Since iOS 18.1, no longer able to see Mail subfolders.

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Taco Bob Author

Level 1

51 points

Since iOS 18.1, no longer able to see Mail subfolders.

iOS 18.1 on an iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Self-hosted email, Debian 12, Dovecot 2.3.19.1 (9b53102964)

No changes to mail server. This has worked without issue for years and years. Standard IMAP/SSL setup.

Folders ARE VISIBLE with Mac OS Sequoia 15.1 Mail.

I can create/view/delete folders in Sequoia with no problems.

Folders also visible from webmail.

Folders NO LONGER visible on iOS 18.1, although if I choose "Move Message," I CAN see the folders, and I CAN move email. The email will show up as expected if I view with macOS Mail.

"Delete & Recreate account" DID NOT SOLVE.

Reboot iPhone DID NOT SOLVE.

I am sysadmin on mail server, I enabled debug and there were NO errors on the mail server side at all. Mail folder structure is valid:

drwx------  5 vmail vmail 4.0K Oct 31 17:55  .Sent/
drwx------  5 vmail vmail 4.0K Jun 22 12:27  .Storage/
drwx------  5 vmail vmail 4.0K Oct  1 23:52  .Storage.2023/
drwx------  5 vmail vmail 4.0K Oct 31 17:48  .Storage.2024/

I am able to see items in "Sent" without problems, but nothing in Storage or the subfolders.

I am not seeing the POSIX error that others are, but I cannot see subfolders that other mail clients can see.

iPhone 15 Pro Max, iOS 18

Posted on Oct 31, 2024 4:19 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Taco Bob Author

Level 1

51 points

Dec 27, 2024 7:01 PM in response to Taco Bob

I have not seen the POSIX error in quite a while, however I still do not see subfolders. I have a standard dovecot mail folder structure. On my desktop devices with Mail, I can see the folders below. In fact I created them with Mail. I do NOT see them on my iOS device since the update to 18.x. 18.2 did not fix it either.

NO changes have been made to the Dovecot configuration.

drwx------  5 vmail vmail 4.0K Oct 31 18:00  .Notes/
drwx------  5 vmail vmail 4.0K Dec 24 10:17  .Sent/
drwx------  5 vmail vmail 4.0K Dec 15 17:28  .Storage/
drwx------  5 vmail vmail 4.0K Dec 15 17:28  .Storage.2023/
drwx------  5 vmail vmail 4.0K Dec 27 09:14  .Storage.2024/

These are not large folders at all. Storage.2024 currently has only 4 emails in it, none of them have any strange characters. I even emptied the folder and it still didn't show up on my iOS device.

BUT I may have found a solution here. It makes NO sense at all, but you really o have to go click on the tiny little blue arrow to the right! Clicking on the NAME of the folder opens up a folder that says "No Mail" and does not retrieve email. Touching the little blue arrow (at least in 18.2) seems to tell it "Hey app, check for mail and download it."

I just tested it on the Storage.2024 folder, and was able to recreate it. Only touching the blue arrow triggers it to actually check the subfolder.

SOLVED.

How bizarre and unexpected.

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Answer 2

ferrerod

Level 1

110 points

Dec 29, 2024 10:20 PM in response to Taco Bob

Have you tried deleting Mail.app altogether? Reboot, then Reinstall?

it worked for me for a little while - few hours before it stopped syncing.

I also noticed after deleting a Mail account, adding it back would set the common mailboxes like Sent, Drafts, Junk, Arxhive to be “on device” instead of on server. Be careful. I had to redo those. Either way nothing has worked.

today I didn’t the unthinkable. I installed Outlook - it’s free. It works!

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