How to stop emails going to junk on iPhone (2024)

aaanorton

20 points

I have been dealing with this issue for some time as well.

Several of my emails each day go to the Junk folder. It is important to note that THESE MESSAGES DO NOT GET MARKED AS JUNK. They are simply moved to the Junk folder, seemingly before they ever get to any of my devices (server action). For instance, messages from my sister's iCloud address ALWAYS go directly to the Junk folder, but ARE NOT marked as Junk: the color of the text does not get changed, and there is NO "Mark as Not Junk" anywhere in the interface. Obviously this address is in my Contacts, as it is my sister. I have lots of emails in my Junk folder like this. They are not the color of the Junk messages, yet they are in the Junk folder. This occurred with the Junk filtering disabled on my Mac, and persists after enabling it.

I have contacted Apple support, and they (tier 2, supervisors) promised several times to reach back out, so I wouldn't have to wait through the whole process again and start all over with new people, but of course they never did.

This is so lame. I can't receive emails from my sister thanks to Apple. No support is available to me. No fixes are likely. Thanks, Apple.

gibsly

4 points

davemuth

9 points

This looks like a reply about using the Mail program on Macintosh--not iOS.

I can't find any controls to modify the Junk Mail functions on my iPhone. I read an old (non-apple.com) support message saying to move the message to the Inbox, and that would fix the apps' future actions. It's this really the way to control spam on iOS? (I haven't had any problems with this until the 12.4 update. Now I'm at 12.4.1, but I'm still seeing the problem. I've been ignoring my spam folder for years...now I can't.

chuck_3rd

User level: Community Specialist

Hello Dianneff,

Thanks for asking the Apple Support Communities for help with junk mail identifying mails incorrectly. I am happy to help.

1. When looking at mails, you can click "Not Junk" to help the filter learn something or the sender is not junk mail. You also have these additional options, such as adding an address to the Contacts app: If junk mail filters aren’t working in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

"If emails are incorrectly marked as junk

There are several ways you can prevent Mail from incorrectly marking legitimate messages as junk.

• Tell Mail that a message is legitimate by marking it as not junk. Click Not Junk in the banner of the message; or select the message, then click the Not Junk buttonin the Mail toolbar (or use theTouch Bar).
• Add the sender to the Contacts app. SeeUse information found in Mail in other apps.
• Review your junk mail settings in theJunk Mail pane of Mail preferences, as well as any rules you might have created to handle junk mail, and make changes as necessary."

2 . The last option is to reset the junk filter. Change Junk Mail preferences in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

"Reset

Restore the default criteria for identifying junk mail.

• Use this option only if Mail no longer handles junk mail as you expect. Resetting the filter deletes everything that Mail has learned from you about junk mail."

Thanks and have a wonderful day.

sidevalve

18 points

I have been having the same problem for about 9 months now, and it is driving me nuts. After many years of absolutely fantastic junk mail filtering, where emails were simply marked as potential spam but left in my Inbox for me to decide (but it was always correct), a few updates ago a junk folder appeared all by itself (I didn't want it or ask for it but I can't delete it), and now 10-20 emails a day go into it, almost all of which are NOT junk - as others have said, many are even from me to myself!

And it doesn't make the slightest difference what mail filtering rules I set up - I have tried it with all the options I can see, including trusting known senders, no filtering at all, and everything in between. No difference. Zilch. Nada. Niente. The computer is still ****-bent on putting half my emails into the junk folder even if I ask it not to filter junk at all.

I have lost a lot of work because of this, because emails from clients keep getting filtered in there, and the ones in the junk folder do not appear on mobile devices, so if I am away from home and using my phone or iPad I don't see them until I get back, by which time someone else has invariably got the contract (I am a freelance translator). This is unbelievably annoying - I am beginning to feel like invoicing Apple for the lost work. I work on a very regular basis for a big translation agency, and I receive 10-20 emails a day from them. Virtually all (but, bizarrely, not quite all - about 10% escape) the emails from them go into the junk folder, despite them being in my address book, being a VIP sender, etc. I really cannot imagine how a filtering system could be more useless than this - it isn't even consistent, because only 90% of their emails get filtered, so goodness knows what criteria the system is using, whereby it lets a few escape the net. It is unimaginably bad, and it has been like it for months and months.

Until recently I thought I was the only sufferer, but thankfully it appears that this is not so, so maybe, just maybe, something will get done about it.

What appears to have happened is that it was a case of something not being broken but someone had to come along and try to fix it anyway - that seems to be the scourge of Silicon Valley, because Facebook also love to do it, and many other too. Why on earth can't you just leave something alone if it is working really well?

It was so good before and it is so unbelievably bad now - it has gone from being the best email system I have ever used to the worst, in one fell swoop. Why do we have to have a junk folder at all? I don't want one but can't delete it. Marking messages as potentially junk and then letting me decide was a great system. This one sucks. It really ABSOLUTELY SUCKS.

Let me say again - the worst aspect of this is that

EMAILS FROM THE JUNK FILTER ARE NOT TRANSFERRED TO MOBILE DEVICES, SO I DON'T GET TO SEE THEM IF I AM NOT AT HOME.

Why is this? It is utterly idiotic, because it assumes the system is 100% correct, whereas it is actually 90% incorrect at the moment - virtually none of the emails that are going into the junk folder are actually junk.

HELP...

davemuth

9 points

OK, it took me a while to find this because I haven't had to do this in years. (You're not supposed to have email messages go to junk mail if the sender is in your Contacts in the first place. THIS is the problem right now. But anyway...) If you go into the Junk folder in iOS, and pull the email message that went into the Junk folder by mistake slightly towards the left, 3 options slide over from the right. If you then select the one that says "... More" a menu pops up from the bottom of the screen. If you select the "Mark..." choice, you can then select a new menu choice of "Mark as Not Junk". The message will be moved to the Inbox, and supposedly a future similar message will be handled more appropriately.

Well, we'll see.

DSR123

9 points

sidevalve

18 points

meridith288

9 points

MikeWard1701

302 points

Having the same issue here, only noticed it since upgrading to iOS 13+ though. No mail rules setup, nothing.

Mail to my iCloud addresses from VIPs, and addresses in my iCloud contacts being put into the Junk folder. iOS, Mac OS is irrelevant, as its IMAP based so sorted filtered on the server end.

It's incredibly, annoying, I've had order confirmations, and other important emails, from addresses not only in my contacts, but marked as VIP end up in junk mail.

If adding an address to contacts doesn't whitelist emails from it, marking it as VIP sure as **** should.

basssplayer

13 points

I've been having the same issue for several months, with the addition that all of my sent emails are also being flagged as junk for everyone else, making my icloud email address totally useless!

It's a particular email address that I've managed to keep very clean up until now - I don't get any spam on it, and as far as I know it's never been spoofed to send spam; that would result in me receiving 'undelivered' messages, which I don't get.

Teddy_B

User level: Community Specialist

Hello Dianneff,

Thanks for trying the troubleshooting provided in the above reply. If you are still experiencing issues, I recommend contacting AppleCare for more help with this.

Use this link to contact AppleCare: Contact - Official Apple Support

Thanks and have a wonderful day.