The latest version of Apple Mail lets you use different criteria to find specific messages.
You are looking for a specific email address on your iPhone or iPad. With iOS/iPadOS 16, you can use a number of different types of criteria to find the messages you want. You can search for text in a message, search based on a specific time frame, and search by various attributes, such as unread emails and flagged emails.
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By default, any search you perform in the Mail app looks in the address fields, subject line, email body, attached documents, and links. The most relevant posts appear in the Top Hits section. Let’s see how it’s done.
What you need to search for emails on your Apple device
First, make sure you’re using iOS/iPadOS 16 or later on your device. Go to Settings, select General, and then select Software Update. You will be told that the operating system is up to date or you will be prompted to download and install the latest update.
Find emails on your Apple device
Enter your search term
Open the Mail app on your device and tap the search field at the top of your inbox. Type or speak the word or term you want to find in your email.
You can switch between Current mailbox to limit the search to your current email account and All mailboxes to expand the search to all accounts you have set up. The results show the top hits for your search term.
Tap the search key on the keyboard to see more results (Image A).
Image A
View suggestions
Or swipe down the screen to see suggestions. From here you can view results by suggested topics. You can also narrow the focus to find messages that contain your search term as a subject or as an attachment (Figure B).
Figure B
Search by date
You can easily search for messages by date, especially by year, month or day.
Type a year, month, or specific day in the search field. One of the suggestions is one with a calendar icon in front of it.
Tap the suggestion to see results for the specific date you entered (Figure C).
Figure C
Search for flagged messages
You can search for messages with certain characteristics. Type the word flag in the search field to find messages you’ve flagged. Swipe down to see the suggestions. Tap the one that says “Message has been flagged” to see all your flagged emails (Figure D).
Figure D
Search for unread messages
You can then limit the focus to only unread messages. Type the word unread in the search field. Swipe down to view the suggestions. Select the one that says “Message is unread” to see your unread emails (Figure E).
Figure E
Search for messages with attachments
Finally, if you want to view only emails with file attachments, type the word attachments in the search field. From the list of suggestions, select the one that says “Message with attachments” to view emails with files attached (Figure F).
Figure F
Check out some related articles with this iPhone 14 cheat sheet and four tips to prepare for the migration to a new iPhone.