Mailboxes and iOS9 issue

This is ridiculous. I have resent e-mails to myself that had the error of "This message has not been downloaded from the server", they show up with the entire e-mail message for a day then I go back in the next day and receive that error. I have important e-mails that I save on my phone for traveling but now they are rendered useless. I have looked all over the place for a fix but all I find are IMAP/POP suggestions. I didn't change a single setting in my mail app yet once I upgraded to IOS 9 this issue started.

I have exactly the same problem. I can receive and read email fine, but when I go back later to read them again, I get the same message about not being downloaded from the server. I have done nothing except install IOS 9

What service provider is everyone on this thread using? I am using Comcast. Here is what I discovered: Upon updating to IOS 9, it changed my default settings in the mail app to make my Comcast e-mail IMAP instead of POP. POP is the way I set it up. With IMAP, it is supposed to be a better protocol and better for managing multiple devices. The problem is, once you delete it from one, it disappears from the other, where as POP saves a copy to the device whether or not you delete it from another device or the server. What I had to do was delete my current configuration and re-add it. Now for some reason the phone in IOS 9 automatically wants to default to IMAP protocol so you have to trick it to enable POP. When you are adding your new (old) e-mail make sure your username is correct but purposely type in the wrong password. The phone will attempt to verify your e-mail address and error out because of the wrong password. This will open a screen where you can add it as POP. Add everything in POP versus IMAP and I believe it will remedy your issues. At least it has for me for the time being. Give it a shot.

Scratch what I said above that I thought I found a fix. E-mails all disappeared again today. I really wish someone would see this thread and offer a solution.

I was chatting with Apple support for an hour at work last night. They could not figure out the problem. I had to go home, the man provided me with his e-mail to contact him once I got home so we could resolve this. He never answered my e-mail and I am stuck with the problem. I would suggest downgrading back to IOS 8.4.1 until someone from Apple can first acknowledge the problem, then fix it. The only things that come up with our issues in a google search is this thread and one other that is similar. GARBAGE!

All,

I have the same issue. I have identified at least 4 other separate threads on the apple forums as well as numerous threads on other forums. I will attempt to précis them here and also provide links so you can read through my sources yourselves. Note there is, as always, a significant amount of duff information, guessing and questionable fact obscuring the useful evidence.

1. this issue only appears to be affecting people with email accounts set up for pop/smtp.

2. Following upgrade to iOS 9 / iOS 9.01 and possibly the 9.1 beta as well, email content is removed from the iOS device resulting in a sudden decrease in the storage required for the mail app.

3. Emails that may have been present on the device for many months and accessed multiple times in both the inbox and sent items will be randomly replaced with the basic placeholder information (similar to a IMAP case prior to download) but the body will be replaced with the statement: This message has not been downloaded from the server.

4. Deleting the account and setting it up again from scratch does not solve the issue and will result in the loss of all the email placeholders - further increasing your loss of knowledge.

5. Switching the account to IMAP if you go for a delete and re-setup will also result in the loss of all the email placeholders but will 'probably' solve the problem (within the limitations of IMAP) for future emails.

6. this affects all iOS devices - iPads (all gens on iOS 9) iPhones (all gens on iOS 9)

7. This affects you irrespective of you country, internet provider or email provider - the discriminator is the use of pop/smtp.

8. pop/smtp is not legacy or backward compared to imap it is just different. We use pop/smtp for 3 reasons: we don't want emails left on the server where a questionably secure environment could be compromised; our family want the ability to all download the same email to multiple devices without affecting each others ability to do so; we want one master device (the main iMac) to be the deleting device that holds the archive of all emails (right now we are very pleased we have this as all the iOS devices are scorched earth right now).

9. Some emails appear unaffected - I cannot identify any rhyme or reason to this. Old, new, addressee, - there doesn't seem to be a pattern. Can't say for certain but it seems that more are being affected as time goes on. If you are affected and you have the only copy of an email currently and you are going to need it again.....get it somewhere else ASAP!!!

10. This thread and forum is just for sharing knowledge between users. If this has affected you then you need to fill in the apple feedback page with your confirmed symptoms and the impact if you want anything to be done. Follow this link and do it now or apple pop users remain without a fix! I recommend do one for each type of iOS device you have affected and the mail app itself.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

OK other threads - maybe someone else is familiar with a clever way to link them all up - please do so if you know how:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7226924

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7221489

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7226501

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7227219

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7230143

I may have the fIx. This was with the help of a Cox technician. I deleted the pop account I had, and re-created the account. In the process I discovered that Apple iOS 9 no longer offers the option of a pop account; only an IMAP account. The IMAP account will not function in the way that I would like. So the Cox technician showed me a trick that he used for Yosemite but was not sure wold work for the iPad. But it did. The trick is when you create a new (IMAP) account give it an incorrect gibberish username and password. Then it tells you that that information is not correct and when you are given the chance to fix it you now have the option of selecting a pop account. So far today, it's working. And as a matter of fact I got back the emails that got deleted when I deleted the account. Or at least most of them. I'm a little concerned about posting this on this community, because if Apple eliminated the pop account option they may plug this hole if they know it's there. Good luck to all!

