my email went missing after ios 15 update

I updated my Mom’s IPad to 15.1 and her email disappeared. I did the steps outlined above in my previous email and nothing worked. I just got off the phone with Apple Support and they fixed it so I wanted to share what I did. He had me delete the actual mail app and reinstall it - not the email account - the email app. I reinstalled it and sent an email to myself and all of a sudden the mail started loading. All her email is there. So here is a helpful hint of something you all can try - maybe it will work for you!

Hello bill 58,

It sounds like you're needing some help with emails after updating. We will be happy to help.

First, did you check the deleted mailboxes on your iPhone and see if your missing messages are there? If so, you would need to manually add those back to your inbox. 

If not, go to your email server on a web browser and see if your mail is in the inbox. If it is, go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts and remove the affected account. Restart your iPhone and add the account back. Add an email account to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Let us know if that helps.

Cheers.

Hi BlessedExec, when I say Mac client, I was referencing Mac Mail. It's the client that comes with iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Air by default. 

When I say log into your email via the web browser. I'm saying don't use Mac Mail. Go into Safari (or the browser that you use to surf the web) and go to gmail and login from there and search for your emails that you've lost in the search bar. Example search (in your default account) would be "To: name@otheremailaccount.com" if you've lost emails from other accounts.

Also, in that same browser window, in gmail, go to the left sidebar and look for "All Mail". Sometimes it's hidden and you have to click "More" and you will see it. Usually you can find missing mail there when it's not in your inbox (attachments too).

I hope this helps you. It's how I resolved and found mail that Mail Clients deleted and moved to my default mail account.

i might have a solution. I lost all emails and mail functions when I upgraded to iOS 15.1 on my iPad Pro 2nd gen.

After a lot of failed attempts to fix the problem, I finally deleted the Mail app. Then downloaded a fresh install from App Store.

Had to set up my mail box info for one address. I have 3.

install then directed me to activate that account. Went to Settings/mail/accounts where I found my 3 mailboxes listed.

Tapped on one and pop up had all account and server info populated.

BUT the account was shut off. Moved the slider next to “Account “ to on (green). All of my email started to appear in mail app.

Not it sure I needed to reinstall the app. I think the iOS upgrade switched my accounts off.

i seem to have all my emails but lost all sent mail and all of my mail folders. Only the inbox is listed. Sent myself an email and the sent box appeared. Deleted an email and the trash box appeared. Needed to manually setup other folders that were missing.

Here’s the thing — my old emails did not download from my isp. They were still saved on the iPad!

I'm wondering if I did not delete and reinstall but just turned on the account could I have saved the folders and sent emails. I can not test this idea at this point.

Not sure this solves everyone’s problems with 15.1 install but it seems to have worked for me. Good luck!

BlessedExec, did you have multiple accounts? If yes, do a search on the account that is marked as default for emails sent to the other accounts.

If you use gmail for your default account, for example, log into gmail with your web browser, don’t use the mail client. In the search bar look for emails sent to your other accounts. Type “To: name@otheraccount.com” in the search bar and see if the search results in the emails you are missing.

I’ve found (in my case) email is getting moved to the default account from your other accounts (and deleted from the original account). If that’s the case you can filter emails using labels and back them up, download them, and delete them from default account and move them back to the original account.

Check your default account by going into settings mail and see what’s set as default and do the search. Post back on what you see and I can help from there if that’s the case.

Hi bazwong, it stopped happening to me after I turned off “Protect My Email Activity”. Did you find any folders you didn’t creat in any of your mail accounts?

Here’s what I know so far bozwong, I think it has to do with “Hide My Email” feature that’s in Settings -> Mail -> Privacy Protection. When this feature was on it seemed to move my mail from all my accounts (deleted them) and pushed them into my default mail account which happened to be a gmail account. If you have multiple accounts look for mail that has been deleted in your default account and it will probably be there. I’m not sure why that happened so I hope someone at apple reads this thread and provides some insight.

If you look at “All Emails” do you see emails and attachments there? You will need to log into gmail with a web browser not Mac client.

I have the same problem. Contact apple feedback. It is 100% an update problem. I am certain since my other two devices, not updated have working emails.. if any people complain they might correct the problem.,

Hi, can I check with you if your email setup is POP3 or iMAP? That would be helpful. Thanks.

I have to operating gmail accounts on my iPhone. My primary/default is the one that is missing the attachments. Should I log into the other to see if the mail was moved? I don’t even know why to do to retrieve these at this point.

I was on the phone with Apple Support this morning. They jumped onto my phone as a screen share. Once I showed how the messages were missing between dates and after a long deliberation with her colleagues, they said it’s a server error with Google and Gmail. I’m at a loss for words. It’s so annoying.

I am not the original poster of the message but there are folders missing that I created three times then I saw them on both my iPad and my iPhone close the devices, I did not shut them down only to go into the mail a few minutes later and those folders are missing as are the contents. This is part of a series of issues that I have had since the upgrade.

The same thing happened to me. Large chunks of mails were deleted and I can’t find most of them in the bin/junk. It seems to happen every time I log into mail. Which means that mails keeps getting deleted each time I check mail.

What should I do? Checking my mails would cause daily mails to be deleted.

I updated to the IOS 15 as well and not only is my email missing but the option to add it in settings is gone(no email settings option even available), my camera is missing, my safari is missing and I am missing the app store to even try to add any of it in.

I am at a total and complete loss. I am done a total reset of my phone, I have reloaded IOS 15 with no success and since I don't have an app store I can't go on to try to manually add the missing apps. Any help or suggestions?