How to Revert the New Apple Mail Redesign

Life guarantees three things: death, taxes, and unpopular design overhauls from tech companies. The latest to spark frustration is Apple Mail, which underwent a major redesign in iOS 18—now rolling out on iPads and MacBooks.

The update categorizes emails into sections like Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions while also adding contact photos for senders, aligning with Apple’s new branding approach for businesses across iOS.

Many users find the redesign visually unappealing and harder to navigate, with some complaining that it causes them to miss important messages—far from ideal.

iOS Users Slam Apple Mail Redesign

On social media, frustrated iOS users have called the update “completely unreliable,” “indecipherable,” and “so ugly.” One particularly exasperated comment even wished Apple’s UX designers would “poop hedgehogs.”

Fortunately, you can disable these updates without inflicting such unimaginable discomfort on the world.

To revert the changes, follow these steps:

1. Open the Mail app on iOS 18.
2. Tap the three-dot menu in the upper right corner.
3. Choose “List View” instead of “Categories” for your display.

Restoring the Old Inbox Isn’t Enough—Contact Photos Still Add to the Clutter

While this restores your inbox to its previous layout, the interface remains visually cluttered due to the persistent contact photos. In Messages, seeing familiar faces can be useful, but in your email inbox, it’s less practical—especially when every retailer’s message is marked with the same yellow shopping bag. Even more confusing, many tech blogs and newsletters end up with the same icon as fashion retailers like H&M or Anthropologie, despite being entirely different types of businesses.

If you want to remove contact photos in the iOS Mail app, follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down to the Apps section at the bottom.
3. Find the Mail app (or save yourself a few seconds by typing “Mail” into the search bar—life’s too short).
4. Under the Message List section, toggle off Show Contact Photos.

And just like that, your Mail app is less cluttered—aside from those never-opened promo emails from H&M and Anthropologie. Maybe it’s time to clean up your inbox and unsubscribe? That part’s up to you.

Read the original article on: TechCrunch

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