Unread mail showing in All Inboxes only with iOS9

I managed to get rid of my phantom "unread" message by closing the mail app (via multitask swipe up) and the unread count is back to 0, for now at least. I can't see that working for the people who have tried restoring their iPhone though.

My iPad had the opposite problem, one account had a message marked as unread but that account and "All Inboxes" had no unread count by them. Reading the message didn't change that (i.e. count didn't go negative or really large).

Fix was simil to yours. Went into the offending mailbox and scrolled all the way down to the oldest message. It then started "downloading" even older messages. This happened twice before it wouldn't "download" any more. Once I marked all as read, no more excess unread.

I know those messages were no longer on the server. I clean that out regularly (like Hillary 😁). So they must have been "archived" on the phone somehow.

EIther way, problem solved for me.

This is what I have done, and it seems to have worked (for now).

Step 1. Force-quit the Mail app by double-pressing the home button and sliding the preview screen up until it is no longer in view.

Step 2. Head into Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars and delete all of the email accounts that have been added to your Mail app.

Step 3. Force-restart the phone by pressing and holding both the home button and the sleep/wake button (this is the power button) together until you see the Apple logo and then release. The phone will restart.

Step 4. After the phone restarts, head into the Mail app and add any accounts that you are able to from the app itself.

Step 5. If you have other email accounts that could not be added to the Mail app, add them through Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

This should resolve the issue. If it doesn't, reply here and let me know exactly what steps you tried or if the Mail app shows the unread emails again.

Dez.Ron,

Followed your suggestions.

Slid the Mailboxes screen from view as per step 1.

Deleted the talk talk email account (but not the iCloud account) as per step 2.

Force restart as per step 3.

The 31000 unread email has gone from the Mail app icon.

Reloaded the talktalk email account from Settings and the 31000 unread email number reappeared on the All Inboxes line (the 150 unread emails on the talktalk line was cleared by the edit/mark as read process).

So, I'm back to where I started and would welcome further thoughts.

None of the "fixes" helped me. I came from one of the versions prior to 8.4.1 as I hadn't updated for months for fear of getting just what I've got now ! I hate this update. The emails are a nightmare. I've marked all as read numerous times and they disappear...only to appear again later on in the day.

I've also gone into the server accounts and marked all of those emails as read too. There's no logic to what is going through, or the numbers involved. Every time I get a real new email, another 50 of my old emails download. This seems to act as a trigger. Then I've got hundreds of unread again instead of the cleared mail icon that I'd managed to get it to only minutes earlier.

If only we could limit the number of emails in our inboxes, just as we could prior to iOS 7. !!!!

I know the problem is with pop emails but I don't want to be forced to use IMAP. I really don't want IMAP. I use my phone as a checker for email and do my real work on my Mac (no problems with Yosemite and notifications in that mail app - not going to download the new update next week though after all of this !!) My eyesight isn't good enough to rely on the small print of the iPhone . So I need all my emails to be intact on my Mac when I get home but I need the heads up of emails coming in during the day.

I know the problem is with pop emails but I don't want to be forced to use IMAP. I really don't want IMAP. I use my phone as a checker for email and do my real work on my Mac (no problems with Yosemite and notifications in that mail app - not going to download the new update next week though after all of this !!) My eyesight isn't good enough to rely on the small print of the iPhone . So I need all my emails to be intact on my Mac when I get home but I need the heads up of emails coming in during the day.

If you use IMAP, your emails will still be intact on your MAC so long as you don't delete them on the phone. They will be marked as read, but you'd still have access to them. I use multiple IMAP accounts and access them from my phone and iPad mini as well as two MACs. One big advantage over POP is that if I really want to delete a message, I just have to do it on one device instead of all four.

I normally wait for one release after an X.0 as that is the one that usually has the worst problems. 8.4.1 didn't cause any issues for me. I'm holding off for whatever comes after 9.0 (except on my iPad mini - it always acts as the guinea pig).

I called Apple about this last night. Spoke with rep and "senior" tech and here is the absolutely stunningly stupid response I got as a "fix": Go to your email server and delete all your emails. That will do it!

I asked him to repeat it because it was so stupid. I explained that if I have a problem with my bathroom sink, burning my house to the ground would solve the problem, but it might be considered a bit of a drastic move. I suggested since it was obviously a bug, it should be put on the list for 9.01.

He said that Apple had not had any complaints about this (obviously can't see the 1,000 postings here) and that he doubted 9.01 would address it.

I kid you not. Delete all your emails was their "fix."

Good grief. It's like Microsoft just bought Apple.

I Did as Dez.Ron suggested and it worked for me although it was an utter pain because I have several email addresses for different websites.

Delete all your email accounts.

Turn off iCloud.

Reboot the phone or iPad.

