HT201419: Get help with Mail on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

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hawtin

Q: Messages are being automatically deleted from my email in box a day or two after being received. How can I stop this from happening? It is a recent problem for which I can find no reason

Email messages are automatically being deleted from my mail inbox after a day or two. How can I stop this happening?

iPad

Posted on Jan 3, 2014 3:52 AM

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Q: Messages are being automatically deleted from my email in box a day or two after being received. How can I stop this from happenin ... more

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  • by AmishCake,

    AmishCake AmishCake Jan 3, 2014 7:19 AM in response to hawtin
    Level 6 (9,381 points)
    Jan 3, 2014 7:19 AM in response to hawtin

    Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > tap account in question > Mail days to sync > increase time limit

  • by trishkates,

    trishkates trishkates Jul 14, 2016 2:08 AM in response to hawtin
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iPad
    Jul 14, 2016 2:08 AM in response to hawtin

    I have this problem too except mine automatically delete after a month.  I don't know why this has happened but I can't find a way out of this problem in Settings.  Nothing seems to cover it.  Help!!!

     

    Trish

  • by Diana.McCall,

    Diana.McCall Diana.McCall Jul 14, 2016 3:28 AM in response to trishkates
    Level 4 (2,900 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 14, 2016 3:28 AM in response to trishkates

    Are you collecting mail using POP, not IMAP? Check the settings for your account to be sure. This was a problem when iOS 9 was introduced, see Problems with mail in iOS 9. It continued too long for me, so I bought AltaMail, and I'm very happy with it. I don't know if a solution was ever found.

  • by trishkates,

    trishkates trishkates Jul 15, 2016 3:35 AM in response to Diana.McCall
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iPad
    Jul 15, 2016 3:35 AM in response to Diana.McCall

    Sorry, Diana, I have no idea what POP or IMAP is or iOS9.  Just one day I noticed when I was looking for a 2-3 month old email I realised that they had all gone!  I had a look in Settings and nothing seems to fit.  I was thinking I will have to call Apple and see if they can help.  Thanks anyway! 

     

    Trish

  • by Diana.McCall,

    Diana.McCall Diana.McCall Jul 15, 2016 3:49 AM in response to trishkates
    Level 4 (2,900 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 15, 2016 3:49 AM in response to trishkates

    iOS 9 is the current version of the iPad operating system. If you look in the Mail settings for the account you're using, it will say how you are collecting mail using either POP or IMAP. It seemed as if Apple had implemented automatic deletion of older emails, especially larger ones, as a memory saving scheme. This works fine for IMAP, because you can always retrieve them from the server. It's a little inconvenient for POP, since you cannot. Do you still see the emails in the list? But when you try to open one, it says "This message is no longer available on the server"? If so, then you're seeing the same problem I had.

  • by Diana.McCall,

    Diana.McCall Diana.McCall Jul 15, 2016 6:48 AM in response to Diana.McCall
    Level 4 (2,900 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 15, 2016 6:48 AM in response to Diana.McCall

    By the way, you can tell if you're using POP or IMAP by looking in the Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings for the email account. Under Incoming Mail Server, the host name will begin with pop or imap. Sorry, I didn't realize it was so tricky to tell.