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?

Hi mariotheplumber,

I have been reading all this with great interest. Do i understand correctly that having done a factory reset with a new and different apple account and a new and different email address the emails from a previous email address and previous apple account still come back into your trash box?

If so, then this is extremely spooky and i would urge you to provide apple with any info they require. You are making history here I think !!

very strange indeed.

Sorry cusance, but this IS surprising.

emails which survived previous iOS 9 iterations should not now become inaccessible in iOS 9.2

hi cusance, yes, but with exception that apple id is the same. however that should have no bearing as the email accounts are in no way connected with iCloud and device is offline when the 'resurrection' occurs. I may try and use another apple id tomorrow, just out of curiosity, but to be honest I'm bored and got more interesting stuff to do. Unless the tech guys are specific about what extracts they want, they can whistle. No way I'm providing a load of identifying data. Thanks for following.

There is mail still on my device which arrived well before the 9.2 release, some in October and early November, so I concur.

OK I understand. I have been thinking about this and there might be some logic here. First of all your emails that are being recalled HAVE to hang on something and HAVE to come from somewhere. From your reply it would seem to me that they are associated with your apple ID as a backup somewhere.

its the only thing that you havent changed and the only thing therefore this info could hang on.

it reminds me a bit of uninstalling a program in say Windows that is malfunctioning. you uninstall and then reinstall and hey presto the problem reappears. Why, because the uninstall has merely taken the prog out of the registery. Reinstalling it will therefore picks up the old files which still reside on the hard disk somewhere reintroducing the problem..Often after an uninstall one had to also delete the actual folders on the drive.

Resetting your device doesnt Ik think wipe any info in the storage. It just deletes your ID info. (I think).

I know this isnt Windows but I think something like this is happening. I think you said that you are sure that there isnt anything in the Cloud somewhere?

So it has to be on the device.

i am further reminded that the Apple devices have a 'recovery' function. This happened to me while installing 9.2 and i accidentally pulled the plug at a vital stage.

Ipad dead. Reconnected to Itunes and after quite a wait suddenly it started a 'recovery procedure'. there just might a flag set on your ipasd somewhere that mail needs to be recovered or that a recovery was interrupted.

If i am right then using a new apple ID might get rid of the problem. Should they still reappear then I fear you have landed in the twilight zone

and only Doctor Who can help you 😉 OR apple has to suggest a way you can actually physically wipe the storage.

Probably not helpful but just thinking aloud here about your problem.

not sure about that. doesnt it mean that the update to 9.2 has put you in the same position as everybody else which under the circumstances I would consider normal.

The fact that you didnt have the problem before THATS unusual I think.

I still say that the real test under the circumstances must be how mail received after the 9.2 update behaves.

this doesnt mean that you will be less ****** off so welcome to the club.

sorry, should have said... I also set it up without an apple id, just manually installed 1 email account. no apple id associated with device or email accounts. The only other data entered on the device was a wifi setup.

Erase and contents and settings - set up as new ipad... I've done that 12 times. Both via wifi and a brand new iTunes library.

Something ain't right that's for sure.

Appreciate your thoughts though, but as I said I'm bored now and really past caring. Bright, shiny devices to look forward to - they ain't Apple!

I did have the problem before, and lost the content of many emails, but these particular emails survived until the 9.2 update (I still have access to them on my iPhone, but the content is no longer accessible on my iPad.

Thanks. I'll discuss and decide.

got up early and decided to have a final play.. so for the 13th time I erase all data and setup as new ipad without any data or apple id. I just install 1 email account manually (this time a different IMAP account not POP)

Here's the test:

- I receive 15 test messages (numbered 1-15)

- turn off wifi and put into airplane mode

- back to Inbox > read messages 1&2 and delete them

- go to Trash folder > view messages 1&2 and delete them. Trash is empty.

- back to Inbox and select messages 3-9 and delete them

- go to Trash folder - it displays... 9 messages

- delete all messages from Trash folder. Trash is empty.

- back to Inbox> edit > delete all remaining 6 messages

- back to Trash folder - it displays... 15 messages

____

Additionally, I can report I see same behaviour regarding "message not downloaded from server", as I witnessed and reported with POP account.

That's it, I'm done until I get opportunity to test it on identical device next week. I may decide to video the experiment and stick it on Youtube entitled, "Apple and the Resurrection", or "Apple and the Yuletide Miracle"

Cheers

I am beginning to wonder if you are now still on 9.2 or have dropped back to lower version.

