Now on iPhone 12 mini iOS 14. Same problem as on previous iPhone SE (original) iOS 13. Some emails sneak through without opening the Mail app. This should not happen. And it certainly should not still be happening for more than a year since I first asked about this, and over multiple OS and phone models.
I want email on my phone ONLY when I open the Mail app, never otherwise.
What can be done to stop this behavior?
Its how it works. As far as I remember it always has. There is no background on/off for Mail app.
You need to explain why it is a problem and then workarounds can be suggested.
Like using a third party mail client.
Or turning off cellular data.
Further observation reveals that the "manual" setting behaves exactly the same as the "automatically" setting. You can see the description of the auto setting. It works as described, i.e. when the phone is connected to power and wi-fi, it retrieves mail in the background (even with push off). So anytime I am charging the phone at home, it retrieves mail.
The manual setting should stop all mail retrieval. But it does not. It continues to retrieve mail as if it is still on the automatic setting. This is just wrong. It is an obvious bug, yet nothing is being done about it. Manual means manual, does it not? Apple has not replied to my feedback.
1) PUSH is turned off. This means that no mail should be pushed to the iPhone. What else would be the purpose?
2) FETCH NEW DATA is set to off. In the next screen, with PUSH off, FETCH is set to manual.
3) Each individual mail account is also set to manual, for which the description clearly states "this account will only check for updates when the application is in use".
It seems obvious from all of the above that no mail should be received unless the Mail app is open and in use. That is what I expect. The problem started a little over a year ago IIRC. Probably in iOS 13. And note that only some emails get through, not all. This makes no sense.
I normally use email only on my computer at home. Rarely, if I am out and I know an important message is imminent, I will check mail on the phone. The rest of the time, I do not want to be bothered with messages filling up my phone.
Even if it was possible to stop it, as soon as you open Mail it will sync all the mails you avoided earlier.
Filling up the phone has never been a problem for me but if it is for you then set the account “Days to Sync” to 30 days or less and turn off notifications.
Your approach is like King Cnut trying to hold back the tide.
When I get email on my computer, the messages are removed from the mail server. So my preferred use would work just fine -- if the Mail app worked properly.
If I could set the fetch to something like 30 days, that might help. But I see only automatically, manually, hourly, 15 minutes, and 30 minutes. Where is this "days to sync" you mentioned?
Meanwhile, I sent feedback to Apple.
The phone will only be a mirror copy of your servers.
Not all providers offer Days to sync. ICloud doesn’t but Outlook does.
Gmail app only offers 30 days or less .
In Settings, Mail, Accounts, tap on the account. It will be there if offered .
Still get email in background with Push OFF and Fetch MANUAL (IOS 14.4)
