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Everything You Should Know About Mail Categories on Your iPhone

Friday 16 October12:07 · 5h agoAI summary
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Apple’s Mail app in iOS 18.2 sorts emails into four categories to help users find messages more quickly, with options to view all mail or switch the feature off. Some messages can be recategorised, but Primary emails cannot be changed.

01Summary

  1. 01Apple introduced Mail Categories in iOS 18.2 in 2025, and the feature is on by default.
  2. 02The four categories are Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions.
  3. 03Receipts, order and delivery emails go to Transactions, while subscription emails go to Updates and deals go to Promotions.
  4. 04Users can swipe to All Mail, or tap the three dots and select Show Categories to remove the categories view.
  5. 05Messages in Transactions, Updates and Promotions can be manually recategorised with Categorize Sender, but Primary cannot be recategorised.

02Why it matters

The change affects how iPhone users see and manage email every day, especially if their inbox is full of newsletters, ads and order updates. It may make finding important messages easier, but it can also misfile emails and be annoying to change.

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