Phantom unread emails: Mail shows 5 unread messages, but there are none...

There's a real easy and fast fix to this.

1. Open your Inbox,

2. Select "Edit" in top right hand corner.

3. Select "Mark all" at bottom left and choose "Mark all as unread"

4. Select "Edit" again

5. Select "Mark all" and "Mark all as read"

It just worked for me. Good luck!

Works like a charm!

This solution worked for my iphone 6s and ipad 3; both ios 9.3.2

TThank you!!!! This was so much easier that unlinking and relinking my mail.

TThanks Joey! This solution worked for me, except i didn't turn off my phone simply the mail sync and then back on again. 😉

Totally worked!!! Thanks!! That unread message was a thorn in my side and an eye sore all at once....lol

This worked my iPad too, thank you very much!

Did require full shutdown & restart, not just turnoff/sleep.

I found a more appropriate solution..

Go to your inbox and try to search for emails by pulling the email inbox screen down

On the search field instead of giving an real word to look up for, simply start typing "unread" and it will autosugest to show all unread emails. Click on that and you'll get those phantom unread emails on your screen. Mark them as read and that's it!

Perfect! Worked instantly!

🙂

SSpot on mate. It worked

Thank you, this worked.

To all those saying "this worked," has this been a permanent fix for your mailbox?

I myself am an Exchange user on a hosted exchange plan with Go Daddy on Exchange Server 2013 I believe.

I continually get "Unread" messages mainly in the "Junk Mail" folder, but occasionally it starts in the "Trash" folder as well. Over time, this number continues to accumulate and I will see the number as a notification in the folder tree. It is extremely annoying.

I agree that turning Mail off, resetting, and turning it back on clears this up. Temporarily.

The first time I accumulate a decent number of unread messages again in Junk, whether I swipe and delete them or Edit/Trash All, The middle of the display will show "No Mail" but there will be unread messages again. The fix may stick for a short while, but the glitch always returns.

I have tried with the account set to push to the affected folders, as well as fetch or manual. This glitch can surface again even when deleting all my Junk Mail directly from my Outlook 2016 client. Same when I was on Outlook 2013 and even Outlook 2010. As soon as I return to iOS mail and the Junk Mail or other folder "syncs up," bam Unread Messages may return.

At this point I am convinced this is a LONG STANDING issue with iOS Mail on Apple's side. Seeing users suffering this with Gmail, Yahoo, and other services, It is not an Exchange or hosting issue. None of my other email clients show these phantom unread messages, only iOS mail. SOmething gets stuck in cache or similar and can only be fixed by toggling the account and refreshing it.

In my case, the issue always returns. I am curious if that is the same for all. It is a nice workaround, but if you cannot live with the unread messages count showing in the folder tree it is frustrating to need to do this every couple of days to keep the number low or accurate.

I am tempted at this point to ditch iOS Mail app and maybe use Outlook. For whatever reasons, I have always preferred the default app but this is ridiculous already. THis thread started what, over 4 years ago? FIX IT APPLE!

I am good at testing and resolving issues like this but so far I myself am struggling to find anything other than what has already been mentioned, both on my own and by digging through the interwebs.

Should any of you want to try and tackle this as a team, just post and I will join in. I have been quietly lurking and following this topic for some time. I will still be watching and ready to jump in head first.

Let's either get this fixed or help Apple actually fix it. Fingers crossed for iOS 10. Has anyone here been using iOS 10 already and able to confirm whether or not this problem still manifests? Thanks for reading and any future conversation.

Well since the public release of iOS 10 is now available, I decided to put this to the test myself and report back for the benefit of all of us.

Sadly I can report the problem persists.

Steps taken: 1) switch mail slider to off 2) re-open and close mail app to make sure mail account was cleared out 3) hard reset 4) update to iOS 10 5) re-enable mail account 6) verify all phantom unread messages were gone (they were) 7) resume normal use

The very first time I cleared the junk mail folder went ok and the unread count remained zero while it showed No Mail. However, a little later once I had collected a decent number of junk messages (say more than a dozen), I went to delete them all. In iOS 10 I no longer see any option to Trash All. I had to click edit and manually select all messages and press delete. Upon doing this it left 2 unread messages in the mailbox even though it showed No Mail. At the time of writing I am back up to 6 after another couple of rounds of purging junk mail.

I find it deplorable that Apple would have such a terrible mail client. It has definitely stolen the thunder from the enjoyment of a shiny new mobile OS.

Perhaps it is just my device and the only way to permanently fix would be to set it up again as a new device. I suppose I will find out soon enough when I receive my iPhone 7 Plus in a few weeks.

I do regret not completely deleting my Exchange account before the upgrade to iOS 10 and adding the account back after. However, it is worth noting that upgrade aside, I have take that step several times to no avail besides a temporary relief of the phenomenon.

I will be hoping to hear something encouraging from one of you in the meantime.

I have 5 email accounts and turning them all off and then on again worked for me. Thank you!

Question is, will the issue return for you? It repeatedly does for me every time. I am going to take the painstaking step of setting up my iPhone 7 Plus as a NEW DEVICE when it comes to see if that eliminates this for good.