Apple Mail Is Actually Useful Now: 12 Things to Try if You're Sick of Gmail

Apple’s Mail app has always been a simple and reliable way to manage your email across different services, but over time, Apple has significantly updated it to add more helpful features. Recent updates from the past few years have introduced new formatting options, added the ability to include scans and other attachments, and beefed up the Reply menu.

For iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, Apple unveiled a small but helpful number of new features. You can now automatically remove emails with one-time verification codes and add a hyperlink to any word in your message. With the latest improvements in mind, here are 12 tips to help you get the most out of Apple Mail on your mobile device.

Before getting started, make sure you’ve updated your iPhone or iPad so you can take advantage of the latest features. Go to Settings > General > Software Update. You’ll be told that the OS is up to date or be prompted to download and install the latest update.

1. Protect Your Mail Activity

By default, companies and advertisers that send you emails can obtain certain information about your activity in the Mail app. For example, they can learn if and when you read a specific email and even determine your location. However, Apple’s Protect Mail Activity privacy feature can stop this.

If activated, this feature hides your device’s IP address and loads remote content from an email message privately in the background. To enable this option, go to Settings > Mail > Privacy Protection and turn on the switch next to Protect Mail Activity.

2. Hide Your Email Address

Available only with a paid iCloud+ subscription, Hide My Email lets you register with apps and websites using an anonymous and randomized Apple ID. The goal is to reduce the amount of spam that your actual email address gets when you sign up for different online accounts.

To start, go to Settings, tap your name, then open iCloud > Hide My Email to see all the random addresses that have already been in use. Tap an address you want to use again to hide your real email address and confirm that the random address is forwarding to your actual address. 

To generate a new random address, tap Create New Address at the screen of addresses. If you’re OK with the suggested address, tap Continue. If not, tap Use Different Address to find another address. After you’ve settled on one, enter a label and any notes to help you remember where it will be used and then tap Done.

The next time you need to create an account to access a website or fill out an online form, use your random address. Any emails sent to this account get forwarded to your actual address. 

If you start receiving spam, you can always delete an anonymous address. Go back to the iCloud settings page and open Hide My Email > Inactive Addresses. Select the address you want to delete and then tap Delete Address.

3. Change Fonts and Formatting

The Mail app makes it easy to change the formatting of your emails. If you’re composing a new email, tap in the body of your message and tap the arrow icon at the right of the predictive text bar. You’ll then see a variety of icons that can help you customize your email.

Tap the Aa icon to open the app’s Formatting menu. You’ll be able to apply attributes like bold, italics, underline, and strikethrough. Tap the small A or large A to make the font bigger or smaller, the circular palette icon to change the color of the text, and Default Font to select a new font. You can also realign the current paragraph, add bullets or numbering, add indents.

4. Add a Hyperlink to Text

With iOS/iPadOS 17, you can now add a link to any text in an email. To do this, type the text to which you want to add a link. Select it and tap Add Link from the menu. Add the URL in the Add Link field.

After you’re done, tap the linked text and then tap the down arrow. From the menu, you can show a preview of the link, open the link, edit the link, remove the link, or edit the text. Tap Open Link to open the linked page. The recipient of your email simply has to tap the linked text to open the page.

5. Add Photos and Files

Want to add a picture? Tap the photo icon on the keyboard toolbar to add photos or videos from your library. Tap the photo or video you want to add, and it's inserted into your message. You can also take a picture or video directly from the Mail app if you tap the camera icon in the keyboard toolbar.

Tap the file icon to access the Files app, where you can insert a document, image, or other file from any of your online services. Tap the scan icon in the toolbar and you can scan a printed document, then add it to your email.

6. Use Markup Tools

Need to mark up an image or document? Tap the pen icon in the keyboard toolbar to access markup tools for your attached media. You can then select different drawing tools to draw, write notes, or highlight words over the existing media.

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7. Access the Reply Menu

Open an email to which you want to reply and tap the Reply icon in the lower right. You’ll be given a variety of commands that let you reply, reply all, forward, or archive the message. Other options let you flag the message as important, mark it as unread, move it to a specific folder, or move it to the Junk folder and mark it as spam.

Stop receiving notifications for a specific message thread by tapping the Mute button. Tap the Notify Me option if you want to be alerted to any follow-up messages. Tap the Print icon to print the email.

8. Tap into Pop-Up Commands

Apple Mail has a pop-up command menu that appears if you press down on an email. It offers specific quick actions, allowing you to reply, reply all, forward, mute, move, delete, and more.

9. Block a Sender

No longer wish to receive emails from a certain contact? Block them. Open an unwanted email and tap the name of the sender. Tap Block this Contact and then tap Block this Contact again in the confirmation message. If you ever change your mind, tap Unblock this Contact.

10. Remove One-Time Verification Codes

Emails with one-time passwords or verification codes for multi-factor authentication are meant to be used once, yet they remain in your inbox taking up space. With iOS/iPadOS 17, you can set such emails (and text messages) to automatically be removed after they’re used. Head to Settings > Passwords > Password Options and turn on the switch for Clean Up Automatically.

11. Select Multiple Emails

The Mail app also provides an easy way to select a batch of messages. Tap the Edit button at the top right of the inbox and then tap the circle next to the messages you wish to select. You can also select multiple messages by swiping across the circles you wish to select.

Tap Edit and then Select All to choose all the messages in the folder. Once your selections have been made, you can mark, move, or delete/archive all the selected messages in one shot.

12. Change the Default Mail App

Still not crazy about the Mail app? No worries. Apple makes it easy to set a new default. Go to Settings and select the app you wish to use as the default, such as Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo Mail. Tap Default Mail App and change it to the app of your choice.