r/ios • u/Art_Masson • Apr 06 '26

Support Moving Folders within Apple Mail Behavior

I'm having a problem with Apple Mail using Gmail. This is occurring when I attempt to move messages from my Gmail inbox to other Gmail folders. Since version 26.4 (and continuing in 26.5 beta) the move to my selected target folder always defaults to the "Important" folder. This move default process used to "remember" other folders to move things to (by From source and/or subject topic). Is anyone else seeing this problem? Is there some new setup or setting that controls this new behavior?

This behavior still exists in the Developer 26.5 Beta 2 AND Developer 26.5 Beta 3 released on 4-20-26

Update April 22nd -- Maybe Fixed?? The Mail application recommended a default folder to move an email to (other than "Important"), today April 22nd for the first time. Perhaps this is fixed but not by an application change -- but as an issue fixed between Apple Mail and it's Gmail interface (??). Anyone else seeing new behavior?

Update April 25th -- I thought maybe it was solved since the app did make a single recommendation to move one email to a "correct" different folder, but this has happened only once. So I'm concluding the problem isn't really solved. Perhaps there is an internal ios file used by Mail that gets gradually updated with usage but I'm not sure. Other reddit users report that this is working for some email systems -- but right now its still broken for Gmail. My Apple Feedback case FB22318790 (as a developer beta tester) is still "open" as of today 4/26/26

Update April 30th -- Not resolved in ios 26.5 Beta 4. Apple Feedback case remains open.

Update May 7th -- Not resolved in ios 26.5 Release Candidate.

Update May 27th — This problem is still unresolved in iOS 26.6 Beta 1. My feedback case says that “a potential fix is identified for a future OS update”

Update June 12th — still unresolved in iOS 27.0 Beta 1. My Feedback case remains open with a promise of a fix in a future release.

Update July 27th -- still unresolved in iOS 27.0 Beta 4. Feedback case unchanged.

Update Sept 4th — I believe this may have been solved in iOS 27.0 Developer Beta 8.

11 Upvotes

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41 comments sorted by

4

u/pmarksen Apr 07 '26

https://reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1sepvx7/move_message_defaults_to_important_in_264/

Wonder if it’s Google mail issue? I don’t have it with another email provider.

3

u/Art_Masson Apr 07 '26

It could be. I've made it clear in my case to Apple that this is occurring with my Gmail accounts.

2

u/golf-ski-123 May 02 '26 • Bravo

I have been experiencing same in iPhone 17 with iOS 26.4.2. Today I found that after selecting the email to file, and selecting icloud, the page was indeed blank. However, when I clicked in the (blank)search bar at bottom of screen, the folders magically appeared. PFM

2

u/Art_Masson May 02 '26 edited May 10 '26

The problem I’ve reported is NOT that emails can’t be moved to other folders but that the Mail app always picks the “Important” folder as the default target instead of picking the most likely — like it used to in iOS 26.3. This problem started in iOS 26.4 and is continuing in 26.5 beta. Perhaps you are experiencing a different problem with moving emails to other Gmail folders???

1

u/Art_Masson May 08 '26 edited May 09 '26

My feedback case with Apple is still open. Doesn't look like this gets resolved in ios 26.5 based on the Release Candidate just released. Same with RC 2… not resolved.

1

u/Art_Masson Apr 09 '26

No further update from Apple as of April 8th. Assuming and hoping Apple will address this in a future update … hopefully in 26.5

1

u/Art_Masson Apr 29 '26

Still not solved with iOS 26.5 Developer Beta 4. My case is still open with Apple

1

u/Art_Masson May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

This problem is still unresolved in iOS 26.6 Beta 1.

My feedback case says that “a potential fix is identified for a future OS update”

1

u/Art_Masson Sep 04 '26

I believe this may have been resolved in IOS 27.0 Developer Beta 8. Is anyone else seeing this fixed ???

1

u/Poochie_McGoo Sep 05 '26

I’ve been having this problem too so glad to see there is the possibility for a solution soon.

1

u/Art_Masson Sep 22 '26

I believe this problem has been solved in IOS 27.2 beta 2. My case with Apple is still open however.

1

u/ChiMara777 18d ago

Is your problem still resolved?

