Q: 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?

iOS 9.1 does not fix the bug. This is very serious bug. It should Be fixed yesterday.

Regret to report 9.1 has not fixed. It is puzzling why some are reporting a fix. Could it be that Apple have altered the algorithm that calculates the point at which the mail cashe is cleared so that it is less agressive? Devices with 16gb are more likely to have same issue as they still fall foul of the cashing algorithm?

The cache is in RAM, not in storage. RAM is 1 GB, and is separate from the NAND storage of 16 GB (or whatever). What affects how often cache is flushed is how many different apps you launch. If that's the problem.

I have been using the paid AltaMail for a couple of weeks now and have not had an issue at all, even after the 9.1 update. For those having problems, perhaps it automatically set up as IMAP as mine did at first. I had a small issue unrelated and their customer service got back to me within an hour. It works fine on all 9.1 devices.

On a whim, I tried Apple mail today and sure enough as others have reported the POP is still there for both sent emails and attachments. The same emails with attachments are fine with Altamail.

Okay, I got myself so worked up about Apple not properly supporting POP that I called tonight but could only talk to a senior advisor about this who, of course, agreed that it didn't make sense, especially when it was not working on either of my devices.  She said she would put this as a high priority because I have two devices having this problem.  I had planned on calling in another complaint next week anyway :-). I will report back.

The unfortunate thing is that they all say you have to contact AppleCare for them to know there is a problem, but not everyone has a product eligible for AppleCare....

9.1 has not fixed this problem.  My Apple Mail lost all previously downloaded attachments.  AltaMail still has them, so I will continue to use AltaMail as my safety net until Apple decides to address this issue.

Updated to 9.1 yesterday.  Thought everything looked okay until tonight when I ran Battery Doctor and cleared the cache of MB's of 'junk'. When I rechecked my trash...Poof! All of the attachments were gone and replaced with the dreaded message.  Clearly this is cache related and by using Battery Doctor I simply hastened the process of deletion.

Apple should be offering free Applecare service to all it users who are affected due to this nightmare, they need to remember that if it wasn't for the endusers their product would  not be where it is today.  I purchased the product because they make sure their developpers are solid and reputable; also for their support and customer service.  This is why people spend more $$$.  That's why Mac users stick with it.   I also have several devices but to me that irrelevant the bottom line is the product should work correctly.  Yes problems do arise out of our control however this takes the cake.  I'm presently seeking work and I am loosing opportunities since my emails keep disappearing before I can reply or set up interviews. (My apologies for venting but I needed to blow off some steam!)

This is like a ripple effect the more updates come out the worst it's getting. Most of all the ones who are hurting are us the users.

We are much more dependent on this technology today to function in our day to day lives. Let's hope this get solved quickly to put all our minds at ease.

Same here - 9.1 was a bust on this issue.  Could be random, but since 9.1 I've had some email content disappear after just a couple hours where before it seemed like they were sticking around longer.  Very disappointing after all this time.

Article in case folks haven't seen this one.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/10/22/apple-ios-9-1-admits-problems /

I did the iOS 9.1 "upgrade" a little over 24 hours ago, then sent an email with attachments from my Earthlink account to my work account right after. All day the contents remained as they should in my Sent items folder for that account. But it's gone now. Back is the all-too-familiar "This item...." message.  *sigh*

I guess I'll keep struggling with the fussy and busy interface of AltaMail, at least on my phone, and continue to recommend to the rest of my family that they stay on iOS 8. Stuff that I want to remain on my phone will be sent from my iCloud account (if I can't choose AltaMail to send it, as is the case with my rocketry altimeter - AltimeterThree) or AltaMail if it's composed directly on the phone or sent from a share sheet.

I'm also experiencing the iCloud backup failure that many have. At least I got a good one via iTunes on my MacBook Pro (after clearing enough disk space) last night before I loaded iOS 9.1. 

So far WatchOS 2.0.1 hasn't done anything nasty to me.

Whatever happened to "it just works'??

Time to tag up with both the Apple Support folks I've dealt with before, I guess.

AAfter 24 hours of problem free use and hopes rising, I put my iPad on charge last night and within 15 minutes, sent messages with attachments had the issue again, along with messages in inbox that had been removed from the server. Also the majority of emails in the trash folder were also showing the message could not be downloaded from the server. Sent items are now saying that the message could not be displayed due to the way it has been formatted and to ask the sender (me) to send it again using a different email program or format.My AppleCare is also expiring soon, so I hope for a free extension!

1. This has nothing to do with emails no longer stored on the mail server. I still have these emsils on the server which are showing this issue on the iPad. Likewise, peole are reporting "sent" items are also displaying this issue and these are never stored on the mail server.

2. This has nothing to do with "RAM". If that was the case, when you reboot your device, you would kose ALL mail in your local folders.

3. Linked to 1. It has nothing to do with having an internet connection (WLAN or cellular). Mail is stored locally with POP, so would not need to see the server once downloaded (that is the whole point of this protocol).

Obviously there will be some logic but as far as my experience goes, it is just random emails that display this problem. It is a "bug" and needs to be fixed.

Update to my post last night. I spoke too soon. This morning many of yesterday's messages are now unavailable with the now familiar message. Apologies for getting people's hopes up - a good lesson for me in waiting before posting. It took over 24 hours for the issue to re-manifest itself. i had cleared my inbox following the upgrade and therefore I can categorically say that these are emails that were received post upgrade. All of the other posters are correct, the issue remains at 9.1. Sorry for posting duff information!

I have also updated my iphone 5s with iso9.1 more than 24hrs now. All the emails downloaded on my iphone yesterday now have the dreaded same message ' This message has not been downloaded from the server' So this update has clearly not worked. However I do have a few emails that do remain without the dreaded message which are text only emails. Those with graphics / pictures which have a high KB /Mb content have the dreaded message which is very strange with no logical reason.

I am Uk based and use virginmedia, whom have advised the problem is with Apple. In the meantime I am using Altamail as well, which works fine.

I am not convinced that Apple will sort this problem out. Or are their users out their where the update has solved the problem and how.

I thought this was resolved on iOS 9.1, but it now appears to remain as a random bug. There doesn't seem to be any consistency. Some emails show that aren't on the sever, both sent and received, others are deleted. Some are pre the first iOS 9, others post iOS 9.1. Some that are not on the server have randomly reappeared, others that were there are gone. It's quiet odd, and highly unreliable.  I just want it to work properly, like it did in iOS 8.