Getting rid of previous recipients in iPhone Mail

Question

Level 1

58 points

Getting rid of previous recipients in iPhone Mail

I cannot seem to get rid of the previous recipients email addresses on my iPhone. It is easy to do on the computer in Mail, but even though I have sync set up through MobileMe, it doesn't update this on the iPhone. This is annoying because when I want to type an address in on my iPhone, all of the previous recipient email addresses come up, when I only want the relevant ones. I want to remove the ones that people have changed, etc. How do I get that stuff off of my iPhone?

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.7), 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

Posted on Jul 28, 2009 8:25 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jul 29, 2009 2:59 AM in response to macorin

The Mail app on the iPhone/iPod Touch does have an option to clear previous recipients. The only way to remove these cached email addresses from the Mail application is restoring the iPhone/iPod Touch as a new phone/iPod. If you restore from backup, the cache is also restored.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414

Reply

Answer 2

macorin Author

Level 1

58 points

Jul 29, 2009 7:07 AM in response to Jim VanLeeuwen

If I restore as you mentioned, that will wipe my iPhone, right? Then if I sync, won't that just restore everything again? Won't I be back in the same boat? There has to be an easier way. Even if there isn't right now, hopefully Apple builds it into a future update. It wouldn't be tough to give us the option of deleting previous recipients in the same manner in which OSX does.

Reply

Answer 3

Jul 29, 2009 7:21 AM in response to macorin

Why?

Reply

Answer 4

Jul 29, 2009 7:25 AM in response to macorin

Yes, if you restore it will wipe your phone. You can reload your content but you'll have to reconfigure your settings (Wi-Fi networks, etc.), re-arrange your home screens, etc.

There is currently no other way to clear the email address autofill list. Certainly, selective editing as available in Apple's OS X Mail app is possible - Apple would need tom implement that for the iPhone.

You can submit feedback to Apple: http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html.

Reply

Answer 5

macorin Author

Level 1

58 points

Jul 29, 2009 3:50 PM in response to neuroanatomist

Thanks Neuro,

Absolutely not worthy of going through the restore process. I'll deal with it and wait for it to hopefully be included in a future update.

As for the why? Well, for starters, so that it is quicker to get the address you want. When you start typing someone's name, all of the previous addresses come up, even the ones that aren't used anymore, and/or ones that are in your previous list, but that you don't correspond with anymore. I don't want to have to sift through them all to find and choose the one that I want. For me, one of the things that Apple products have always provided is simplicity, convenience and customization for how the individual wants to work. Having the ability to simplify, or not is a nice choice to have. I hope that answers the why question.

Reply

Answer 6

Jul 29, 2009 4:13 PM in response to macorin

Don't sift through them all, just type a few more letters and the list narrows considerably.

Reply

Answer 7

macorin Author

Level 1

58 points

Jul 29, 2009 4:22 PM in response to Jim VanLeeuwen

Jim,

Thanks for the thought. This would be helpful in a lot of cases, but I am talking about people who, for one reason or another had to change their email address, so typing more of the letters in their name won't work. I still get all of the email addresses that they have ever used to send me something, thus forcing me to find the correct one. This isn't all that common, and to be honest, the whole issue isn't the biggest deal in the world. I just like to (and am used to with apple stuff) have control over those types of things.

Reply

Answer 8

Jul 29, 2009 4:53 PM in response to macorin

I put up with these old addresses until I had another reason to restore, then I took the opportunity to "Set up as New Phone" to get rid of them. It wasn't worth the hassle otherwise. Maybe a future update will have a "Clear Cache" option.

I have a friend who has abandoned his AOL email, but his wife uses it as her exclusive email address. So I have to be sure I pick the right one as the name is the same for them both. Sometimes you can't win.

Reply

Answer 9

Jul 30, 2009 6:47 AM in response to macorin

Another reason for wanting to erase the "previous recipient" cache: misspelled email addresses. I've lived with a misspelled email address for one of my most frequent email recipients since I first got my version 1 Touch.

I've tried adding the misspelled email address as a contact and then deleting the contact. That doesn't help.

I await the "Clear Previous Recipient Cache" button, but am not hopeful.

Reply

Answer 10

macorin Author

Level 1

58 points

Jul 30, 2009 7:40 AM in response to HighDesertPod

Good point on the misspelled address, which happens more than you think. I forgot about that one.

As for being able to delete the cache, I don't know if it is necessary to delete the entire cache, as I believe that would clear all of your previous recipients. I just want to selectively remove the ones that aren't relevant anymore, i.e. the ones that have changed, or are misspelled, etc. This can be done in OS X Mail fairly easily, and with with iPhone OS 3.0, the capability should be there, so I don't know why Apple wouldn't make it available. I'm more hopeful than not, but it will require patience.

If anyone can think of other reasons why this would be a helpful feature, please respond and list them here. I've already submitted an enhancement request to Apple. Why not do the same?

Reply