Add each email address but check after each one to see that the problem hasn't returned.

I also use an app called WPS Office to work with my documents and spreadsheets but when I try to open a spreadsheet now I just get a white screen and the program locks. Me and many many more IOS 9 sufferers.

salemlawyer wrote:

I called Apple about this last night. Spoke with rep and "senior" tech and here is the absolutely stunningly stupid response I got as a "fix": Go to your email server and delete all your emails. That will do it!

I asked him to repeat it because it was so stupid. I explained that if I have a problem with my bathroom sink, burning my house to the ground would solve the problem, but it might be considered a bit of a drastic move. I suggested since it was obviously a bug, it should be put on the list for 9.01.

He said that Apple had not had any complaints about this (obviously can't see the 1,000 postings here) and that he doubted 9.01 would address it.

I kid you not. Delete all your emails was their "fix."

Good grief. It's like Microsoft just bought Apple.

I actually found this quite unbelievable that the "Senior Advisor" would tell you that Apple has not had any complaints about this, because I'm a Senior Advisor and it has definitely been one of our newest call drivers since the iOS 9 update. Rest assured that Apple is definitely working on a fix for this for its many customers. It always does.

I can understand where he's coming from if he wants an easy fix without having to do a lot of work. It's not something I agree with if there is another solution that is more practical for the customer. But the thing is about software bugs is that if there is a way around them, it may only be a temporary fix until the bug itself is addressed in a software update. Technology has amazing capabilities, but what people seem to forget is that it is not perfect.

At last someone confirming Apple is working on this thank you.

I Wish I didn't "update"

The "new" News app doesn't stay on my iPhone 6 unless I change the settings to USA....I'm in the UK!

Still have over 10k emails "allegedly" unread despite following instructions, no update on emoji's but that's ok not the end of the world but if an update is to improve iOS 9 clearly hasn't worked for me. NOT A HAPPY BUNNY!

Hey Dezron

YEAH, I just made this up because I have all the time in the world to post fake crap on this board SFB. This was a "senior tech" Apples words not mine that called me after dealing with chat help. And I understand software has bugs genius but stupid advice is stupid advice. Apple needs to acknowledge this bug AND explain they are working on it. They have YET to do that, SFB.

I had the same experience as salemlawyer, with not one but TWO "senior technicians"!

Has anyone else tried what ward194luk described as a solution?

Willbaforce wrote:

At last someone confirming Apple is working on this thank you.

I Wish I didn't "update"

The "new" News app doesn't stay on my iPhone 6 unless I change the settings to USA....I'm in the UK!

Still have over 10k emails "allegedly" unread despite following instructions, no update on emoji's but that's ok not the end of the world but if an update is to improve iOS 9 clearly hasn't worked for me. NOT A HAPPY BUNNY!

Thank you. I think that this article may shed some light on why you are not able to keep the News app on your iPhone 6:

About News and Newsstand - Apple Support

Also, iOS 9.1 is the update you're looking for with the new emojis. Source: iOS 9.1 Beta on my iPad (beta information can be found here):

https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/

For those of you still having issues with Mail, I would recommend checking for a new update. iOS 9.0.1 was released, and the unread email issue isn't mentioned in the "fixed issues" section of the information about iOS 9.0.1 (found here: iOS 9.0.1), but I expect it is coming soon.

Thank you guys for your patience. Remember that any issues that arise as a result of iOS updates mean you are eligible for free support if you want to contact Apple for a resolution. You can start by creating your case online at https://getsupport.apple.com/.

Did the iOS9 upgrade on my iPhone 6 and since have not been able to clear my 'unread' email messages from the mail icon on the homepage.

Have contacted Apple support and attempted all means to clear the 'unread' mail: deleted accts; changed passwords; powered down; tried numerous ports, etc...

Was referred to my e-mail provider and we repeated all of the above steps with no fix...

Was finally referred back to Apple after my e-mail provider found numerous on-line complaints following the iOS9 upgrade... see below link:

Unread mail showing in All Inboxes only with iOS9

This issue is looking more and more like a bug associated with the latest upgrade and hoping that Apple addresses it is able to develop a patch resolving the problem...

Did the iOS9 upgrade on my iPhone 6 and since have not been able to clear my 'unread' email messages from the mail icon on the homepage.

Have contacted Apple support and attempted all means to clear the 'unread' mail: deleted accts; changed passwords; powered down; tried numerous ports, etc...

Was referred to my e-mail provider and we repeated all of the above steps with no fix...

Was finally referred back to Apple after my e-mail provider found numerous on-line complaints following the iOS9 upgrade... see below link:

Unread mail showing in All Inboxes only with iOS9

This issue is looking more and more like a bug associated with the latest upgrade and hoping that Apple addresses it is able to develop a patch resolving the problem...