As I said in bullet 4 of my précis I have already tried this and it did not work for me. After approximately 12 hours the emails that I successfully forwarded from my iMac archive reverted to the "This message has not been downloaded....". This experience has also be noted by other posters on other threads. I would not rely on the emails in the newly set up account remaining there for long.

As an aside the trick to getting the pop option during setup has been a badly kept apple user secret for some time but well worth sharing again. I am also worried that server storage costs, or some such incentive, has driven apple to attempt to move people to imap. Just not happy with leaving emails on the server in order to allow other family members the opportunity to access them as well.

I have the same issue. Apple needs to construct a fix within iOS9. Apple doesn't see any dialogue from user forums.

<Edited by Host>

Exact same issue here. I spoke with two different people at Apple Support. I referred them to the multiple threads regarding this issue. They didn't have a clue! The only solution they offered was to delete the email account in the iOS Mail app and then add it back. It did not resolve the issue.

I have no issues running Apple Mail on the iMac with multiple mail accounts. Issue only occurs on iOS 9.0

Thank you (and Cox) so much! This has solved my problem. I set the IMAP account that it created to off in IMAP, and then made a new account as you described. It is now functioning as a pop account.

FYI this did not occur until 9.0.2 in my phone, it was fine in 9.0.1.

You seem to be unique in having found a resolution so congrats on that. It would help if you could be more specific with details of exactly what the Cox technician had you do. Thanks so much.

OK, actually I did what was referred to in LadyGatr's post above.

FYI, I use my pop account to look at incoming mail while I am out in the field during the day, and then have everything go to Outlook Mail on my mac (my master mail copy) when I connect the mac. If you are doing something else, this may not be good for you.

Specifically, here is what I did to resolve the problem :

Go to Settings: -> Mail Contacts, Calendar

Under accounts, click on the pop account that isn't working (i.e. the account got somehow turned into IMAP by ios 9.0.2). This takes you to the IMAP screen. Mail will be 'on', toggle it off. When you return to Mail accounts screen, your pop account should show inactive.

then click 'Add Account' and select your account type from the list- mine is 'other'.

Under Other, select 'add mail account'.

Enter your name, then under email and password enter something gobbledygook that you know won't work for these two entries, and then select Next. It will say something like 'looking up account' and 'verifying', and then 'cannot get mail' pops up. Hit OK. Then at the top right you will see the button you need to make it POP instead of IMAP. Click that and then scroll down and correct the email address and password for your pop account. Then hit next.

As soon as I did that, my mail started coming in correctly. Somehow it figured out all the other settings for my ISP mail server.

Hope this helps.

I lost all my old mail on the phone, but at least I can get the new mail on the iphone and go back to my Mac Outlook for anything old I need. Better than a useless mail app in the phone.

Thanks so much for that input. I tried duplicating what you did and was unable to merely change the username and password. After I did that I got a dialogue telling me that the account with that name was already created on this phone. So I deleted the original account and then went to Add Account and entered gibberish info for username and password. Then when I got the option to select POP I corrected the username and password and was able to create the account. Mail came in to the account immediately. I emailed a photo to the new account and will eagerly be awaiting to see if it's still in the Inbox and Sent mail this time tomorrow. The bottom line is it appears that iOS9 converts all email accounts to IMAP which mandates recreating the account as POP. Hopefully this time tomorrow I'll have a smile on. Thanks again.

Hopefully you do! I tried duplicating what you did and was unable to merely change the username and password. After I did that I got a dialogue telling me that the account with that name was already created on this phone. So I deleted the original account and then went to Add Account and entered gibberish info for username and password. Then when I got the option to select POP I corrected the username and password and was able to create the account. Mail came in to the account immediately. I emailed a photo to the new account and will eagerly be awaiting to see if it's still in the Inbox and Sent mail this time tomorrow. The bottom line is it appears that iOS9 converts all email accounts to IMAP which mandates recreating the account as POP. Hopefully this time tomorrow I'll have a smile on. Thanks so much for that input. .