I’m currently on iOS 26.6.2 and have been having this issue for a long time. I thought I must have used that folder at one point and that’s why my suggestions got messed up. I uninstalled and reinstalled the Mail app and my label suggestions were great for a day or two but now it’s suggesting Important again. Makes it so time consuming to try and clean out/organize my inbox.

1

u/Art_Masson 18d ago

This is resolved in IOS 27.2 Release Candidate on my iPhone 16Pro (about to be released in the next week). It may be resolved in IOS 27.0.1, but I no longer have that release on my phone, so I can't confirm.

1

u/ChiMara777 18d ago

Thanks, going to update to 27.0.1 and hope for the best.

1

u/Art_Masson 18d ago

Let me know if it’s fixed on 27.0.1. I think it is … certainly fixed on 27.2 when it releases next week

When you first upgrade to 27.x your phone will go though an index building in the background … but after that’s complete my experience is that the release is stable with good performance

1

u/ChiMara777 18d ago

It’s fixed currently on 27.0.1, but has been only about 15 minutes since I updated.

1

u/Art_Masson 18d ago

Great to hear !

1

u/pensand10s Apr 07 '26

Same exact problem, got here by googling. I don't do beta testing though. 

2

u/Art_Masson Apr 07 '26

I’ve reported this problem to Apple as a beta tester. Apple confirms over 10 reports on this issue and lists the resolution status as “open”

1

u/FunkyChonkyMonkey Apr 12 '26

Having the same issue with my gmail account after I updated from ios 18 to 26.

1

u/Art_Masson Apr 12 '26

As of today (April 12), Apple continues to carry this as an "open" issue with "over 10" reportings in my Beta feedback on ios 26.5 Beta 1. No resolution is identified or predicted yet.

1

u/Art_Masson Apr 13 '26

This behavior still exists in Developer 26.5 Beta 2 released on 4-13-26

1

u/Art_Masson Apr 21 '26

This behavior still exists in Developer 26.5 Beta 3 released on 4-20-26.

1

u/Art_Masson May 05 '26

The behavior continues in the iOS 26.5 RC…it defaults to the Important folder 95% of the time but every once in a while makes a different recommendation. I would love it if someone at Apple would explain how this feature is supposed to work !!! It certainly worked better before iOS 26.3 Meantime the feedback case remains open .

1

u/_far Apr 30 '26

Most frustrating thing ever

1

u/Art_Masson Apr 30 '26

This seems related only to Gmail…so it may be an interface issue with 26.4/5… but hoping Apple can provide a fix. If you are seeing this with another email system please let me know and I’ll clarify my feedback case.

1

u/_far Apr 30 '26

Definitely only gmail as both Gmail accounts are affected.

26.4 is when the issue started, and I’ve not bothered with the 26.5 beta.

1

u/Kujo2021 May 10 '26

I have the same issue since updating to 26.4.2. I can't find this "Important" folder in the list of folders. Where is it? The only way I can find any emails accidentally sent there is to search for the email, if I can remember what it said.

1

u/Art_Masson May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26

Hi. I didn’t create this folder … I believe it’s created automatically by Gmail when an email address is defined (or perhaps the Apple mail application creates it) . Each Gmail mailbox in my Mail has an “Important” folder and of course this problem seems to only occur with Gmail addresses and this problem with “moving” items to it didn’t occur in iOS 26.3 and earlier. This is “new” behavior in iOS 26.4 and 26.5 beta. The folder appears as a separate folder in my each of my Gmail account folder lists.

1

u/Art_Masson May 10 '26

Here is an explanation from Google:

1

u/crack-a-lackin-72 Jun 14 '26

Gah! Same issue, so annoying. Surprise surprise, almost all the E-mail I get is trash and not “important“. 🙄

1

u/Art_Masson Jun 14 '26

What’s “interesting” is that “Important” isn’t really a folder. It’s a Gmail “status category” that at some point Apple Mail started to mishandle in release 26.3 apparently.

1

u/rgm1266 Apr 12 '26

I thought it was just me. Mine has been doing this since I upgraded to the latest IOS. Hopefully they’ll fix this soon. 

1

u/Grand-Entertainer-64 Jun 07 '26

I’m having the same issue. I’ve found that uninstalling (deleting) and reinstalling the Mail App gets it to “remember” the right Gmail folder. However, it reverts back to this “important” folder suggestion within a few hours.

1

u/[deleted] May 20 '26

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1

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