How to delete ALL mail messages from iPhone/iPad in one step

by Adrian Segar

BAD & GOOD NEWS UPDATE [see below]
Yes, there is a way to delete all your unwanted iPhone/iPad emails from the Mail app in one operation! No more left-swipe:tap Trash for every individual message. No more Edit: tap the single open circle next to every individual message and finally tapping Trash. And you don’t need to jail break your device.

If you leave your iDevice on for a few days and come back to find a few hundred messages on it that you’ve already downloaded elsewhere this trick will save you time and irritation. I didn’t discover the method—it’s far from obvious—but found it on one of many Apple discussion threads bemoaning this irritating hole in Mail functionality.

BAD NEWS UPDATE [added September 25, 2016] IOS 10 has removed the “Trash All” button. Who knows why? The procedure listed below (the original 2014 post) still works for many people.

GOOD NEWS UPDATE [added October 3, 2015]! IOS 9.0.2 finally displays a “Trash All” button after Edit is pressed, thus obviating the procedures described below. If your phone won’t handle 9.0.2, the following procedure is often successful; read the comments for a detailed description of hundreds of people’s successes and failures.

It works! I present to you this great tip from shashbasharat found on MacRumors (slightly edited for clarity).

How to delete or move ALL emails at once in non-jail broken ipad or iphone


It took me weeks of research to figure out finally how to decode this yet another secretive secret of apple. There is a perfect way of deleting ALL emails at once without jailbreaking your iphone or ipad…and here it is:

>> Open Inbox >> Edit >> Mark All >> Mark As Read [Added May 21, 2014 by Adrian; this extra step makes the difference between success & failure for some.]

>> Open Inbox >> Edit  >> Check/select the top message; it will highlight the move button.

>> Press and hold the move button and uncheck the message that you had checked earlier.

>> Lift all your fingers off from the ipad screen and leave it alone. Wait until all your messages pile up on the right hand portion of the screen (in ipad); iphone will give you the actual number of emails it has selected for the action. Now they are just waiting for your command to be moved ALL at once.

>> Choose trash to delete all of them or any other folder where u want to move them, like one piece. Remember this will replicate your action on the server so you will ACTUALLY move them or delete them on the server and not just the ipad.

Once you have moved all messages to the trash you can either leave them there for the scheduled cleaning or empty it right away by doing this: go to trash folder and touch Edit. The Delete All button shows up at the bottom of the screen. Hit it! You’re done!

If you do not see the effects of your actions on the server make sure you have enabled your email accounts for such actions.

Tips:

1. Please give enough time (could take up to several minutes depending the number of emails to be moved) for the emails to be selected for the move. Your screen will become unresponsive while all emails are being packaged. Once emails are ready, in ipad, you will see them zoomed out on the right hand side of the screen, and in iphone you will see the message showing you the actual number of messages that have been selected.

2. Avoid purging very large number of emails, the mail app might freeze or crash. If your inbox has thousands of emails change your sync settings in mail settings to fill lesser number of emails in your inbox.

3. [Added Jul 20, 2014 by Adrian] Many people have reported needing to repeat the above procedure several times before it succeeds. (I too have found this to be necessary a few times on my iPhone but not on my iPad—go figure.) So my final tip is to repeat the procedure 3-4 times if the mail doesn’t disappear the first time. In my experience, if your messages disappear momentarily and then reappear, repeating the procedure will eventually make them stay deleted for good.

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  • You do not know how much I appreciate your posted information … It saved my nerves system !!!!! Thank you very much !!! Live is good ageing 😀 !!!

  • Lliane Clarke

    Thank you that is brilliant!

  • Tamara Sue

    I just switched from Verizon to att. I need to know can I delete aol?

  • Tamara Sue

    And btw I have 31000!!! Aol emails!!!

  • Joe

    Ridiculous that we need to go to these lengths for a simple delete of mails. Best way is to just delete and recreate the account on your device!!

    Better still, just smash the bloody phone against a brick wall !! Problem solved !!

    Apple !! You should be ashamed !!

  • Harold Koiman

    This doesn’t work on my iPhone 🙁

  • Rebecca Whitehouse

    I followed the instructions. Had to carry out the process twice but all 8000 plus emails are now in my trash box

  • liz eijsbouts

    thank you thank you so much, i’m relieved!liz eijsbouts from holland.

