Among the less published features introduced at the end of last year in iOS 18.2, there is a massive change in the messaging application. The same experience was added to the iPad in iPados 18.4 and Mac in MacOS 15.4. For longtime users of the mail application, it was a shock for the system and certainly takes some time to get used to it. But if this has not happened, there are good news – you can change it the old fashioned.
The new messaging application divides the reception box into several categories: primary, transactions, updates and promotions. The categories are quite explicit:
- Primary: Personal and other time sensitive messages.
- Transactions: Purchases, received and shipping messages.
- Updates: Newsletters, broadcasting lists and social updates.
- Promotions: Coupons, sales advertisements and spam that do not turn in the garbage.
Once you start using iOS 18.2 (or iPados 18.4 / MacOS 15.4), the new mail will be turned on by default and messages will automatically start routing to their respective categories. All files will remain, of course, but your mail experience is definitely different.
On the one hand, your mail badge will only show the number of messages in the main category, which means that dozens of messages may not be read for hours or even days. And as everything is done automatically, some important messages could be transported to the wrong category. However, all time sensitive messages will appear in the main view even if they have been sent to other categories.
When you activate the application for the first time, you can see a box asking yourself if you want to use the category functionality or not. It looks like this (Mac on the left, iPhone / iPad on the right):
Foundry
If you do not trust this new category view or if you don't like it, you can change it in the old way with very few problems. On an iPhone or an iPad, here is what you do:
- In your reception box, press the three -point menu at the top right.
- You will see an option for the list view. Select it.
- Now you will come back to the old way of doing things with a chronological reception box.
Foundry
On your Mac with MacOS 15.4 or later, getting rid of new courier categories is a little different:
- Look in the display menu in the menu bar.
- Uncheck “Display mail categories”.
Foundry
Whether on iPhone, iPad or Mac, these same menus also contain an option to switch the functionality of priority messages fueled by AI. So, if you don't like the small box at the top of your email showing what Apple Intelligence thinks of being your most important emails, with a summary of them, you can easily deactivate this feature in the same place.
