You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

💡 Did you know?

⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >

⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Mika Inkinen Author

Level 2

251 points

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

I've got four email accounts set up with my iPhone 4 (updated to latest software). Yesterday, however, one of those inboxes started showing that there was one unread email on the account (an imap account), but when I go to view the message list there are no unread emails there. And this morning, it started showing five unread messages, but again no unread messages were there.

The 'unread messages' don't show up in Mail on my iMac either (and the Mail icon in the doc does not show any phantom 'unread' messages).

Has anyone else encountered this problem, and if so, how was it solved?

20" iMac 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo, original iPhone, iPhone 4, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 4GB RAM, 250GB HD, 128MB VRAM

Posted on Oct 20, 2010 2:25 AM

Top-ranking reply

raluubluu

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Aug 7, 2017 4:13 AM

I had this problem recently too.

For me it was a problematic of where my 'unread' emails were. They were in a subfolder (not in inbox) which I haven't checked in months.

So maybe u should also check all other folders ( in the left side - bottom)

View in context

298 replies

Kats4124

Level 1

0 points

Jan 1, 2013 2:26 PM in response to Joey C.

This worked for me, too, to eliminate the phantom notifications message on my iPad2 IOS5. Thank you!

BTW, it was only my Outlook mail that had the issue, not gmail...does this help with the bug fix?

Cheers!

Jan 1, 2013 5:11 PM in response to Kats4124

Thx Kats,

I have an iPhone 5 with all the updates.

I have 4 email accounts.

1.Gmail

2.Corporate Microsoft Exchange 2010 account

3.Two Microsoft O365 (cloud based Exchange Server)

And you are correct that it only happens on the Exchange / Outlook accounts.

Since it is happening on at least 2 independent servers I am guessing The Apple devices are not communicating properly with the Microsoft servers...but I guess Apple and Microsoft have always had communication problems. :)

c_cake

Level 1

0 points

Jan 16, 2013 1:22 PM in response to Mika Inkinen

I believe the bug is related to Outlook junkmail; I figured out that the exact number of junk emails in my Outlook junkmail folder (auto-assigned as such) was the same number of phantom unread emails. Outlook bug seems to be related to accessing the junkmail folder, I think...I tried to open the junkmail folder on my iPhone 4s without luck.

beaudta

Level 1

0 points

Jan 23, 2013 9:23 AM in response to Mika Inkinen

Go to Settings / Mail

Choose the mail account with the issue

Turn mail Off and let it unload for a minute

Turn mail back On and those unreads should be gone

ELN1970

Level 1

0 points

Jan 23, 2013 1:22 PM in response to beaudta

This seems to be a brand-aid for one of my users - not a fix. I have a user who continues to have this issue. The band-aid works each time, but it's getting old.

Jan 28, 2013 1:31 PM in response to rjthegreat

Mine happens on a hotmail account.

Feb 2, 2013 7:43 AM in response to Joey C.

Worked like a charm. Thanks!

fgrossi

Level 1

0 points

Feb 6, 2013 8:33 AM in response to Joey C.

Joey C, you rock.

This was driving me nuts.

Thanks so much for posting it.

For the record, this issue popped up on me immediately following an update to IOS 6.1.

Kmperham

Level 1

4 points

Feb 9, 2013 5:09 PM in response to Mika Inkinen

OMG! THANK YOU componentgeek! THIS SOLVED MY PROBLEM!!!!! The unread mail badge on my iPhone 5 has been driving me insane. I've killed my exchange email account again and again, a colossal waste of time, but it would clear the badge. Turning the mail off, then back on is SO MUCH SIMPLER! Genius. Thanks! Now, Apple---FIX THE PROBLEM FROM HAPPENING!

Feb 24, 2013 7:16 AM in response to Mika Inkinen

Hey componentgeek,

such a simple solution, but it WORKED on my iPhone 4s. The email badge is now reset to zero! Thank you for taking the time to post your solution.

Rgrossjr

Level 1

10 points

Mar 6, 2013 10:31 AM in response to componentgeek

That did it for me! At first I thought it didn't because the badge did not vanish right away, but after it finished resyncing all the mail a few moments later it fixed it. THANKS!

Mar 7, 2013 12:26 PM in response to Joey C.

OMG thanks Joey C... It actually works! Those 10 phatom emails were driving me crazy!

Thanks for the help

Mar 13, 2013 3:35 PM in response to Mika Inkinen

This has been a saga going on long enough - APPLE - get it fixed

Mar 29, 2013 3:35 PM in response to Joey C.

Well done Joey C.

I had the phantom emails on my iphone 4 and your method was spot on an getting rid om my Phantom emails.

Thanks Champ.

Laneymv

Level 1

4 points

Mar 31, 2013 7:48 AM in response to beaudta

Everyone,

This is only a temporary fix. I've got a bug report filed with Apple. If more people would report the issue then we probably could get a permanent fix. They had the same problem in iOS 5 and they sent me a special update.

Report issued here http://radar.apple.com

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