How to recover deleted emails in the Gmail app on Android

By Saadat Rafiq · 2 min read · 4 steps · Published 6 October 2026

Device

Android

Shown on

Samsung Galaxy A57 5G (SM-A576B), One UI 8.5, Android 16

App

Gmail

Real screenshots

4 of 4 steps

Checked

October 2026

Sources

1 official, linked below

Step by step

1. 

   Tap Undo straight away

   After you delete, a bar at the bottom says 1 deleted with Undo. It disappears after a few seconds.

   Done

2. 

   Find it in Trash

   Open the menu and tap Trash, or search in:trash with a word from the mail. We searched in:trash howtosimply test; the result is blurred.

   Done

3. 

   Choose Move to Inbox

   Open the mail, tap the three dots at the top right and choose Move to Inbox.

   Done

4. 

   Check it is back

   A bar confirms 1 moved to inbox, and the Trash search finds nothing any more. Our mail was back in the inbox.

   Done

About this guide

We deleted our own test mail and brought it back, step by step. Our Gmail account is a real one, so addresses, senders and subjects are blurred; the only mail we touched was a test message we sent to ourselves.

The screenshots are from Chrome and the Gmail app on a Samsung Galaxy A57 5G with Android 16 and One UI 8.5, in dark mode. Both apps look the same on other Android phones; only the phone's own settings screens differ by brand.

Good to know

Archived mail was never deleted: open the menu, All mail, to find it.

After 30 days in Trash, or after Empty Trash now, a personal account cannot get the mail back. Work and school accounts may be restorable by the administrator for a short time.

In short: Undo, or Trash (in:trash), open the mail, three dots, Move to Inbox. 30 days.