iOS 13.1.2 - Email not being marked as read when I read it

It's so hard for Apple to fix this bug because, frankly, not as many people are having this issue as it seems. Just because the people in this post are experiencing it doesn't mean that everyone is. If everyone were experiencing it, it would actually be a whole lot easier to fix, because the problem could be easily reproduced and isolated. For example, I have been using the same Exchange account on my iPhone that everyone else in my office has and I have never, not once, experienced the issues described in this post. And I started running the iOS 13 beta back in July! Yet, there's quite clearly a legitimate issue here because there are enough people in my immediate vicinity that have experienced and demonstrated the issue to me. So, there's obviously some undiscovered variable that that affects their devices but not mine.

In the end, however, you have to put yourself in the shoes of an Apple Engineer: it's hard to fix something that's hard to reproduce. Perhaps you'd like to sacrifice your iPhone and personal data to allow an engineer to study this issue? Exactly. Not many people are willing offer up their devices and account access as a specimen for study. So, they have to try and reproduce this issue from scratch. It is frustrating for sure, particularly because the Mail app worked just fine in iOS 12. I expect that the Engineers are systematically combing through changes between iOS 12 and iOS 13's Mail app, targeting possible flaws, and crossing their fingers after each subsequent update.

The best we can do is just cross our fingers as well, or, better yet, continue to offer constructive troubleshooting tips that you've tried, such as resetting network settings for a temporary fix. You can also submit feedback at www.apple.com/feedback. (Yes, people do actually read every single message sent there. I had a friend who did that very job for a short time a few years ago.)

Well that's odd - I wanted to add https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html but it completed my post!

the end should have read is to use the forms such as https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html the iPhone feedback form.

As for getting feedback - do not hold your breath, Apple is worse than EE.

Same here (Outlook365)

• mails marked only as read after opening them twice
• deleting looks and sounds ok, but mails are not deleted
• replies to unread mails do not contain quoted body text (for replies, wait until they are marked as read!)

and WHY oh why was the easy function of flagging mails changed to a too-many-taps-function ?!...

I can’t because it will be different for every email provider and every email configuration. Here are a few things to check:

• Settings/Cellular: It needs to be on
• Settings/Cellular/Mail: It needs to be on
• Settings/General/Background app Refresh: Needs to be on
• Settings/Battery: Low Power Mode needs to be OFF
• iOS 13: Settings/Passwords & Accounts tap on the mail settings, then any non-iCloud Accounts and tap on the account, SMTP settings, make sure there is the correct user ID and password
• iOS 14: Same as iOS 13, except it will be in Settings/Mail/Accounts
• Settings/Mail/Fetch New Data: Push on accounts where it is available, fetch on all others (If it is “never" it will only update Read status when you force it to read)

This helped me to solve the problem.

Because it worked perfectly on LTE wifi off. On Wifi it didn’t work anymore.

So what is did was :

Hopefully it will work for some other people. But be aware off the fact that you need to enter all your wifi networks again. Have a nice weekend.

in response to Mar_Denmark...

How could it have fixed yours for "a day or two" if the update was only released yesterday? Double-check that you're updated to 13.2.3. That's the update that seems to be focused on this issue.

I believe this to be a Gmail problem on Google’s end of things. Both problems: missing mail and cannot mark Read involve Gmail tagging an email as Important (see the Important folder for those emails). It’s does appear to be fixed for now, but I thought so previously then the problem cropped up again.

I am having the same problem since updating to 13.1.2. Also when I move a message to a folder it stays on the inbox. I have to move it a second time for it to actually move. Also battery life with 13.1.2 is terrible. I literally watch or reducing 1% every 30 seconds when all I’m doing is looking at twitter or Facebook.

Regarding Twitter and Facebook, turn off 'General->Background App Refresh' for those two. That should help your battery life. iOS 13 introduced more multitasking that probably resulted in you seeing that battery life change. Also, if your phone service provider is not serving a good signal as before (too many clients on the towers) that can impact battery big time. I switched from AT&T to Spectrum (rebranded Verizon) to gain 40% better battery life on my iPhone 8.

Thanks I’ll try the background app refresh thing. Also I have noticed the weaker data signal in recent days too (although I’m in UK not US). Must be coincidence though right, not related to the iOs update somehow?

Looks like there may be a fix for Not Marked Read. In the iPhone’s Accounts record for Gmail turn off Contacts and Calendar. It may be related only to Contacts but I only use Gmail for email not Contacts etc on my iPhone.

I am also having this problem. I do not use GMail. I just have my personal Outlook.com emails along with my Outlook Exchange emails from work. I have to read each email twice to get it marked as read.

If I reboot my phone, the issue will resolve temporarily.

I have even updated to the iOS Beta 13.2 and issue remains.

I have an iPhone 8 Plus.

I also have this problem since 13.1.0. It issue happens on both of my O365 accounts.

Reading messages in the preview pane (landscape mode) will show the message, but deleting it does not remove it from the list. I need to delete it a second time to make it disappear. In my case, the problem is intermittent. It will not work properly first thing in the morning, but will work properly later in the day. Also, sometimes it will happen on one account, but not the other. Restarting the iPad doesn't make a difference.

I have not personally experienced this issue on my own devices, but I work in IT and have heard wide reports of this issue from other users. They all come to me as the "apple guy" and bug me about what's wrong. Because I can't reproduce this issue, it's very difficult to determine what could be causing it. That and another issue where users are reporting that forwarded emails are not sending or cutting off parts of the forwarded portion.

I'm really tired of hearing people in my own office complain about these problems, particularly because my Mail has been 99.9% flawless... and I've been running iOS 13 since July with the developer beta. When iOS 13 officially released, I removed my dev beta and switched to the "end user experience," yet still have not had issues with Mail. For the users affected, we've tried removing and re-adding the affected accounts, but the issues persist. Each passing iOS update seems to anecdotally make the situation better, but not entirely fix.

With iOS 13.2 released today, I'd love to hear from other users to find out if this issue is finally resolved.

I have unread email issue on multiple iPads since iPadOS was released. Upgraded to 13.2. Issue remains. My observation is that the email does not remain selected, so when you scroll to read, delete, or move, the action does not effect the email. If you scroll the message, then tap the email a second time to reselect, the requested action (update as read, move, delete) works as expected. My email accounts are Office365, Exchange 2013, pop3, and IMAP.