Mail practically unusable after 18.2 - is it possible to revert update?

Using the buttons in the upper right can get you to a better view. But for some reason, the view keeps changing. To whoever said ‘Nobody’s forcing anybody to do anything.’ My comment is you have to understand that for some of us technology is a little bit more confusing than others and we all need to be patient and kind. I find it a terrible challenge and I’m often missing important emails like bills. Apple took a system that worked and made it a system that works best for people under 65 and if you can’t have any sympathy for older folk or people who are less computer savvy, then you’ve got a real problem.

Thanks for the clear steps. Yours is an example of contribution to the community, not complaining, just a simple shift back to the existing set up.

Going one step beyond your answer, I had found that the categories did not accurately assign emails. But I could not find (yet) a way to simply correct that. I can see that this could be a useful feature. But not in the present form....

DorianR wrote:

Thank you for the information. Yes, the update to iOS has rendered the mail app hot garbage. I'm glad I know how to turn on list view, but THAT should be the default.

When Apple adds a feature they frequently enable it be default, because if they didn’t the 99% of users who never read release notes (such as all of those who posted in this thread) wouldn’t know the feature existed. When you update there is a link to release notes like this one→What’s new in iOS 18 - Apple Support, which clearly describes new features and how to disable or modify them. I suggest that when the next update comes out you might consider spending a few minutes to read the changes included in the release. And there will be some significant changes.

Repeating:

To remove the icons in the list view:

• Open Settings
• Tap Apps
• Tap Mail
• Turn off Show Contact Photos
• Optionally, turn off Summarize Message Previews

I used to use the Mail app on my iPhone for email before the "upgrade" also. I see how much more aesthetically pleasing the screen looks without the words (the rich black emptiness is stunning in dark mode!) but really Apple, the words sent to me via email are much much more important than the glossy profile picture of the sender. There should be an option to see words for old school email readers like myself who still find words meaningful. I'm only experiencing 99% loss of functionality, as you can just open each email to see what it's about and then use the 'mark as unread' function until you get to an important one, then simply read it as you ordinarily would have. Make sure you have lots of extra time to waste, though. I tend to not have a lot of extra time to waste, which is why I used to read email on my phone, it was a productivity application for me. I was literally able to get more accomplished when I had my email available on my phone too. Now I have a pretty vacant Mail app. Not impressed by what the geniuses of Apple Intelligence are up to.

Hundreds of emails a day to many inboxes. Apple Mail was a powerful tool on iOS. Need a replacement that can do what Mail was capable of on an iPhone asap! Anyone know of an app that can do what Mail used to do? I need preview text not a screen full of identical logos or the odd contact’s profile picture. What is the subject line? The first sentence? Email 1 and Email 2 up to Email 200 is what I get as preview! Algorithms dictate that the important emails get hidden now on iOS and the spam prioritization is sick business so if I can’t get to my desktop I’m puking by the time I get 1% through. Soon this will happen on MacOS too?

MagsBKW wrote:

The new iOS downloaded last night! It’s dreadful!! A complete pain effectively searching for mail that has arrived!! Why change something that doesn’t need changing? As others have said, I want to sort my own mail and not be told what is important or relevant. Now going to see if there is a way of reverting!!!

The step to revert it has been given repeatedly.

Tap on the three dots in the upper right corner and change the view to "List".

Its awful. Even in “list view” the icons take so much space that you cannot easily peruse your mail. Too time consuming. I dont even bother looking at email on my phone anymore. Might as well delete the app and go through icloud on the browser.

Nobody here has to be mad. Nobody has to feel put out. Apple has tried something new, and for all those of us who don't like it, there are lots of folks who haven't written in to this forum who do like it.

So, how to deal with it positively?

Lawrence Finch in this thread has pointed out exactly how to change the settings so you can go back to the old style Mail. That works fine. Thank you very much Lawrence Finch!!

There are all kinds of other tutorials out there to give even more info, even Youtube videos like this kinda weird one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnP2njcG1kU

Don't everyone just freak out and complain. If I can fix it, you can fix it.

List view didn't do anything with my mail. Mail is super slow

Well, you have to click the three dot every single time and I have four mail accounts. If there’s one thing that makes me think I’ll drop Apple and go to android, this is it

Latest ISO update has screwed up my mail. I want the option to change my mail. Apple does not know what I want. How can I get my old mail account look like? This is not a good update.

Well, it’s clear that you haven’t read ANY of the thread that you just added to, because the instructions to return the mail app to the way it was have been posted multiple times.

The email app is catastrophic. Can’t find anything. Searching names who emailed me this week but it comes up with someone from 2017. What needed to be fixed? It was perfectly fine as it was!