Q: After ios9 update my emails with attachments won't open and say "message not yet downloaded from server". They were there previously. How do I get them back?

Thank you, I understand that iOS queries the email server before creating an account.

What I do not understand is, why since iOS6, iOS7 and iOS8 asked the server what services were offered and then accordingly created a POP3 account, the POP account on those versions of iOS did not try to retrieve mail from the server after the mail was downloaded and removed, as is happening with iOS9.  I would appreciate any light you can shed here. 

Some info which may help: 

My iPhone 4S running iOS9.0.2 is set to NEVER remove messages from the server.  My primary device, a MacBook Pro running OSX10.6.8, is set to remove messages after the mail is retrieved.  Our network mail server is a POP server and our DNS is hosted on our network, so our ISP is not involved with mail. 

Yesterday I deleted the mail account from my phone and created a POP account.  Mail then seemed to run normally.  Inbox and Sent messages remained for 15 hours. Then they disappeared and the not downloaded from the server appeared. To me this sounds like an issue related to the architecture of iOS9 mail which can only be rectified by Apple's engineers.  Thanks again for your input.

I got the same result.  All seemed fine for 15 hours and then the messages and attached files were gone and the not downloaded from server dialogue reappeared. 

Good Morning Mr. Lawrence Finch,

You appear to be the senior ranking user on this thread (and presumably many other threads based on your ranking and points). Putting the virtues of IMAP and POP aside (I personally prefer POP for my style of usage for security and accessibility, but I have not had experience with IMAP until now) do you have thoughts on what is creating this issue with POP and lost email since the iOS 9 releases?  I re-read all the messages on this thread to see if you have opined on the potential causes of this issue; sorry if I missed any info you already put out here as to what could be creating this issue of lost emails for users.

Do you feel this is indeed a iOS 9 engineering issue and if so, what should we expect in terms of time and a resolution based on your experience as a power Apple user?  Thanks in advance for any additional insight you can offer. 

I had this back from AppleCare - note for UK Apple tech support is located in India or Philippines, line so bad can't hear and communication problems. All they kept telling me to do was delete account and start again.

Tried to post this from my iPhone but guess what, the message had not been downloaded from the server!

"i am still waiting for some clarifications so to be able to come back to you.

let me know if we had any differentiation on the behaviour and if you moved to Exchange."

SHame on all Applecare representatvies for giving Apple customers bogus, time consuming, and useless remedies to this POP email ios9 snafu!  Every Apple representative/engineer should be well aware by now of this ios9 issue, which is a big one!!  It's hard to believe a problem this big evaded the many beta testers and Apple software engineers prior to release of ios9.  Apple, just admit you made a big mistake on this one...we will definitely look down upon you more if you try to place the blame elsewhere.  Fess up and be honest/ethical about your shortcomings!  You make billions a year from consumers...show them some respect and tell them you screwed up big time on this release!

I suspect it's a bug in the email app; I'm sure it's not intentional. But I haven't experienced it with my legacy POP accounts. I haven't done extensive testing, however, because I rarely keep POP email on my phone; I usually delete after reading. I'll try to replicate the problem this coming week.

Do you like shouting into the wind when there's no one there to hear you? Apple is not in this user-to-user forum, and Apple doesn't read what's posted. Why are you wasting your time when you could contact Apple directly and discuss it with them?

Thanks for the comment, I've always suspected it's a flaw in iOS9.  It seems a lot of folks use the phone as their primary device (I do not) so for them it's pretty serious. Messages with text only are not effected. 

Use this link to communicate to Apple:  http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

I highly doubt not one Apple representative/employee reads these forums....You act like Apple employees are are not human.  They are human just like us, and read most pertinent info about them, especially their own discussion forums on their website.  They're a successful, big business, as we are all aware...They probably have personnel that read these forums specifically.  You think Apple employees are told by their managers not to read these forums?  lol  They have eyes everwhere.  Now, if I was cussing them out on my own private blog, I can undestand I can remain hidden from Apple, but not on this forum.  I really don't feel like hearing someone from Apple tell me to reset my iPad and email accounts to try and resolve this problem, because it's not going to work...

SO, do you blame Apple for this problem, or is it never their fault? Asking customers to switch to iMAP email accounts is a poor solution, and switches the blame off of Apple....just be honest, and admit Apple screwed up here, big time, on their mail app.  It's not ethical to "ALWAYS" speak good of a company, when they are clearly at fault here.  You are not an ethical person if you always defend Apple for every one of their software/hardware bugs.

I am having the issues with both messages with text and with attachments

Btw if Apple don't read these forums who is 'the host' editing them?

Tend to agree with most of what you say - I'm sure Apple don't react to individual messages/ users on these Apple hosted forums, but it'd be extremely shortsighted of them as a business not to have someone (or some bot) identify trends, even if it is some random Apple employee or store reporting back,  re any potential major issue before the proverbial hit the press / public fan. As has been suggested, I have contacted Apple via the feedback link oft quoted here, but that hasn't even yet been acknowledged, let alone responded to.

it's a messy bug imho - I've tried forwarding messages that are still on the server (I'm not at home so I'm not using my laptop client which has the delete server option), and a message all of which displayed before forwarding to another of my pop accounts, can no longer download the embedded images, even in the original message.

EXactly!!  And I'm certain Apple hires employees to specifically learn all they can about their competitors, like Samsung, Google, Microsoft, etc  .... Apple not looking in their own discussion forums?  No way, not possible! 

For all  we know the Host is not even a person as the concern is probably barring what they deem improper or inappropriate content.  

To get info to someone who can act on it use the feedback link.  I did and connected with someone in engineering.  He arranged to retrieve certain error files from my device, then provided a link that I used to send the data which he tagged to an case no. emailed to me and sent up to engineering.