Tim Hardwick
Today, Apple is releasing iOS 18.2, which brings major changes to the Mail app with a new feature called Categories. Categories automatically sort your emails into four separate sections: Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. However, while this organizational system aims to help manage email overload, not everyone will like the new layout.
Mail Categories attempt to intelligently organize your incoming emails into different sections. Important emails appear in the Primary category, while orders, newsletters, social media notifications, and offers are organized into three other sections.
The Transactions section includes receipts, orders, and deliveries, and is designed to make it easier to find the orders you've placed and the delivery information for those orders. Meanwhile, the Updates section includes newsletters, alerts for things like doctor's appointments and correspondence, and other subscription emails. Finally, Apple's Promotions category includes special offers and emails about deals.
Note that even if an email would normally end up in the Transactions, Updates, or Promotions sections, it will also appear in your primary inbox if it contains urgent information. On devices with Apple Intelligence support, the system goes even further, highlighting priority emails that require action or have deadlines.
Mail categories: Why you might want to go back to the previous one
The new categories view, while useful for some, may not suit your email management style for a few reasons:
- You prefer to see all your emails in chronological order.
- Some messages may not be categorized correctly.
- You have your own organizational system.
- You find the extra sections distracting.
- You want to get to all your emails faster without switching between categories.
You can swipe left on categories to switch to the All Mail view, but what if you want to remove categories entirely?
iOS 18.2: How to Switch Back to List View in Apple Mail
Categories are the default view after updating to the new software. Luckily, Apple is making it easy to switch back to a traditional list. Here’s how to do it:
- Open the Mail app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap the More button (the three dots) in the upper-right corner of your inbox.
- Choose List View from the pop-up menu.
Once you switch to List view, all the messages in your inbox will be displayed in chronological order again, as they were before iOS 18.2. The change will take effect immediately. While the categorization isn’t perfect, Apple will likely improve it over time. You can always switch back to Category view using the same menu if you want to try again later.
Note: If you’re using an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence, you’ll see an additional option in the More menu for priority messages. This option won’t appear on devices that don’t support Apple Intelligence. The More menu also has an About Categories section where you can see how your messages have been categorized over the last week, but there's no way to tell the Mail app if you think an email has been placed in the wrong category.
Tag: Apple Intelligence Guide72 comments
