Level 1

37 points

This message has not been downloaded from the server.

iphone emails: exchange: This message has not been downloaded from the server.

I am an I.T. admin who also runs the network and email server. This error on the iphone about the messages not being downloaded is bogus.

In the older IOS versions I would get the same error message, however, when you touch and hold the email message, it would preview the entire email because the iphone had in fact actually downloaded the message.

Now in the latest IOS, apple has disabled the preview to hide the fact that the message was actually downloaded.

I did a network packet capture on the mail server using my phone’s IP address while I downloaded email on my phone.

I can confirm 100% that when the iphone did not display a email message, it had already downloaded that message according to the email server logs and also the fact that whenever I would refresh the messages back and forth, switching between messages until the message actually displayed, the iphone never once talked to the mail server before the message was actually displayed.

I was able to reproduce this test over and over again to prove to other iphone users that their iphone never communicated with the mail server again before magically working out how to display the message that has an error message of “This message has not been downloaded from the server.”

This problem is an IOS issue that needs to be solved.

If this problem is not addressed in the next IOS update, the end users are going to see this for what it is.

Don’t simply blame the end user’s non apple / not icloud / email solution / email server / third party email.

It is an strange situation that apple’s own icloud accounts don’t get the same error message.

It is a strange situation that the previous IOS version would allow you to touch and hold the message that could not be downloaded and it would fully display the contents of the message until we let go. It is very strange that the preview feature has now been disabled in the new IOS versions.

Fix the problem and stop trying to make people feel like they should have to use an apple icloud account because their own email solution is inferior to apple’s….

I am interested in sharing my findings with others and with apple.

iPhone 12 Pro Max

Posted on Aug 15, 2023 6:10 AM

Top-ranking reply

nige44

Level 1

14 points

Posted on Jun 20, 2024 3:29 AM

I have the same issue on my iPad, which uses Apples own email app. I have two fixes.

On the iPad, select Reply and the message magically appears. It remains visible even after cancelling the reply.
On my iPhone, I use the Outlook email app. In this, I never get ‘not downloaded’.

I think this is appalling behaviour from Apple because in an increasingly digital world we receive many things (event passes, QR codes for parking, flight details) be email that we simply present on the device at the point we need to; check-in, or a concert gate etc. And almost all of these will be booked well in advance.

My own example is that I have booked a holiday to celebrate my wife’s birthday and received QR codes for the car park and the hotel reservation, four events, a restaurant booking and a link to prepay for a gluten free cake three days before we arrive (my wife is coeliac). I have just been to check everything, which I booked in January 2024, and on my iPad “message not downloaded”. I checked my phone…there they are! On the iPad, I clicked Reply and the whole message appeared, codes, QRs and the necessary link. I cancelled the Reply and the email contents remained on screen so I can use the link to pay for the cake. I then went through all the other emails and had to Reply to see them all too.

It must be date-related, but that is very poor from Apple.

View in context

Similar questions

95 replies

CBorJB

Level 1

44 points

Feb 22, 2024 9:03 PM in response to Sipizen

Just commenting that it’s been happening to me too for a couple of years now. My ISP is Mediacom. Downloaded another email program (that I really don’t like) as a backup to get timely access to an email when I see who it is from and that it is important and the stock email app on my phone is saying “message not downloaded from server”. This problem was happening on my iPhone 11 and I just got an iPhone 15 and the problem is still occurring!!! Apple, this problem is not specific to just one type of ISP (iCloud, yahoo, gmail, Mediacom, etc). It does not happen on my husband’s Samsung. It is strictly an Apple problem so fix it and stop putting the blame on everyone else!!! None of the suggestions here work.

Mar 7, 2024 1:40 AM in response to Sipizen

For what it is worth. I have escalated it to Apple today. It turns out that they know there is an issue and are actively wanting to pursue it. So maybe, just maybe, they will be able to fix it in future updates of iOS.

Mar 9, 2024 4:59 AM in response to Sipizen

I called about this and other issues yesterday. They insisted it was an AOL email problem. I was firm that this is happening to hundreds of thousands of Apple iPhone users who don’t use AOL for their mail and this was a UNIVERSAL problem. The rep sai something like “at Apple, we like to look at each issue INDIVIDUALLY! This is nuts! Also, it has adversely affected us in so many ways. My doc sends a link to our telehealth appt. I’m late for it. My insurance sends a one time password….** the time it opens, it’s expired. My “game night” web ex link won’t open and I’m late for that! Arrrgghhhh!!!!!

Mar 17, 2024 1:46 PM in response to Springnuts

I fixed mine the other day and here’s how you do it one. Go to your yahoo email and search for an email that you know you have many of. 2

Then press edit.

put your finger on the top left-hand corner of your screen with a very light touch run your finger down to the bottom of your screen and hold it there and every single email that you’ve searched over the years will come up.

3. Hit the button.

Deleted emails that way it works just fine

Apr 2, 2024 11:30 AM in response to IceSkyBlue

I was also getting this error message all the time and I know the frustration by clearing the Mail app cache the issue is resolved for me. Before that, I tried many solutions from the webpage Fix This Message has not been Downloaded from the Server which my coworker shared with me. So, either the clearing of the Mail app cache worked, or the other solutions also correlated with it.

Oct 25, 2023 10:20 AM in response to SravanKrA

None of these options have ever fixed the issue in the entire 12 years of it being an issue.

Nov 3, 2023 2:31 PM in response to Untitledmiss

I have had this problem for a while now also and nothing seems to help. I end up not being able to read them an end up having to trash them

Nov 21, 2023 12:29 AM in response to Sipizen

I have Apple iCloud storage and this (can’t be downloaded BS) happens to me daily! iOS 17 now and still happens.

Mar 13, 2024 10:47 AM in response to peterfrombed

Apple don’t monitor these discussions. So, I got in touch with Apple-care. They are now actively working on the issue. Expect it to be resolved in an iOS update. I’ll post progress reports.

Mar 15, 2024 3:51 PM in response to Allan1228

Right now Apple are working on it.

Mar 16, 2024 5:45 AM in response to Carliemac

Same here so I separately downloaded the Yahoo app and I can get them there

Dec 17, 2023 5:00 PM in response to Sipizen

Since youre in IT guy maybe you can answer me this question (or not) I think my deleted texts are stuck on the apple server because ever since I updated to ios 17.2 my back up storage keeps increasing instead of decreasing. I delete texts manually everday. I was told by apple it takes to 4 days to delete on the server end and sometimes 180 days but Im wondering if its a glitch in ios 17.2 because it only started happening after I updated to 17.2 monday Dec. 11th Does apple really keep deleted things up to 180 days on the server end or is it longer than that? I was also told it might magically fix itself eventually

Jan 2, 2024 9:36 PM in response to Springnuts

In my case it's only with Yahoo!... 7 email accounts on my phone and it's only this one with the issue. Even weirder is that we have one iPhone in the house that has no issues but another iPhone and an iPad (all three devices are relatively current hardware [between 1 and 3 years old] and have the latest iOS updates) have the "message has not been downloaded" issue. I can't see what (if anything) is different between the working and non-working devices.

Jan 3, 2024 1:37 PM in response to Sipizen

This is indeed an infuriating problem which DOES occur when using iCloud email too. Since they don’t want to fix it, it’s almost as if Apple would rather you use another email app instead of their own….

Jan 25, 2024 10:32 AM in response to Sipizen

It is so annoying to have the message ‘not downloaded from the server’ when it clearly has downloaded but just won’t display. It downloads on the iPhone but not the iPad. This is driving me up the wall and there seems to be nothing I can do about it.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

This message has not been downloaded from the server.