In the Mail application for iPhone and iPad you can easily move your email messages to different mailboxes. You can also delete it by swiping over the message or via the small trash can in the toolbar.
If you use iCloud this works immediately, but anyone who has added a Gmail account will notice that emails are not deleted, but archived. This means the email messages are retained forever. When you delete an iCloud email, it is kept for a limited time and then automatically deleted. We explain how you can adjust this.
Archive or delete email messages
- Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad
- Scroll down and tap Apps (if available)
- Navigate to ‘Mail’
- Choose ‘Mail accounts’
- Select an account (except iCloud)
- Choose ‘Account settings’
- Open ‘Advanced’
Now select a desired option under ‘Recover deleted messages’. For example, you can choose ‘Deleted’ to put the messages in the trash or ‘Archive’ to archive them and keep them until you delete them manually.
Archive or delete iCloud mail
If you want to perform the above steps for iCloud, you will notice that things are slightly different.
- Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad
- Scroll down and tap Apps (if available)
- Navigate to ‘Mail’
- Choose ‘Mail accounts’
- Tap iCloud, then tap iCloud again
- Open ‘Mail’
- Choose ‘Mailbox settings’
Now select a desired option under ‘Recover deleted messages’. For example, you can choose ‘Deleted’ to put the messages in the trash or ‘Archive’ to archive them and keep them until you delete them manually.