BEWARE!!! iPhone 4 DELETED EMAILS by itself

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Level 1

8 points

BEWARE!!! iPhone 4 DELETED EMAILS by itself

I got the new iphone 4 and everything has been working fine...until yesterday. I noticed that my emails in my inbox were missing, so decided to check the other folders and same problem. Now, ALL of my messages have vanished. None in the inbox, sent items or saved folders, etc. I contacted Yahoo to restore my email thinking it was something on their part and they responded that an IMAP client (iphone) has removed my emails and therefore cannot be restored. I did not physically delete these nor are they in the trash folder. My husband has the same problem, but just 1 email was deleted...so far. My sister has the opposite problem, where emails deleted have come back. Obviously there is a serious glitch in the iphone 4 and needs to be resolved!!! FYI, the 4.0.1 update does not fix this issue. I have deleted my email accounts and added them back, we'll see if this changes anything. It's SOOOO frustrating to lose important emails! Make sure to backup emails to an account that you do not check on the iphone!!!

iOS 4, deleted my emails

Posted on Jul 30, 2010 8:16 AM

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Answer 1

w7ox

Level 4

2,407 points

Jul 30, 2010 8:25 AM in response to amygold

This may be peculiar to IMAP accounts, which I've not used. Are you sure it does not relate to some setting in the email settings of your iPhone?

Phil

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Answer 2

amygold Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 30, 2010 8:31 AM in response to w7ox

No, it has nothing to do with a setting.
This is an email from Yahoo after I asked them to restore my emails that went missing.

According to our records, it appears an IMAP client may have deleted
your messages. An IMAP client is a mobile device such as a BlackBerry or
iPhone. Once a message has been deleted by a mobile device, it's removed
from your Yahoo! Mail account. Messages deleted by a mobile device are
not recoverable.

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Answer 3

ring_0

Level 1

30 points

Jul 30, 2010 8:36 AM in response to amygold

All my mail accounts are IMAP based and I got a similar problem for a few mails.

But it is likely that I tapped the Trash icon without knowing it => the mail is Trashed without any confirmation.

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Answer 4

amygold Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 30, 2010 8:38 AM in response to ring_0

There is a setting under mail..."ask before deleting" turn it on and you won't delete by accident.

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Answer 5

Jul 30, 2010 8:43 AM in response to amygold

amygold wrote:
I got the new iphone 4 and everything has been working fine...until yesterday. I noticed that my emails in my inbox were missing, so decided to check the other folders and same problem. Now, ALL of my messages have vanished. None in the inbox, sent items or saved folders, etc. I contacted Yahoo to restore my email thinking it was something on their part and they responded that an IMAP client (iphone) has removed my emails and therefore cannot be restored. I did not physically delete these nor are they in the trash folder. My husband has the same problem, but just 1 email was deleted...so far. My sister has the opposite problem, where emails deleted have come back. Obviously there is a serious glitch in the iphone 4 and needs to be resolved!!! FYI, the 4.0.1 update does not fix this issue. I have deleted my email accounts and added them back, we'll see if this changes anything. It's SOOOO frustrating to lose important emails! Make sure to backup emails to an account that you do not check on the iphone!!!

The iPhone does not delete emails by itself. If you have a computer or other mobile device accessing that same email account and that other computer or mobile device email client deleted the emails from the server (accessed using the POP protocol for example), then they are deleted. So your iPhome IMAP email client then synced with your email account and the result was there were no emails. That is how the IMAP protocol works. It synchronizes your phone's email with the email on the server, and vice verse. So if there is no email on the server there will be no email on your iPhone if you are using the IMAP protocol.

Message was edited by: BobTheFisherman

Message was edited by: BobTheFisherman

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Answer 6

ring_0

Level 1

30 points

Jul 30, 2010 8:41 AM in response to amygold

Thanks.
Actually I'm so used to Apple making the right choice for that kind of "decision" I didn't think there is a setting for that.

Message was edited by: ring_0

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Answer 7

w7ox

Level 4

2,407 points

Jul 30, 2010 8:40 AM in response to amygold

amygold wrote:
No, it has nothing to do with a setting.
This is an email from Yahoo after I asked them to restore my emails that went missing.

According to our records, it appears an IMAP client may have deleted
your messages. An IMAP client is a mobile device such as a BlackBerry or
iPhone. Once a message has been deleted by a mobile device, it's removed
from your Yahoo! Mail account. Messages deleted by a mobile device are
not recoverable.

Nothing in the above says that it was not due to a setting in your iPhone. But, given your advice just above, it sounds like you have this base covered 🙂

Phil

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Answer 8

Jul 30, 2010 8:41 AM in response to ring_0

might be worth as an experiment turning on the "ask before deleting" option in settings. Nothing in Yahoo's response tells you it wasn't related to your settings or actions though it may well be an iphone bug too -- their response only tells you the iphone was the one to initiate deleting the messages.

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Answer 9

amygold Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 30, 2010 8:47 AM in response to jcbikeski

The "ask before deleting" setting has always been turned on. Everything has been working fine until yesterday when it wiped out all my emails. Now it "seems" to be working but only time will tell. I've been using my email account for years along with the older iphone models and never had an issue...nor changed any setting. The emails vanished into thin air...if it was deleted by accident, it would still be in the trash folder.

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Answer 10

Jul 30, 2010 9:03 AM in response to amygold

I hate Yahoo mail. I've had an account for years, accessing mail mainly via Outlook on my computer, but also have it on my iPhone. Recently, in Outlook, it quit sending my e-mails. I didn't even realize it for a while until I noticed stuff stuck in my Outbox, unsent. I had changed NOTHING in Outlook. One day it worked, the next it didn't. Apparently, there was a change in Yahoo that now prevents me from sending e-mails from Outlook. I can still send on my iPhone. I'm about sick of Yahoo. I'm thinkin of shutting down that yahoo account. Gmail is much better.

Based on my experience, I'd bet the issue is with Yahoo, not your iPhone.

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Answer 11

amygold Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 30, 2010 9:26 AM in response to cocosknitting

Thanks for your input, but as I've researched more...it's happening in Gmail along with other email clients as well.

The thing that makes me believe it's the iphone other than previously stated is that when I check email it has the status "load more message" - 107 total and then disappears. I can't click on it like usual...it's in limbo.

null

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Answer 12

Jul 30, 2010 3:35 PM in response to amygold

It's not just on the iPhone 4. I have a 3GS running iOS4.01 All my emails for my yahoo, Gmail, and AOL accounts are GONE! poof!

It happened after I deleted ONE message in my all inboxes folder.. I'm not a happy camper... Good thing I use a separate app for my hotmail account where all my important mail goes to..

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Answer 13

amygold Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 30, 2010 4:50 PM in response to slopes0213

Thank you!!!!! Finally someone who knows what I'm talking about. After further research I'm finding that it prob is an issue with iOS 4 and not a specific iPhone model. Hope they will fix it!

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Answer 14

Jul 30, 2010 4:54 PM in response to amygold

It may be, but I've seen no reports of this in the forum other than this thread. Usually if there is a widespread problem there are thousands of posts. Note also that Apple doesn't read the forums, so if you want Apple to fix it you must let them know via other means. Either call or visit an Genius bar.

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Answer 15

Jul 30, 2010 8:15 PM in response to amygold

My wife and I each have iPhone 4s running 4.0.1. No issues with deleted mail at all.

Her iPhone 4 has three IMAP accounts (MobileMe, two Yahoo) and one Exchange account. My iPhone 4 has has four IMAP accounts (MobileMe, two Yahoo, and Gmail) and a POP3 (Hotmail) account.

You might want to double-check your settings.

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