Difference between 'Clear' and 'Trash' in iPhone 16 Mail App

It seems only certain types of emails have the “clear” option. This one is a security code email. Just wondering what the difference is between clear and trash?

I’ve started seeing a “clear” option too. Anyone know what it means?

Do you know how to turn “clear” off? I want to keep using categorisation and don’t want to clear messages, just want to delete them. I keep accidentally clearing when i just wanted to delete

How to undo « Clear » ?

Thanks.

EvanStudios wrote:

It seems only certain types of emails have the “clear” option. This one is a security code email. Just wondering what the difference is between clear and trash?

“Clear” marks a mail message as not being primary — not time-critical — and otherwise doesn’t change its classification as a transaction, social update, or promotion.

Again, “Clear” removes the message from the priority list.

Alternatively, consider disabling Apple Intelligence (in mail or otherwise) until the doc and the rest catches up.

The message is showing in your Primary category because it is Time Sensitive. The yellow icon will remove it from the Primary category and it will only be visible in the Transaction category after that.

This is Apple Intelligence enabled on an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or iPhone 16, presumably.

This particular more-flag-trash-clear display is not documented anywhere obvious, but that mail message is categorized (by Apple Intelligence) as a primary or time-sensitive (clock) mail message, and as news, subscriptions and social updates (speech bubble). Selecting clear reportedly removes it as being time-sensitive.

The same place as the social update (speech bubble) icon is shown can alternatively show as a shopping cart meaning the message is interpreted as a transaction, or as a bullhorn meaning a promotion or sales deal.

I’m not sure how useful any of this Apple Intelligence stuff will be, given it seems quite confused about many of the contents of the mail messages locally. Looks like it’ll need probably some training too, like a spam filter.

If you don’t like the categories and the priorities mechanism available from Apple Intelligence in mail on iPhone, tap the three-dots icon in the upper right of the mail message list view and select the traditional view. That three-dots display:

There’s also some little explanatory “about” text included there, too. That “about” text:

What I can find for available documentation (not much) of this: Use Apple Intelligence in Mail on iPhone - Apple Support

Getting the same thing, what is "Clear"?

Hickoryfolk wrote:

Confused

The Clear control has to do with training and managing the sorted-by-Apple-Intelligence inbox.

Options?

Turn off Apple Intelligence. Turn it off for mail, or for everything. Maybe not shut it off permanently, but maybe for a half year or so, until this stuff gets better documented and better understood by everybody involved.

Or switch to the traditional inbox and ignore the sorted-by-Apple-Intelligence inbox.

Log your “confused” feedback with Apple, too: Product Feedback - Apple

Thanks for asking and answering this !!!! I searched all over for answers and this was the CORRECT answer and CLEAR explanation from users. THANK YOU.

Revert to the List View, and stop trying to use Apple Intelligence to sort your mail.

Or appropriately deal with the email entry that Apple Intelligence prioritized, so that clearing it was the correct action.

In Apple Mail, the “Clear” and “Trash” options serve different purposes for managing your emails:

Clear:

• Introduced in iOS 18.2, the “Clear” function is part of Apple’s enhanced email management features. It allows users to mark certain emails as non-primary or not time-sensitive, effectively deprioritizing them. This action removes the message from priority lists and may influence how Apple’s algorithms categorize and present similar emails in the future. 

Trash:

• The “Trash” option is used to delete emails you no longer need. When you move an email to the Trash, it remains there until you choose to empty the Trash or until it’s automatically emptied based on your Mail settings. This action is more permanent, as trashed emails are intended for deletion. 

In summary, “Clear” is designed to help manage the priority and categorization of your emails without deleting them, while “Trash” is intended for removing emails you no longer wish to keep.

Screenshot, please?

Grakky wrote:

Getting the same thing, what is "Clear"?

If you are uninterested in the priority listing of email messages available with Apple Intelligence within Mail app (discussed above), you can turn off Apple Intelligence within Mail.