Previously, Gmail-sent mail would appear in the Inbox of the iPhone Mail app if a specific setting was enabled. This option is no longer available in modern versions of Mail, and Gmail handles emails more efficiently. If your sent emails appear in your Inbox and you do not intend to use another mobile device or email program to access your Gmail account, you can prevent Gmail from sending them by switching from POP to IMAP.
How to Stop Sent Gmail Messages from Showing Up in Your Inbox
If your iPhone is not updated to the latest iOS version, follow these steps. You may be using a version of Mail that has this issue.
This issue with Gmail and Mail is only present in the iOS Mail app’s 2007 version. Although you are most likely using a modern version, these instructions may still apply to you.
- From the iPhone’s Home screen, launch the Settings app.
- Select Mail > Accounts from the menu bar.
- Log in to your Gmail account.
- Tap Username in the Incoming Mail Server section.
- Delete the term “recent” from the username. For instance, if the username is recent:[email protected], replace recent:[email protected] with [email protected].
- Select Save.
If these steps do not resolve the issue of sent emails appearing in your Inbox, something else may be going on, which is possible even with modern versions of Mail and Gmail.
If you’ve configured a Gmail filter to send all emails from yourself to your Inbox folder, sent emails will appear in the Inbox. Another possibility is that you have set up all emails from yourself to be starred, but all starred messages are included in your Primary folder.
In these instances, the solution is to examine your Gmail filters and other settings and make necessary adjustments. The starred settings are accessible via the Inbox settings in a web browser, while the Filters and Blocked Addresses settings provide filtering options.
The Price You Pay For Not Receiving Sent Mail
The copy that appears in Inbox when you send messages from Mail is a useful side effect of the recent mode. The Gmail recent mode sends the last 30 days’ worth of Gmail messages to all connected email programs and mobile devices. When this mode is enabled, you can access your email from any program or device, as long as you check it at least once every four weeks.
With recent mode disabled, you may be unable to access messages downloaded to iPhone Mail if you use another email program to connect to the same Gmail account.