- Wait 30 seconds or so before powering back up
Or follow these manual methods:
- Restart your iPhone X Series or later and iPad with Face ID
- Press and hold the Side or Top button and either volume button until the slider appears
- Drag the slider to turn your device completely off
- After your device turns off, press and hold the Side button again until you see the Apple logo
- Restart your iPhone 8 or earlier or iPod touch and iPads with Home Buttons
- Press and hold the Top (or Side) button until the slider appears
- Drag the slider to turn your device completely off
- After your device turns off, press and hold the Top (or Side) button again until you see the Apple logo
Further Explanation
At this point, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention a few things about the steps above. Specifically, when it comes to selecting the “Deleted Mailbox” for your discarded messages.
You are provided with either the Deleted or Archive mailbox when you are at this point. If the Archive Mailbox is selected, then all of your previously received emails will go back into the “All Mail” section in the Mail app.
The other thing we would like to point out is when you are selecting the option of “On The Server.” From here, iOS gives you the choice to either select “On My Phone” or “On the Server.”
The reason you want to delete these from the server and not just your phone is so that they are removed from your email account specifically. Otherwise, the emails will only be deleted from your phone and could reappear of your email services “glitches.”
Conclusion
Apple’s Mail application is arguably one of the best ways to manage your emails from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. This is just another way of proving how to can customize and create the best experience possible on your devices.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know if you run into any issues. If so, drop a comment below, and we’ll be more than happy to help figure out how to delete emails completely from iPhone and save you some space on your device.
Reader Tips 
- I find the easiest way is to just delete the email account from Settings > Passwords & Accounts, restart, and then add the account back in
- Some email providers have a setting that lets you limit the number of emails stored on your device at any one time–I know Gmail offers this and I assume others do too. I know that your email must be set up as IMAP and you can only make this change via the web browser. For Gmail, you find this feature in the Settings Menu (Gear Icon) > Forwarding and POP/IMAP Settings under Folder Size Limits for IMAP–you can set it anywhere between 1,000 up to 10,000 as a maximum. The default appears to be “do not limit the number of messages in an IMAP folder.”
Andrew is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US.
He has written for a variety of sites over the years, including iMore, Android Central, Phandroid, and a few others. Now, he spends his days working for an HVAC company, while moonlighting as a freelance writer at night.
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Question: does following the instructions below delete emails from ONLY my iphone or also from my mac:
Open Settings
Select Passwords & Accounts
Choose one of your email accounts from the list
Select the same email account again
Scroll to the bottom and tap Advanced
Under the heading Mailbox Behavior, select Archive Mailbox
Look for heading On the Server
Tap to checkmark All Mail from “On The Server.”
Press <Advanced in the upper-right corner to go to the previous screen and look for the heading Move Discarded Messages Into
Select Deleted Mailbox
Tap <Account in the upper-right corner to go back to the previous screen
Click Done in the upper-right corner to save these settings
Hi Betty,
If you set-up your mail account as IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) on your iPhone and your Mac (this is the norm these days so it’s likely), then this will impact your Mail on the server side, so it will push those deleted emails into the Deleted Mailbox on all your devices.
If you want to delete emails only from your iPhone but keep them on the server, you should set-up your account as a POP email account instead of IMAP. To set-up email accounts as POP, you need to add them manually instead of using iOS auto-setup options.
It’s best to get all your account information from your email account provider before setting up your POP email account on your iPhone.
You can look them up using Apple’s lookup tool or contact your email provider.
First, you need to delete your current account (if it’s IMAP) and then add it back in using the “Other” option.
Then add an account, enter your name, username/password, and a description. Next, select POP and enter email information for INCOMING MAIL SERVER, then enter email information for OUTGOING MAIL SERVER and save it.
Liz
My phone is a 5C and there’s no menu under settings for Passwords & Accounts?
Any ideas of what I do please?
