Apple’s venerable Mail app has received its biggest redesign ever with the releases of iOS 18.2. While the mailbox screen remains familiar, opening an inbox reveals significant visual and functional changes.
Ryan Christoffel for 9to5Mac:
Aesthetically, Apple is now emphasizing contact photos for senders as part of your inbox. Where you used to just see a bunch of text, now there’s color and imagery to go with it. Basically, emails in your inbox look a lot like threads in the Messages app, with a contact photo on the left.
More significant than the addition of contact photos, iOS 18.2 also brings a fundamental change to how your inbox works. Apple Mail now automatically divides your inbox into four categories [Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions]…
Here’s some more good news: if you’re not a big fan of the new category system, there are two ways to get your old unified inbox back.
1. By default, the Mail app only shows the four listed categories. But there’s a hidden ‘All Mail’ view that still exists. No matter which inbox category you’re viewing, you can swipe left to go to the ‘All Mail’ view.
2. Or, if you want to disable categories altogether, tap the three dots in the top-right corner to switch from Categories to List View instead. This will put your inbox sorting back to its pre-iOS 18.2 form.
MacDailyNews Take: We’re still getting used to it and therefore withholding judgement. What do you think of Apple’s iOS 18.2 Mail redesign?
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Unnecessary changes.
I immediately turned the contact photos off. Unnecessary visual distraction as far as I’m concerned.
One feature STILL missing from ALL of Apple’s Mail clients (and there are seperate versions for MacOS, iOS and iPad OS) is the ability to use HTML formatted email signatures.
On the Mac there are plenty of third party options to create them, but they are clunky.
I’m yet to find an option for the iPad and iPhone.
Love them or hate them, HTML signatures are now deemed essential to project a “unified corporate brand” in the business world.
Give the option to stay the way it was.
As with text messages, if one receives hundreds of emails per day, having them auto-filtered into convenient groups does help, but is totally unnecessary when only dozens of emails or texts come in daily, because it slows rather than speeds. Fortunately there’s an Off switch. Some of us prefer to preview selected email messages and texts on our iPhones but answer them from our MacBooks/iMacs when longer replies are required. So ‘Mark As Unread’ is a very important option that ensures messages remain available on the larger devices.
Apple has become presumptuous across all apps. “Stop it, let me decide” I frequently mutter.
SJobs has an acute understanding of GOOD design. While it’s to “pervade” the object–in, out and under, it’s also to let function proceed relatively unnoticed. “Less is more” is a related meme. Importance of emojis speaks to APPL’s mindset.
AAPL has a besetting prob of introducing new “features,” while integral functions remain rough. The iOS screen cursor–redesigned in ’17 (?)–has ALWAYS been frustrating since. When using yesterday it again seemed like there were actually magnetic forces preventing accurate placement. After 3-4 tries, it dropped where desired. NOT the 1st time.
iOS/Mac OS “spell check” is deplorable (blaming my spelling is maybe due). Why in the World do I have to go to GOOG to get a solution? Yesterday, Apple spell ck responded with “Hawaii” and GOOG supernaturally answered my search with “Huawei.” FAR from the 1st time.
I almost puked when I first saw my Mail 18.2 version. Those big FAT ICONS sitting there taking up 1/3 of the screen!!!!??? AT a TIME when Jony Ive and Team were making Icons smaller and smaller. Apple decides to go the opposite route with HUGE BIG FAT CONTACT ICONS! HOW ABSURD. And Add Categorized Mail stacks where I couldn’t find anything! WTF!!?? I instantly turned all that Garbage Off. Paaa-Shawww!