Managing and Optimizing Mail Categories in iOS 18.2
Here’s everything you need to know about Apple Mail’s new email categorization feature in iOS 18.2. Apple has introduced categories to help users manage their inbox more efficiently. Let’s dive into what this feature does, how to make it work for you, and how you can disable it if it’s not your thing.
With the iOS 18.2 update, the Mail app now organizes your emails into four categories: Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. This makes it easier to sort through your inbox and prioritize what matters most. The idea of categorizing emails automatically isn’t new to Apple; it’s been in development since iOS 13 but required advancements in on-device machine learning and Apple Intelligence.
The Primary category is where the magic happens. It neatly gathers emails from your contacts, time-sensitive notifications, and personal messages. Plus, if your iPhone supports Apple Intelligence, you’ll notice some emails display short summaries for quick reading. You can tap to open an email or swipe left to manage it (delete, flag, reply, etc.) or swipe right to set a reminder or mark it unread.
Now let’s talk about the other categories. Apart from Primary, there are Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. These categories may need a little time to adjust to your preferences. With Apple Intelligence-enabled devices, emails in these categories are grouped by sender. Tapping on a summary shows the latest message, but you can also access all messages from that sender in a digest view.
Want to move an email to a different category? It’s easy! Swipe left on an email, tap the three-dot icon, and select “Categorize Sender.” Once you do this, all future emails from that sender will automatically go to the new category.
The Updates category is great for newsletters or updates from companies and social platforms. If some emails land in the wrong category, you can reassign them, and Mail will remember your preference. The Promotions category collects mass emails, which could include community or club messages. Spend a few minutes organizing these, and it’ll save you time in the long run.
Not a fan of the new categories? No problem. You can turn them off. Open the Mail app, tap the three-dots menu at the top, and switch from Categories to List View. If your iPhone supports Apple Intelligence, you can also disable the “Show Priority” option to stop urgent emails from being highlighted.
If you want to keep categories but need to see all your emails at once, you can quickly switch to the All Mail view. Simply tap the currently selected category or swipe across the category bar.
For more control over how the feature works, head to Settings > Apps > Mail > Apple Intelligence & Siri. Here, you can turn on or off specific options or even disable Apple Intelligence completely if your device supports it. Keep in mind, Apple Intelligence features are only available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or iPhone 16 models or later.
It’s worth noting that users are still exploring how valuable Apple Intelligence and its suite of features are. As Apple rolls out updates, including an enhanced Siri in 2025, the adoption of these tools is expected to grow. For now, it’s all about finding what works best for you.
