Mail app shows 3 unread emails when there isn't.

I had the same issue when I installed the gmail app. The solution that worked for me after some searching, was that there apparently was some unread mail for me, hovering in limbo inbetween my inbox, my spam box and the archive.

If you type "is:unread" (without qoutes) in the gmail search field, it will perform a search and show all unread items. By simply opening and closing those emails, making them read, the badge disappeared.

Hope it helps.

Thank you shaarp... that worked!! 🙂

"I just had this issue when setting up an email account on my iphone.. I tried everything that was mentioned but to no resolution. I then went into the Email Settings and switched "Mail" to OFF (Do Not Delete Account), then switched "Mail" back ON. This resolved my issue."

This was driving me mad! This worked for my situation, thank you Shaarp for bringing sanity back.

shaarp

Re: Mail app shows 3 unread emails when there isn't.

22-Apr-2012 13:07 (in response to atyree)

I just had this issue when setting up an email account on my iphone.. I tried everything that was mentioned but to no resolution. I then went into the Email Settings and switched "Mail" to OFF (Do Not Delete Account), then switched "Mail" back ON. This resolved my issue.

I had this problem as well, go to settings and just turn off mail, do not delete!

open mail, do not go through setting up again. Close mail.

go back to settings turn on mail, open mail.

Make sure you have "unread mailbox" and any unread mail should be in that box.

I Found an old KijjijI alert there...

good luck...

one day ago I resolved it! It was quite simple for me. i made smart folder with option/rule to show unread messages and " vuola" - it appears and finds my unread messages! I hope it will help you too!

I just had this issue when setting up an email account on my iphone.. I tried everything that was mentioned but to no resolution. I then went into the Email Settings and switched "Mail" to OFF (Do Not Delete Account), then switched "Mail" back ON. This resolved my issue.

Fastest way to fix this:

To clear the “ghost” unread messages, do the following:

• Open Settings
• Select Mail, Contacts and Calendar
• Select the mail account that is showing the incorrect unread messages icon
• Change “Mail” setting from ON to OFF
• Press the “Home” button (the round button just below the screen) to exit the Settings app
• “Double-tap” the “Home” button to show running apps
• Press and hold on any of the running apps. These will change and show a red circle with a “-” in the upper left corner of each.
• Click on the red circle to close the Mail app (if you’ve never done this, closing all of these apps is a good battery life extender)
• Press the Home button again to exit out of the open apps screen
• Open Settings
• Select the mail account that is showing the incorrect unread messages icon
• Change “Mail” setting from OFFN to ON
• Press the “Home” button to exit the Settings app
• Open the Mail app
• After the Mail app updates, your unread messages count should now be correct

P.S. The program on your idevice will report unread email wherever they are. Open your email program on your desktop and check all folders including the delete and spam bins. I noticed the same behaviour a few days ago following deleting some emails without opening them. Hope this helps.

Found a glitch in iOS 5 that allows you to mark all emails as read! It saved me the hassle of having to figure out which email was unread.

Open the Mail app and click on the "Edit" button in the top right corner, then click on an email and click the button in the bottom right that says "Mark", then click on the "Mark as unread" button. After you've done that, click on the "Edit" button again and click on the email that you just marked as unread, then HOLD down the "Mark" button in the bottom right corner with one finger, and then with your other hand (WHILE STILL HOLDING DOWN ON THE MARK BUTTON) click on the email that is unread so that it is no longer selected. Once you've done that, you can take your finger off of the "Mark" button. Give it a second and the "Mark as read" button will appear. Click on it and it will mark all of your unread messages as read.

Here's a video that will help you understand if the directions I posted were confusing lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmaqzeXfO5s

I had this exact same problem - but found a solution! I deadtivated the emails for the account I was having problems with (ie leave calendar etc switched on), turned the phone off and on again, reactivated the account, and hey-presto - phantom emails all gone! Happy Days!

Glenn Leblanc

First, check Mail's preferences just to be sure that you have unread message count shown in the Inbox (under the general tab).

Select the mailbox and choose the rebuild function under Mailboxes in the menu.

If that doesn't work, be sure to have a backup and follow this:

Quit Mail

In the Finder, select Go, then Go to Folder. Paste this in the box:

~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/

This is in your Home Library. Look for the Envelope Index files and move them to the Trash. Restart Mail and hit continue. This will reindex your messages. See if that helps.

Thank you for the great tip! It worked!!

I had this issue but with 47 emails. Here is what I did.

1. Went into my email client (Outlook for Mac 2011) and marked everything in my inbox as unread. I waited a few minutes until my iPhone showed that all emails in my inbox were unread. I then went back into my email client and marked everything as read. I was pleased to find that I know only have 1 mystery unread email on my iPhone which reminded me of the song about the monkeys falling out of the bed.
2. To get rid of the last one mystery unread email, I went into my iPhone settings and changed the days of emails from "No Limit" to "1 Day" and went back into my emails. I then changed the settings back to "No Limit" and found the one mystery email in my inbox so I deleted it.

Hope this helps.