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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

Apr 4, 2013 10:22 AM in response to Mika Inkinen

I went into settings on both my iPhone 5 and iPad and simply turned the Mail option off on the account that was showing the phantom number -- for me it was an exchange account -- (waited for a sec while it turned off the mail sync), then, before turning it back on, I went to that specific inbox and the phantom number disappeared. Then I went back into my settings and turned it back on. After I did this (didn't just turn it off and on, but went to the inbox itself) it worked and the phantom number is gone.

Not sure why, but I feel I can breathe freely again! It's crazy how this little stuff can drive us mad!!! Best of luck out there.

Trchsngr

Level 1

0 points

Apr 4, 2013 4:30 PM in response to Mika Inkinen

Double tap on your home button to bring up any open apps. Touch the minus sign on the mail app to close it, then return to your home screen. Next go to settings on your iphone and touch Mail. Touch the account that's having the issue to open its email settings. Swipe Mail to "off" and let the phone cycle through the off process. Once its complete, swipe back to "On". Your email should be set back to 0.

Trchsngr

Level 1

0 points

Apr 4, 2013 4:32 PM in response to bunny2BEAR

This works, but you have to close the mail app in order for it to clear, or the cache will retain the unread email amount. So before you turn the mail on and off, double click home to pull up any open apps that are in the background. Touch the minus sign to close the mail app, then go back to home and proceed with the steps mentioned.

Apr 13, 2013 7:08 AM in response to Mika Inkinen

1. In settings turn off the offending mail account

2. Power down phone

3. Turn phone back on

4. Turn the email account back on in settings

This causes phone to reread the messages and count is corrected

IPhone 5 IOS 6+

Apr 15, 2013 8:59 AM in response to Joey C.

For me the turning phone on and odd was a temporary fix. What really fixed it was searching my inbox for all emails with my name (under the "To" category) and all of a sudden many more unread emails in various folders showed up. I "read" these and ,y unread count was corrected.

Apr 18, 2013 8:50 AM in response to vegasrebelfan

This solved my problem! Thanks!

ABynum

Level 1

0 points

Apr 25, 2013 7:31 AM in response to Joey C.

I had a friend having the same issue and this worked for her. Thanks she's SUPER happy we got it fixed. Thanks Joey C.

May 12, 2013 9:16 PM in response to vegasrebelfan

Bingo!

Thanks vegasrebelfan!! Searched my name in "to" field and found a message that didn't previously appear in my inbox. "Read" that message and counter now reset to zero.

May 15, 2013 12:33 AM in response to Joey C.

Thank You Joey C, your solution also worked on my Ipad 🙂

May 20, 2013 7:22 PM in response to Joey C.

Turned off the email and turned it back on and it worked like a charm. Although it has to now download all of my emails again from the exchange server but no more phantom emails.