If your iPhone inbox looks like the digital version of an episode of ‘Hoarders’, where you keep insisting you’ll need those emails later, Apple’s iCloud Mail Cleanup feature might be just the thing you need. Now available on iOS 18 and iOS 26, this built-in tool helps you automatically tidy up your inbox and keep it that way.
I think it’s safe to say that most of us are email hoarders. We let promotional messages like coupons or flash sales pile up like newspapers from 1987, telling ourselves we might need that 20% off coupon someday. Meanwhile,Let’s be honest: most of us are email hoarders. We let promotional messages pile up like Amazon boxes in the garage, telling ourselves we might need that 20% off coupon someday. Meanwhile, they’re eating up your phone and iCloud storage space and burying the emails that actually matter.
Cloud Mail Cleanup tackles this head-on. It helps you automatically delete or archive old promotional messages and unsubscribe from mailing lists you forgot you were even on.
What is iCloud Mail Cleanup?
When you first open the feature and you’ll see two main sections: Rules and Recommendations.
Automatic Cleanup Rules:
You can create time-based rules that do the dirty work for you. Want to auto-delete unread promotional emails older than 60 days? Done. The rules use Mail categories to target specific types of messages, like those “limited time offer” emails you’ve been ignoring since February.
Bulk Unsubscribe Recommendations:
This is where you’ll start seeing real results, though not instantly. iCloud Mail identifies senders in your Updates and Promotions folders and lets you unsubscribe with a single tap. The feature needs time to analyze your inbox and identify potential offenders, so you might only see a handful at first. Check back regularly though, and you’ll watch your unsubscribe list grow as iCloud catches more clutter. Once you unsubscribe, future emails from those senders go straight to the trash automatically.
Review the suggested rules, tweak what you want to keep, and let iCloud handle the cleanup in the background while you do literally anything else.
How to Set Up iCloud Mail Cleanup on iPhone
- Open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud, then Mail, and finally iCloud Mail Cleanup. Turn on Use iCloud Mail Cleanup. First-timers will see a “Get Started” button.
- Under Rules, tap Get Recommendation to set up your automatic cleanup preferences. Under Unsubscribe Recommendations, tap Unsubscribe next to any sender you want gone.
- That’s it. Your cleanup settings sync across all your devices with iCloud Mail turned on, including iPad and iCloud.com. Set it once, forget about it everywhere.
Managing Your Cleanup Settings
Changed your mind? Tap any active cleanup recommendation and turn it off. Regret unsubscribing from that one newsletter that was actually useful? Tap Edit in your Unsubscribed list and remove them.
If you turn off iCloud Mail Cleanup entirely, it stops managing old messages and wipes your unsubscribe list clean. You’re back to hoarding on your own terms.
When to Use This iPhone Email Cleanup Feature
After a major cleanup binge – You just spent two hours deleting 3,000 emails. Use this so you never have to do that again.
Every few months – Check in to unsubscribe from new offenders who’ve infiltrated your inbox.
When storage warnings pop up – A few taps here beats manually deleting emails one by one like some kind of digital archaeologist.
To stop promotional email avalanches – The feature targets Mail categories specifically, making it perfect for newsletters and marketing emails that multiply like rabbits.
The Bottom Line on iCloud Mail Organization
This isn’t the kind of feature Apple puts in keynote presentations with flashy animations. It’s a quiet, unglamorous tool that just works. No third-party apps, no complex filter setups, no subscription fees.
Set it up once, let it run silently in the background, and reclaim your inbox from the clutter. Your future self will thank you when you’re not scrolling through 47 unread emails from that store you bought something from once in 2022.
Note: iCloud Mail Cleanup isn’t available in all languages yet. (Oct 2025)