Apple Mail now sorts messages into simple groups to help you find what matters. This guide describes the functionality of the categories and the functionality on how to teach Mail to sort properly and how to disable the feature in case you want the classical list. The steps apply on iPhones and iPads which are using iOS 18.2 or above.
How Categories Work
Apple Mail places incoming messages into four main groups. The groups are Primary Transactions Updates and Promotions. Primary is for people in your contacts and for time sensitive messages. Transactions holds receipts order confirmations and ticket emails. Updates groups newsletters social updates and similar notices. Promotions is for marketing mail and mass mailings.
If your device supports Apple Intelligence Mail may show short summaries for important messages. That helps you see the main idea without opening every email. For senders outside Primary Mail will group messages so you can view recent activity from that sender on a single digest page.
You can open the digest page to see all messages from the sender and use the ellipsis menu to act on them. That menu offers tools such as Delete All. The digest makes it easier to clean up repeated mail from one source.
Train and Fix
Mail learns from your actions. If a message lands in the wrong group move it to the correct one. Swipe halfway to the left on the message then tap the more options button and choose Categorize Sender. After you pick a category future mail from that sender will go there.
If a sender keeps going to the wrong group repeat the move a few times. Mail will learn faster when you act consistently. Use the search field to find messages across all groups. You can also tap a category to view only that group or swipe across the category bar to change views quickly.
If summaries do not appear confirm that Apple Intelligence is enabled and that your device supports it. If you do not see any of the new controls, check for the latest system update.
Turn Off Categories
In case, you do not feel like changing the standard layout, you can do it within several seconds. Go to open mail and open the three dots menu on the right. Switch the perspective to Categories to Mail and then everything will be displayed in a single list again.
To more finely control it, open up Settings and tap the Apps and Mail then Apple Intelligence and Siri. There you can turn off certain features. When your device has the capability of Apple Intelligence you can disable Apple Intelligence completely in Settings in the Apple Intelligence and Siri.
Practical tips
If you get too many messages in Updates or Promotions mark a few as Primary to teach Mail. Use the digest page when you want to remove many messages from one sender at once. If you rely on time sensitive alerts enable Show Priority so urgent email rises to the top. If that feature moves too many items turn Show Priority off.
Privacy and support
Apple built categories to run on device when Apple Intelligence is available. That means sorting and summaries do not need to leave your device. The features may not appear on older iPhone models. If you do not see the new controls, check for a system update and confirm your model supports Apple Intelligence.