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How do I turn off iCloud mail's spam filter?

Less than 40% of the spam caught by the iCloud spam filter is actually spam. That's worse than useless! I use SpamSieve on my Mac, so I don't need iCloud to do any filtering, but I haven't found a way to turn it off.

Posted on Nov 22, 2012 11:39 AM

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28 replies

May 10, 2014 8:58 PM in response to tlongdon

Tlongdon,


I have a MAJOR issue with the fact that Apple just decided to filter email at all. I understand that they want to reduce spam and help users have a more pleasant experience. However, since they have a filtering system on iCloud itself, you can actually not receive a email message that in fact you want, but you will never even know it was filtered out! Doing this on the server side is has good and bad points. Good in that it probably does reduce the junk, bad in that you will never know about the "false positives". Apple HAS to address this. Providing a commercial pay system for email address means support the customer. If anyone wants to allow apple to handle the filtering, fine. Set up a method for the email client to do so, do not do it on the server side. If I, as the customer want to turn the filtering off, and set up my own rules, let me do so.


This is one reason why when my paid account expires, I plan to get different email address, even though it will cause all kinds of problems. I want handle the filtering. When I asked Apple support to turn it off for me, to let it all through, after over four hours on the phone, I basically was told, it can not be done for individual users. NOT acceptable. At the minimum, I should receive a notification of what emails iCloud has decided I was going to get, but it filtered out!


When I was in the Navy, working communications, Non Delivery of any message was a very serious issue. Depending on the message, one that was punished by either Captain's Mast or worse. Security, Speed and Reliabiltiy. Okay, Apple has chosen Security, but then made the system Unreliable instead.


Bottom line, if you want to decide what email you receive, and handing the filtering on your email client side, either by rules or spam filtering software. Keep in mind, that Apple has already decided what you can get or not. I suggest that either:


(a) users push Apple to change this "undocumented feature" to client side.

(b) add method to notify users of mail that is NOT DELIVERED because of filtering, regardless of it's source, and allow a way for the user to decide, "Hey I need the mail from that address" or "Add all to blacklist".

(c) find a email provider that puts those decisions back in the user's hands.


Final note, I have been a user of the Apple email system for a long time, since it started actually. I would much rather not have to change, but this filtering automatically in iCloud, is too far. Yes, I am aware the terms of service have changed so that Apple's Lawyers have covered them. But think about it, does Apple really want to lose users because they have decided to become the arbiter of what "they" feel is acceptable content into a person's private inbox?


Just my two cents.

BT

AR

May 16, 2014 10:54 AM in response to fssntuff

Salient points on filtering. I'd disagree on the Apple solution set - I'd rather have them not leave it to the client side, but on the server side. But DON'T filter it out; throw it all in my junk mailbox, and let me sort through it. The more of us that identify junk and non-junk, will make the filter smarter over time. It's not the filtering that bothers me, it's the SILENT filtering.

Nov 13, 2015 8:24 AM in response to Julian Wright

Julian,


You chose to respond defensively rather than to simply answer the question. Good Customer Service involves putting the customer's needs ahead of your impulse to be defensive of Apple's choice to apply spam filtering and your desire to display your knowledge of it. So again, YOUR CUSTOMER'S CONCERN WAS how do you turn the spam / junk mail filtering off in iCloud?


Ron Boutwell

Another long time Apple customer who rarely gets a real answer in the Apple Forums

Nov 13, 2015 10:23 AM in response to ronboutwell

ronboutwell wrote:


Julian,


You chose to respond defensively rather than to simply answer the question. Good Customer Service involves putting the customer's needs ahead of your impulse to be defensive of Apple's choice to apply spam filtering and your desire to display your knowledge of it. So again, YOUR CUSTOMER'S CONCERN WAS how do you turn the spam / junk mail filtering off in iCloud?


Ron Boutwell

Another long time Apple customer who rarely gets a real answer in the Apple Forums

Unfortunately the iCloud junk filter cannot be configured. Sorry.

Nov 25, 2015 8:58 AM in response to zinacef

Dear Apple,


I hope you fix this horrible issue you created within icloud. I'm a well seasoned user of your email account system and this is the first time I am ready to throw in the towel and go directly to outlook dot com for all my email needs.


