IPHONE
How to turn off Mail categories on an iPhone (iOS 27)
In short
In the Mail inbox, tap the ... button at the top right and untick Show Categories. The Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions tabs disappear and you get one plain list. Tick it again to bring the tabs back.
4 of 4 steps show a real screenshot from our iPhone 17e. Each step was checked against the maker's own instructions, linked at the end.
Steps
- 1
Tap the ... button
Above the inbox is the category bar, with Primary picked and buttons for Transactions, Updates and Promotions. Tap the ... button at the top right, next to Select. The Mail Categories card under the bar also had a Turn Off link on ours.
- 2
Untick Show Categories
The menu is called View Options. Show Categories is the first item, ticked, above Show Priority, Show Contact Photos, About Categories and Clean-up Recommendations.
- 3
Check the plain inbox
The tabs are gone and all mail shows in one list, headed Inbox iCloud with the unread count. Ours also showed a Clean Up iCloud Mail card.
- 4
Tick Show Categories again to bring the tabs back
Once Show Categories is ticked again in the same ... menu, the bar comes back with Primary picked, and the Mail Categories card with Try Categories and Turn Off.
If you do not see this option
- No Show Categories in the menu? Apple's iOS 27 guide says to tap the ... button and choose List View. On our iPhone 17e with iOS 27.0.1 the menu had Show Categories instead, so look for either name. Source: Automatically categorize incoming emails in Mail on iPhone
- No category bar at all? Apple says categories are not available in all countries or regions. Then your inbox is already one plain list. Source: Automatically categorize incoming emails in Mail on iPhone
If this does not work
- Want all mail for a moment only? Apple says you can swipe left on the categories at the top of the inbox to open All Mail, without turning categories off.
- A sender lands in the wrong tab? Apple says to open one of their messages, tap the ... button and choose Categorize Sender, then pick a category and tap Continue.
- The inbox still looks different from before? Show Priority and Show Contact Photos are separate items in the same View Options menu. Unticking Show Categories does not touch them, so check those ticks too if something on the list still looks unfamiliar.
- Not sure what the tabs were doing? The same menu has an About Categories item. Open it before you decide, so you know what you give up by switching to one list.
Good to know
Mail not set up yet? See how to add an email account to an iPhone.
Turning categories off changes how Mail shows your inbox, not your mail itself. Nothing is deleted or moved to another folder; every message simply appears in one list. To go back, tick Show Categories again in the same menu, or use Try Categories on the card that reappears.
Other email apps and your provider's own website keep their own views, so they may still show tabs or folders of their own. If Mail alerts are not showing, see iPhone notifications not showing.
About this guide
- Device
- iPhone
- Shown on
- iOS 27.0.1 (iPhone 17e)
- App
- Path
- Mail › Inbox › ... › Show Categories
- Real screenshots
- 4 of 4 steps
- Checked
- October 2026
- Sources
- 2 official, linked below
Sources
Links checked October 2026. Menus and features can change with updates.Spotted a mistake? Menus change with updates, and we want every step to match your screen. Email us about this page or use the contact form. We read every report, and fixes are listed on What changed.
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