Controversial Apple Mail redesign comes to Mac and iPad
Apple wants to use AI to automatically sort electronic mail in future. Problem: this doesn't always work well in practice.
Email categories on the iPhone: If it works, it's good – if not, not so much.
(Image: Apple / Mac & i)
Despite much criticism of a new email function that has been automatically sorting messages since iOS 18.2, Apple will also be bringing the redesign of its Mail app to other platforms. This was reported by the usually well-informed Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman in his newsletter at the weekend. According to this, the Apple Mail redesign will come with macOS 15.4 and iPadOS 18.4, which should be available as a beta in a few weeks and then presumably be available in March or April.
Sorting for less email chaos
Apple uses artificial intelligence to sort emails, but the feature works independently of Apple Intelligence. Nevertheless, it can be deactivated again if desired. Apple sorts emails with active categories into four areas: "Important" (emails from friends and "time-sensitive information"), "Transactions" (invoices, purchase confirmations, shipping notifications), "News" (newsletters, media news and social networks) and "Promotions" ("coupons and discounts").
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According to Apple, the feature is so clever that emails from the categories outside of "Important" are also flushed to the front if they contain "time-critical information". In practice, however, this is far from the case. However, sorting does not always work correctly. If you have it active, you may miss emails or see them later than with a central inbox. "Important" (which is called "Primary" in English) is likely to be the mailbox that most users will monitor in future.
List view remains available
Currently, the email categories apparently only work in English, even though Apple also advertises them in German in its official iOS manual. It is unclear whether this will be added by iOS 18.4, macOS 15.4 and iPadOS 18.4 – but it is certainly a goal. Apple relies on on-device AI for sorting, which can be used from the iPhone XS onwards.
It remains to be seen how much the function will change the layout of Apple Mail on the Mac. On the iPhone, the categories already give the app a different look. However, if you need to make sure you don't miss any emails, it's better to use your own filters. Fortunately, if you want to deactivate the categories, you can still do so: simply select "List view" under "..." in the mailbox section.
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