If it was me, I would now arrange with apple that they take the ipad back and fix it.

I think it is going to take an actual wipe of storage and factory reinstall.

rather than trying to fix this yourself, I would start steering in that direction with apple support before you burn bridges

with them by taking any drastic Youtube action etc.

it is tempting to just give up on the whole thing but that would be a waste, as these devices arent cheap and have cost good money.

Now that you have done every conceivable test and retest to chronicle the continuing issue, my suggestion is to arrange for Apple to take the iPad back and give you a new device in its place.

@Rontu2 and @cusance,

many thanks for thoughts and advice. happily the device is still well within warranty ;-)

Apple Support guy postponed the call 2 minutes before was due to start, until tomorrow. Hmm!

__

As an aside...I've restored the device now twice to my good backup. Each time I then reopen iTunes all "unwatched" video content in the library is then marked as 'watched' - (50+films & 6 TV series)... except the same 2 files. Not saying it's got anything to do with the sync', just seems co-incidental. See: iTunes 12.3.2 - All Movies and TV shows marked as watched

Yes, this is the problem I'm having.

@Rontu2,

well not every conceivable test, because I really need convincing this is due to faulty hardware. It's more like coding and memory cache useage, here's why...

I did the test again using yet another email address - this time an iCloud IMAP address.

THE TEST: Inbox and Trash were empty at start, connected to wifi.

Step1: Receive 8 messages in Inbox (numbered 1-8)

Step2: WIFI >turn off (double check no network connection)

Step3: INBOX >move all messages to trash (delete all)

Step4: TRASH >delete 1 message

Step5: TRASH >move remaining messages back to Inbox (move all)

Step6: TRASH >exit Trash and re-enter to double check Trash folder is empty

Step7: INBOX >move all messages to Trash (delete all)

Step8: TRASH >How many messages are there? Its magic huh?

- I’ve repeated it a few times with small incremental variations. Attempt 2:

Step9: TRASH >delete 2 messages

Step10: TRASH >move remaining messages back to Inbox

Step11: Exit and close the Mail APP

Step12: Re-open Mail app

Step13: TRASH >check its empty

Step14: INBOX > move all messages to Trash (delete all)

Step15: TRASH > How many messages are there? Its magic huh?

attempt 3: reboot device (Home and Sleep button together). Restart device.

attempt 4: power off and restart device (Sleep Button).

A couple of observations more to the original title of this thread.

- on initial test a total 8 test messages all identical except differently numbered subject header:

-preview in 6 messages is blank and email displays…“not downloaded from server”

-preview in 2 messages displays…“message has no content” and email is blank. (kinda considered as normal behaviour)

more weird behaviour…after I’d moved these messages around a few dozen times, they actually changed! So I eventually finished with 6 messages with a preview and email that read… “message has no content”. Remember, it was only 2 when I started with correct preview, but the email was blank.

The others…1 message blank preview & message displayed “this message has no content”; the other message had blank preview & message displayed “message not downloaded from server”

Observed:

- iCloud inbox locks up when I deleted 10 mails at same time on a different test. (then need to close the Mail app and re-open.)

- Mailboxes view shows an account with a number of new messages received > but turn off wifi > open the account and Inbox shows as empty > exit Inbox wait a few minutes then Inbox shows messages (OK, but really, really slow considering it was handling 6 blank messages)

Hmm!

OK, so had a good phonecall with Apple Support (really nice guy and efficent) who escalated the report Expect to hear something back next week. However, after chatting, I'm even more convinced it's not hardware related.

Had spare time and I'm a glutton for punishment, so I did another test with a fresh set of emails:

- All Mailbox folders were empty > went to server, checked everything was gone. Sent more test messages to device and repeated test. Hey presto, in addition 4 emails from 1st test are back. During course of this round of testing - 3 of them disappeared, the 4th stuck around.

When I finished and put device back on wifi - the trash folder just would not empty, only a spinning wheel. For 10 minutes I looked at iCloud server on computer - empty. For 15 minutes tried to clear the Trash folder on the device. It wouldn’t. Finally after 30 mins I signed out of iCloud and back in again. Then it cleared.

Finally, Mailboxes change! (sometimes they read DELETE other times they read TRASH) Same mailbox, same emails - I have screenshots, I’m not going mad.

It's not hardware, which means...