  • Mvaginley

    This really helped me get rid off my junk mail the ks

  • Bryn Deamer

    Looks like the latest download of the IOS 9.0.2 (13A452) has finally made it simpler. Now when click Edit at the bottom there is a single button “Trash All”

    • Bryn, you’re right! The pleas and struggles documented in hundreds of comments below have finally been answered. Upgrade your IOS, if your phone will take it, to IOS 9.0.2 and a Trash All appears after clicking Edit!

  • Antonellis Steven James

    I tried your method for deleting all emails many times-they only worked once. So I was excited to learn 9.0.2 has a Trash All button-except mine doesn’t. What am I doing wrong. I go my inbox then click edit. No Trash All button. Worse, now iOS dumps me out of mail when I try your old method. HELP!

  • Deb

    I cannot seem to get all the emails checked. When I uncheck the top email the move is unhighlighted, therefore it doesn’t let me highlight them … Only if I tap on each and every one then move them to the trash. Suggestions?

  • Marion

    You say doing this also deletes them from the server. Is there any way I can delete them only from my iPhone?

  • Paula

    I have been deleted a lot of emails and messages from Ipad. My memory usage increased to 1.2gb. After deleting.
    Before deleting, memory usage 300mb on email how can I avoid this?

  • mackytack

    It worked for me!!! Thank you…yippeeee!!!

  • Jeremy Bowers

    YES!!! Thank you guys so much..awesome!!

  • Samuel Metz

    Despite following these instructions many times, my Sent folder still transfers only the one marked file to Trash, leaving the other 936 Sent messages intact. I have an iPhone 4 using 7.1.2.

    I am hesitant to have my iPhone delete messages from my server because my primary email management occurs on my laptop. Any suggestions? Meanwhile, my only recourse seems to be deleting 937 Sent messages one at a time.

    Is it possible to stop the iPhone from saving Sent messages entirely? All messages from my iPhone contain a blind copy to me, which appears on my laptop. I don’t need to save any Sent messages on my iPhone. Many thanks.

  • mondaysundown

    Awesome!!!!! Thank you

  • Louise

    Although audio articles are fine when I have the time to listen, I wonder of you would consider also providing a transcript. It’s much easier for me, and I assume others, when I am pressed for time to scan text, quicky looking for the parts that interest me, than to listen to an audio that I have to devote extra time to. Offering both would seem to me to reach more people. I often miss audiocasts for time reasons and I am sure there is valuable information in them.

  • Timo de Koster

    My over 24000 emails won’t go! ;-;

  • teddyb

    somehow i have 8,196 emails flagged and i don’t know how to unflag them all at once. Can anyone help?

  • Loren Carle

    So, how can I get e-mails off my phone to free up space for pictures without *actually* deleting them in my e-mail account. I just want them off my phone, not gone.

  • Loren Carle

    As in, I just tried this recommendation with my computer in front of me with my e-mail account open. Everything was moved to the trash there too. Not what I want.

  • Loren Carle

    Also tried logging off of my e-mail on phone then logging back in. All gone and then back again.

  • batty_in_backwater

    I have an iPad Air…click Edit and all that comes up is Cancel

  • James Lyon

    When I do

    >Open Inbox >> Edit >> Check/select the top message; it will highlight the move button. >> >Press and hold the move button and uncheck the message that you had checked earlier.

    the mail app crashes/crashes

  • RocketMyDog1

    Second step does not highlight the move button.

  • Julie

    I loved the iOS 9.0.2 b/c it did give the ability to “delete all” emails at once. Then came the 10.0, 10.0.01 and now 10.0.2 and that feature is no longer available. UGH!!! So frustrating. I will try this method and will be keeping my fingers crossed. Please iOS bring that very useful feature back, I’m begging!!

  • Julie

    Wow, Adrian it WORKED!! Thank you so much!,

  • Adam Thodey

    I have ios10 on my new ipad pro 9.7.. so i followed the instructions.. i clicked the first message. click and continued to pressed move and unselected the first message. and let go all fingers.. it deleted all the junk mail in the junk mail folder. thank you.

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