I love my icloud and I love my macmail, but why are there two different folders on icloud: one for JUNK and the other one for SPAM? Why are emails being routed to each folder with no consistency to which one? Why is it that my desktop version is showing to not filter but STILL filtering? Why after a reset are the filters still not adhering to my setting to not filtering for spam? Why, oh tell me why almost of all my emails, including ones that I forward to myself with my own @me account are ending up in the spam folder? You think that my own account that is a registered user would not be considered spam by your system :-)


Seriously, you know the dba's etc messed up when they created both a junk and spam folder on icloud. Plus, did they even test the settings? Yes, I've checked and both folders show, and neither will not let me delete them. We long time tech people know system folders cannot be deleted, but only one of these folders should be a system folder. You need to make a decision - pick either SPAM or JUNK. Oh, then fix it so we can adjust our own settings on icloud (which is not allowed anymore).


Ok, sooo, when are you going to fix this problem? Truthfully it did not become an issue for me until my last upgrade to el captan.


I miss the old mac days when things would be tested and fixed.


Please please fix this problem because it is not a user based issue.


Thanks in advance - now I'm off to twitter to mention the same to your twitter account.

Nov 25, 2015 10:33 AM in response to Britney2B

Britney2B wrote:


but why are there two different folders on icloud: one for JUNK and the other one for SPAM?

I'm not sure what you're referring to. On my iCloud.com desktop version, I only see a 'Junk' mail folder and not two as you lamented.


Oh, then fix it so we can adjust our own settings on icloud (which is not allowed anymore).


Please please fix this problem because it is not a user based issue.

You can certainly let Apple know of your concern(s) here -- http://www.apple.com/feedback/


Apple doesn't read these forums!


Thanks in advance - now I'm off to twitter to mention the same to your twitter account.

Unfortunately, Apple Support/Apple Support Communities doesn't have a Twitter account.


Good luck!

Dec 6, 2015 11:23 PM in response to zinacef

Hi zinacef


I have also been struggling with Junk Mail ever since icloud Mail was introduced. I'm interested in your views since this seems to be a long standing issue with Apple not allowing Junk filtering to be turned off. The following is what I see as the problem, and this is a problem that was created with the introduction of iCloud Mail.


1. I have been using OS X Mail for many years and one of the key long standing features was the ability to correct the filter decision by clicking on the Thumb Up if an email was incorrectly identified as Junk and telling the Mail App that emails from that sender should no longer be considered as Junk. When you use a new machine after a few weeks it gets pretty accurate and you can start relying on it. Similarly if it misses something that should be considered Junk you click on the Thumb Down and from then on it filters similar emails out.

2. The introduction of iCloud Mail has broken this simple and highly effective system and I can't understand why they are letting it happen. I hope I have missed something but maybe no one uses Apple email addresses.

3. Now iCould falsely filters a very high volume of emails as Junk and puts them in the Junk Mail folder. In OS X Mail they appear as regular (Non Junk) emails in a folder that happens to be the Junk folder. The problem is they are not flagged as Junk and so they do not have the "Not Junk" button to correct the false positive. As a result I can no longer train the filter to work correctly because I have no access to the iCloud filter from OS X Mail.

4. It may be possible to train iCloud to filter correctly by using the iCloud Mail UI but I don't use it ever and so I just keep getting truck loads of emails incorrectly filtered as Junk and no practical way to train the system to fix this??


Surely the solution is for iCloud and OS X Mail which after both have both been written by Apple to link their Junk filtering modules so that an email flagged as Junk in iCloud is recognised as Junk in OS X Mail, i.e.. shows with the message "Mail thinks this message is Junk Mail" and provides a button to tell Mail that it is "Not Junk". When I click on "Not Junk" the rules in OS X Mail are updated and these same rule updates should also be passed to iCloud so they stay in sync.


Or Apple should just disable the automatic filtering so I can go back to using OS X Mail which has worked perfectly for years and as per all the comments in this forum others can use their filter of choice by disabling OS X Mail as well.


Anyway, I just don't understand why Apple are leaving their Mail system broken and so would appreciate your thoughts? I assume lots of people have sent this feedback to Apple but still they have done nothing about it.... I truly do not understand why the company for which "It just works" can leave this problem for all users of iCould email addresses?

How do I turn off iCloud mail's spam filter?

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