Mika Inkinen

Q: Phantom unread emails: Mail shows 5 unread messages, but there are none...

I've got four email accounts set up with my iPhone 4 (updated to latest software). Yesterday, however, one of those inboxes started showing that there was one unread email on the account (an imap account), but when I go to view the message list there are no unread emails there. And this morning, it started showing five unread messages, but again no unread messages were there.

The 'unread messages' don't show up in Mail on my iMac either (and the Mail icon in the doc does not show any phantom 'unread' messages).


Has anyone else encountered this problem, and if so, how was it solved?

20" iMac 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo, original iPhone, iPhone 4, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 4GB RAM, 250GB HD, 128MB VRAM

Posted on Oct 20, 2010 2:25 AM

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Q: Phantom unread emails: Mail shows 5 unread messages, but there are none...

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  • by fractal$,Helpful

    fractal$ fractal$ Aug 30, 2011 2:38 PM in response to xaedelus
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Aug 30, 2011 2:38 PM in response to xaedelus

    got excited there for a minute - but alas - did not work for me

  • by johnfromleduc,Helpful

    johnfromleduc johnfromleduc Sep 28, 2011 4:13 PM in response to Mika Inkinen
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 28, 2011 4:13 PM in response to Mika Inkinen

    I have had this problem many times and I am not certain what causes it,but I do know how to fix it.  From mail, click on the mail account that has the phantom unread e-mails. Go to the mailbox tab across the top menu, then select rebuild.  This rebuilds the mailbox from your IMAP account and has fixed the problem for me everytime.

  • by Bryan G,

    Bryan G Bryan G Oct 13, 2011 6:56 PM in response to Mika Inkinen
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Oct 13, 2011 6:56 PM in response to Mika Inkinen

    I had the same issue after upgrading to iOS 5 and couldn't figure it out.  I synced my phone (via USB) and lo' and behold it's gone. I think it gets stuck in the sync process...Have you tried that?

  • by M_X_R,

    M_X_R M_X_R Oct 26, 2011 4:39 PM in response to jad2121
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 26, 2011 4:39 PM in response to jad2121

    Jad2121,

         It worked for me, thanks.

    I had this phantom situation on my Mac not my iPhone like the others.

  • by Matt_925,

    Matt_925 Matt_925 Oct 28, 2011 9:14 PM in response to jad2121
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Oct 28, 2011 9:14 PM in response to jad2121

    THANK YOU SO MUCH for this solution!!!  I spent 3 hours trying to fix this bug, and when I found your solution it worked like a charm.  I think my bug may have been institigated by my FWD setting selected in my old G-mail account (I'm brand new to @me mail).  So, I've turned off my old G-mail forwarding and I will just check it from time to time.

  • by tstevens,

    tstevens tstevens Nov 17, 2011 12:22 PM in response to Mika Inkinen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 17, 2011 12:22 PM in response to Mika Inkinen

    I have had this problem (and others) ever since upgrading to iOS5.  Neither syncing or resetting the phone  seems to have any effect.  Sometimes random actions seem to "clear" the badge.  For example, scrolling down to the "accounts" pane and opening and closing all of the boxes associated with MobileMe.  Sometimes not. 

  • by Cactus1993,

    Cactus1993 Cactus1993 Jan 26, 2012 7:36 AM in response to jad2121
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 26, 2012 7:36 AM in response to jad2121

    JAD: Thank you! Worked perfectly for me.

  • by jsiddo,Helpful

    jsiddo jsiddo Mar 28, 2012 7:12 AM in response to Mika Inkinen
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mar 28, 2012 7:12 AM in response to Mika Inkinen

    This has happened to me several times (including this morning actually), but this solution has always seemed to work for me:

     

    Send a test email to yourself from the account that is showing the phantom message to the same account. Once you send the email and your phone downloads the new incoming mail, open the new test email and that should clear it.

     

    Hope this helps someone. Thanks!

  • by wthompson0817,

    wthompson0817 wthompson0817 May 16, 2012 11:24 AM in response to Mika Inkinen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 16, 2012 11:24 AM in response to Mika Inkinen

    Thanks jad2121 worked like a charm!!!

  • by ajkoop,

    ajkoop ajkoop Jun 6, 2012 12:03 PM in response to Mika Inkinen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 6, 2012 12:03 PM in response to Mika Inkinen

    I had this problem and rebuilding didn't help. I went to my iPad and found that there was an unread message in an iCloud account that was somehow being counted as an Exchange mail due to syncing. Marking that message as read seems to have fixed it.

  • by Don Jones,

    Don Jones Don Jones Jun 15, 2012 12:01 PM in response to jad2121
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 15, 2012 12:01 PM in response to jad2121

    Jad tyvm your procedure cured my unread mail count problem. I think deleting the mail envelope files instead of moving them would work also.

  • by jennie_lee,

    jennie_lee jennie_lee Jul 2, 2012 8:00 AM in response to Mika Inkinen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2012 8:00 AM in response to Mika Inkinen

    I am still having an undread message problem.  I've tried all the suggested solutions:

     

    Delted and resynched account on my iPad and Mac, Rebuilt the mailbox, built a Smart Mailbox to display unread messages, gone through Library, gone through the website online (it's a university mail account that's giving me problems).  When I have no unread messages, my dock shows 13.  When I receive messages, that number increases, but I can't get the 13 unread messages to go away.  What's next?

  • by dude19,

    dude19 dude19 Sep 27, 2012 1:23 PM in response to jsiddo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 27, 2012 1:23 PM in response to jsiddo

    JSIDDO - thanks this solved it for me!!

  • by componentgeek,Helpful

    componentgeek componentgeek Oct 5, 2012 2:01 PM in response to jennie_lee
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 5, 2012 2:01 PM in response to jennie_lee

    I found this solution an another thread and it worked wonders without having to reset ANYTHING!!!

     

    I just had this issue when setting up an email account on my iphone.. I tried everything that was mentioned but to no resolution. I then went into the Email Settings and switched "Mail" to OFF (Do Not Delete Account), then switched "Mail" back ON. This resolved my issue.

  • by jujubean804,

    jujubean804 jujubean804 Oct 12, 2012 6:20 PM in response to componentgeek
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 12, 2012 6:20 PM in response to componentgeek

    @componentgeek,

     

    This worked for my iPhone 5!  Thank you!

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