After ios9 update my emails with attachments won't open and say "message not yet downloaded from server". They were there previously. How do I get them back?

MMCroatia wrote:

"...Definitely, problem is iOS application Mail, so just install from App Store free application "ibisMail"

and continue to use your POP/SMTP servers as before and you will keep all mails in your device as you did before as well."

Thank you for sharing information on this iOS mail app. I see it on the App Store and CNET. There are two versions, one is free the other has a small 3.99 charge. Interested to know if anyone is familiar with or has had any experience with ibisMail.

I ended up trying AltaMail yesterday for $5. So far, after setting it up for 9 POP accounts, it is working well. There is a learning curb but I like it and it works well with my iPad as well as my iPhone.

http://mobile.eurosmartz.com/products/altamail.html

Ditto that. I have an important sent email about a payment dispute with a customer that included check images that I had received. After it was sent, I was able to view the message and the attached images several times that evening. BTW, the message was sent from our lake cottage which has no internet service and only 1x phone service. Two days later, the "message not yet downloaded from the server" message appeared. It has nothing to do with my PC which does delete messages from the POP server because the sent message never appeared on the PC, consequently I no longer have access to this critical email.

Thanks for the tip about Altamail. There are some good reviews and it has been around for awhile. I think I will try it, for a mere $5.00 I might be able to move on from all of this aggravation.

I'm using a free mail app called "MyMail" for my Verizon POP account. It's working well. Better than Apple's mail app for ios9.

A main issue with 3rd party email apps is you can't make any of them your default email app, because of the limitation imposed by Apple's operating system.

IF every computer company was sued for every bug in their software there would be no computers.

Yes thank you, of course and sometimes it takes restating the obvious.

I've seen several posts from iOS9 users of POP accounts who are reporting using independent mail apps and that their mail runs successfully and without the lost Inbox and Sent mail problems that have been reported here. That suggests the issues in iOS9 Mail are due a bug. If so, there is no doubt that Apple Engineering will create a fix. I am hoping that's the case.

I have spoken to an Apple representative who acknowledges the problem. She even told me about 3rd party POP3 email apps, but cautioned me that Apple will not offer any future support if you use them.

My question is are they working on a solution? I am willing to wait but it seems like there is a problem with everyone acknowledging the problem. I became very disheartened with the Apple Engineer's response that this is just the way POP works.

When I updated to iOS 9 I immediately lost a bunch of emails and instead got the placeholder announcement that it hadn't been downloaded. I hoped for the best. I tried imap then saw that it didn't really answer my needs. I do have the emails on my computer so they are not lost except for all of those sent mails. I now download all attachments to other programs. I have even copied and pasted some into notes for perusal offline....

I just want to add my voice to the chorus as I, too, have been bitten by this bug since installing iOS 9 (actually 9.0.1, then 9.0.2) on my 128 Gb iPhone 6s. The summary posted by Wil616 (I believe it is) mirrors what I am seeing with my Earthlink POP email account (which has been our family's main one for many years). It clearly looks as if POP3 and IMAP are being treated the same way by iOS 9, and to me the loss, after a few hours, of the content of email originating on my iPhone is the most damning.

I have submitted feedback and I've spent a couple of hours on chat with an Apple Support person and the next day about an hour on the phone with another (I do have a case number, therefore). I also described and illustrated the problem to three employees at the Southcenter Apple Store (Tukwila, Washington, near Seattle) when I was in on my birthday looking at (and ultimately purchasing) an Apple Watch.

I've set all my devices to not delete emails from Earthlink's server any more (workaround one). That does NOT solve the loss-of-sent-mail-content issue. I just checked three I sent my son yesterday. They all now show the dreaded "message has not been downloaded...." message. They all had, as part of the original body, an attachment. That seems to also be a factor in this. (Others may have pointed this out but I admit I only skimmed this now 22 page thread before posting.)

I have never been so angry at Apple (yet I bought the Watch anyway). And I may eventually migrate to IMAP even on Earthlink (they now offer it). But there's no excuse for data that originates on my phone, which has PLENTY of storage space available, to be deleted without my permission.

The Watch is complicating some other things, but that is for another thread or two here.....

carolinseattle wrote:

"My question is are they working on a solution? I am willing to wait but it seems like there is a problem with everyone acknowledging the problem. I became very disheartened with the Apple Engineer's response that this is just the way POP works."

We don't know and it appears we cannot make that determination.

Refer to Lawrence Finch's post at 10:55 AM today wherein he stated in part "There is no definitive answer, and you won't find Apple's position on anything until they publish it for the world to see.".

That's consistent with my past experiences with Apple so if you don't want to wait for them to announce a fix (assuming there will be one), your option appears to be using a 3rd Party mail app. Today POP3 users posted having success using several 3rd party apps including Alta Mail, MyMail and ibisMail.

Just FYI everyone, on the new Forbes posting by Gordon Kelly:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/10/09/apple-ios-9-0-2-three-more-pr oblems/

Hopefully all the work and engagement by so many users, and now mainstream media picking up on this issue will help to call more attention for a resolution.

Thanks!!

Actually my thanks to you Rontu2, Lawrence, and many others in this community for providing a calm and objective, fact based approach to isolating and escalating the issues up the chain in an actionable fashion.

Who knows how far off we may be from a resolution, but I'm just bit encouraged that at least now we are getting some visibility.

Please keep the info flowing as it is very helpful.

Thanks for posting that, though it looks like they got it a little garbled. Fortunately I'm not having the iMessage issue mentioned in the story when communicating with my wife and daughters who are still, fortunately, on iOS 8.