Thank you. Suzy
HI Suzy,
Please tell us what software version your iPhone runs. To locate, go to Settings > General > About > Software Version.
For older iOS, look for Settings > Mail or Settings > Accounts & Passwords to locate your account.
Liz
I have been trying to delete all my emails off my iphone 6s all day.
Once I click on Archive Mailbox and I’m supposed to click on ON THE SERVER it is grayed out and that is as far as I have been able to get.
I’m so frustrated please help me.
I’m finally trying to get my life back and I can’t delete emails or transfer photos to my pc to free up space on my phone.
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Hi Regina,
Sorry if the steps are confusing. It’s okay if On the Server is grayed out–you need to select ALL MAIL from the list–so it has a checkmark next to it.
Follow these steps and see if they work for you.
1. Open Settings
2. Select Passwords & Accounts
3. Choose one of your email accounts from the list
4. Select the same email account again
5. Scroll to the bottom and tap Advanced
6. Under the heading Mailbox Behavior, select Archive Mailbox
7. Look for heading On the Server
8. Tap to checkmark All Mail from “On The Server.”
9. Press
When I get to On The Server, there is NO option for ALL MAIL. The choices are Inbox, Draft, Sent and Trash, all of which are greyed out. The only choices I can make are to Archive, Deleted Messages. Drafts, Notes and Sent Messages. I have an iphone 8 and this started happening that my email won’t delete from my computer and phone and vice versa
Same thing. There is no “All Mail” folder option. This is on OS 12.3.1
Hi Nancy and Dee,
What email provider are you using (i.e. Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc.)?
Liz
Since going to Spain on 19/3/19 I did not receive any emails on my iPhone 8.
Returned following week and still no emails.
I was still able to receive them the whole time on my other iPhone and iPad.
Tried deleting email account several times and trying to add the account again without success.
My other iPhone and iPad mirror the iPhone 8 and work fine but not my newer iPhone 8.
Any ideas about how to remedy?
Hi Alf,
Sorry to hear you have a problem with the Mail app.
We suggest adding the account manually using “Other” instead of via the automatic settings.
Go to the support page for your account type (i.e. Google, Yahoo, Exchange, Aol, etc.) and search for how to set up your account manually on your device. Look for something like how to manually add a Mail account using IMAP settings.
You need to know the email settings for your account before adding it into the Mail App (Password & Accounts) for iOS. You can look them up using this Apple mail account lookup tool as well.
Once you have those settings, open Settings > Passwords & Accounts and select Add Account.
Choose Other. Select Add Mail Account.
Enter your Name, Email Address, and Password. Provide a description of the account (for example, Liz’s Yahoo)
Choose IMAP or POP for your new account.
Enter the information for Incoming Mail Server and Outgoing Mail Server.
Then tap Next.
If your email settings are correct, tap Save to finish.
If the email settings are incorrect, edit them.
Hope that works for you!
Liz
Why doesn’t apple simply add a select all option so emails can be deleted easily..kind of odd
I would like to delete all the emails associated with my Gmail account off my iPhone 8 and take the Gmail app off of my iPhone eight but all my contacts are stored through my Gmail account. Is there a way to do this with out losing my contacts? I want to keep the Gmail account active on my laptop.
Thanks
Hi Mike,
Yes, you can keep your Gmail/Google contacts while deactivating your Gmail email account.
For iOS 12, go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts and tap on your Gmail account.
In the account sync selections, toggle off Mail and anything else you don’t want to sync with your iPhone (Calendars and Notes) but keep Contacts toggled ON.
That should do the trick!
If you only use the Gmail App, it won’t be listed so instead add it in but as a Contacts only account–not Mail!
If concerned about the space your Gmail email used on the device, first delete the entire account and then add it back it. When you delete the account, you will have to okay temporarily removing your Google/Gmail contacts and then add them back in when you add the account back in as Contacts only.
Before you do that, it’s a good idea to check how much space Mail or Gmail App is actually using. Go to Settings > General > Storage and scroll down the list of apps for info
I have iPhone 6s (pretty sure that’s what it is) and am running on iOS 12.1.3.
I just recently added a yahoo account for my email.
When I delete an email on my iPhone it now deletes the email on my computer as well.
I think it might be the upgrade to iOS 12.1.3 that is throwing me for a loop, as I cannot see where to change the settings where the emails on my PC will not be affected by deleting on my phone.
I would greatly appreciate any assistance you can provide.
Hi Lisa,
When you set up your Yahoo account using the Yahoo option in the Mail App (Settings > Passwords & Accounts > Add Account > Yahoo) it automatically creates an IMAP account.
IMAP accounts always sync your mail with the server, so when you make any changes like deleting an email, that carries over to all your devices (like your Mac) since the change is recognized on the server end.
What you need to do is delete the Yahoo account from Passwords & Accounts, restart your device, and then add it back in but this time as a POP email account.
To set up Yahoo as POP when you go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts > Add Account, choose Other and manually enter in your Yahoo account details.
First, enter your account details for Name, Yahoo Email Address, Password, and a description then tap Next.
Choose POP for your account and enter Yahoo’s POP Information:
POP settings for Yahoo Mail as listed at Yahoo’s Support Site
Incoming Mail (POP) Server
Server – pop.mail.yahoo.com
Port – 995
Requires SSL – Yes
Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server
Server – smtp.mail.yahoo.com
Port – 465 or 587
Requires SSL – Yes
Requires TLS – Yes (if available)
Requires authentication – Yes
Your login info
Email address – Your full email address ([email protected])
Password – Your account’s password.
Requires authentication – Yes
Tap Save to finish. If the email settings are not correct, iOS asks you to edit them. If the settings listed above do not work, contact Yahoo Help for further assistance.
Once you get the Yahoo email account recognized, open it again in Settings > Passwords & Accounts and tap on it. Choose the Advanced Option and look for the setting Delete from Server. Choose Never for this option.
Hope this works for you! Let us know either way.
Liz
I followed the steps above but it automatically applied IMAP to my mail account and I can’t convert it to POP setting.
I am trying to reduce storage on my iPad. Settings indicate that my emails use over a GB of storage.
So I’ve spent hours deleting emails, moving to ‘trash’ then deleting ‘all’ from ‘trash’.
I then went to folders, deleted those I no longer use. Then in the remaining folders I deleted emails no longer required.
I’m now working my way through the ‘all mail’ folder and deleting them the same way.
However……
I’ve been checking the storage used by emails , expecting it to reduce as I progressed through the tasks, only to find the storage has actually been INCREASING.
Please can you explain this to me and also help me sort this out.
Thank you very much.
Gillian
Hi Gillian,
Great job reducing the size of your email inbox and more!
Have you restarted your iPad after making all these updates? Performing that final step usually clears out all the clutter and fully removes all deleted items from the device.
Just had to revert to an iPhone SE I bought for another purpose.
Not impressed with it.
Often I want to delete emails from either the phone or server or both and this Apple method just deletes emails from phone and leaves them on server. So how do I have a simple option each time of just delete from phone or phone and server??
And I’ve got 13k messages to delete!!
So how do I specify how long to keep on phone, say 30 days??
Blackberry Hub is way better with simple option each time to delete from server and phone or just phone.
And only retains emails on phone for a period that I can select, eg 30 days.
And does a quick remote search of server if I need to go back in time.
Come on Apple, lets have better flexibility.
I have one email that just won’t delete I have tried all your suggestions but it still comes back all other emails delete ok hopefully you can sort it for me. Thank You.
Hi Vivien,
Sometimes when an email keeps showing up, it’s because it’s on another device (like iPhone and iPad.) Try deleting that email from all your devices (and Mac too if you have one.) Then, open a browser session and delete the email from there too–if it shows up.
See if that helps.
Sam