Email overwhelm is real. Between work messages, newsletters, promotional emails, and personal correspondence, the average person receives somewhere between 50 to 150 emails daily. Most of us open Mail, see that number, and feel instant stress.
Apple Intelligence changes how Mail works—not by filtering aggressively like Gmail, but by adding context and intelligence that helps you process everything faster. The AI identifies what needs immediate attention, summarizes long threads so you don't need to read every reply, and suggests responses when you're stuck.
I've been using these features since iOS 18.1 launched. Some work brilliantly. Others need improvement. This guide covers what actually helps versus what's more novelty than necessity, based on real daily email management.
Apple Intelligence in Mail requires iOS 18.1 or later on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 model. iPad needs iPadOS 18.1 with M1 chip or newer. Mac needs macOS Sequoia 15.1 with Apple Silicon.
Enable it in Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri. If you haven't set it up yet, check our guide on how to enable Apple Intelligence.
Priority Messages
Priority Messages is the standout feature. When enabled, Mail analyzes incoming emails and surfaces time-sensitive or important ones at the top of your inbox—separate from everything else.
The AI looks for specific triggers: same-day meeting invitations, flight boarding passes, package delivery notifications, and urgent requests from frequent contacts.
- Open the Mail app
- Go to your Inbox
- Tap the three-dot menu (•••) in the top-right
- Tap "Show Priority"
A new "Priority" section will appear at the top when urgent emails are detected.
- Launch the Mail app from your iPad home screen
- If needed, tap "Mailboxes" to view your inbox list
- Select your primary inbox
- Tap the three-dot menu (•••) at the top-right
- Select "Show Priority"
- Open the Mail application
- Click on your inbox
- Click "View" in the menu bar
- Click "Show Priority"
A new "Priority" section appears at the top of your inbox. Emails the AI deems important show up there. Everything else stays in the regular inbox below. If nothing urgent exists, the Priority section doesn't appear—which is actually helpful since empty sections would be visual clutter.
Real-World Priority Example
Monday morning, 47 unread emails. Before Priority Messages, I'd skim subjects frantically looking for anything time-sensitive.
With Priority enabled: Four emails in the Priority section—
- Doctor appointment reminder for today at 3pm
- Client requesting meeting time confirmation before noon
- Package delivery notification (arriving in 2 hours)
- Team lead's urgent question about project deadline
Result: Dealt with the four priority items in 10 minutes. Tackled the remaining 43 emails later without stress, knowing nothing critical was buried.
What Priority Messages Gets Right
Flight information, hotel confirmations, and travel documents consistently appear in Priority. Apple clearly trained the AI heavily on travel-related emails, which makes sense—missing a flight because you didn't see the gate change email is exactly the problem this feature solves.
Calendar invitations for same-day or next-day events show up reliably. Delivery notifications from major carriers (FedEx, UPS, Amazon) get prioritized appropriately.
Where It Struggles
Personal emails from friends and family rarely make Priority even when they're actually important. The AI seems to prioritize based on keywords and sender patterns rather than relationship significance. Your best friend asking if you're okay after days of not responding won't surface as priority, but a promotional email with "limited time offer ending today" might.
Work emails can be hit or miss. Sometimes urgent project messages get buried while routine status updates show as priority. The system learns over time supposedly, but I haven't noticed major improvements after weeks of use.
Don't rely exclusively on Priority Messages. Spend 30 seconds scanning your full inbox even when Priority seems empty. The AI isn't perfect, and missing something important because you trusted it completely would be worse than the time saved.
Email Summaries: Reading Less, Understanding More
This is the feature I use most. Email summaries appear automatically in two places: as previews in your inbox list, and as on-demand summaries when viewing individual messages.
- Open Mail app
- Go to inbox
- Look under subject lines—you'll see a gray summary instead of the first line of text
Summarize Individual Email:
- Tap on an email
- Tap "Summarize" button at the top
- AI-generated summary appears
- Launch Mail app
- Select inbox
- Summary previews appear automatically
Summarize Full Email:
- Tap to open an email
- Find "Summarize" option at the top
- Tap to generate summary
- Open Mail
- Click on inbox
- Summaries display under subjects
Summarize Opened Email:
- Click on an email
- Look for "Summarize" button in header
- Click to view summary
Inbox Summaries
Instead of showing the first line of each email, Mail displays AI-generated summaries under each message in your inbox. A small gray icon before the text indicates it's a summary rather than original content.
These summaries condense the key point into one sentence. For newsletters, you get the main topic. For work emails, you see what's being requested or reported. For confirmations, you get the essential details.
Summary Comparison
Original Email Preview: "Hey! I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to reach out because..."
AI Summary Preview: "Request to reschedule Friday's meeting to Tuesday, 2pm."
The summary tells you exactly what the email is about without opening it.
Full Email Summaries
Open any email and tap "Summarize" at the top. The AI generates a summary of the entire message—or if it's part of a thread, it summarizes the entire conversation.
This is invaluable for long email chains where multiple people have replied. Instead of reading through 15 back-and-forth messages to understand what was decided, you get a paragraph hitting the key points.
Thread Summary Example
Email Thread: 18 messages between 6 people discussing project timeline, budget concerns, resource allocation, and deliverables.
AI Summary: "Team agreed to extend deadline by two weeks. Budget increased by 15% to hire contractor. Sarah handling design mockups by next Friday. John managing developer coordination. Next check-in meeting scheduled for December 5th."
Time Saved: Reading 18 emails would take 10-15 minutes. Summary took 20 seconds and provided everything I needed to understand the current status.
Controlling Summary Previews
Summaries turn on automatically with Apple Intelligence. If you prefer seeing the actual first line of emails, you can disable them.
- Open Settings
- Tap Apps -> Mail
- Find "Summarize Message Previews"
- Toggle OFF
I've left them on despite occasional frustrations. When summaries are good, they're incredibly useful. When they're bad, they're at least short enough that scanning them doesn't waste much time.
When Summaries Fall Short
Humor doesn't survive summarization. If someone sends a funny email, the summary strips out the jokes and just reports the facts. Tone gets lost too—sarcasm, frustration, excitement all flatten into neutral statements.
Marketing emails often get summarized as "Promotional content about products and services" which... thanks? That's not useful. The summary should mention what's being promoted, not just identify it as promotional.
Extremely long emails sometimes get summaries that are still too long to be helpful. I've seen summaries that were 4-5 sentences when one sentence would suffice.
Never trust summaries for legal documents, contracts, or medical information. The AI can miss critical details. For important emails, always read the full text.
Smart Reply: Quick Responses That Work
Smart Reply suggests responses to emails based on content. Tap the reply button, and suggestions appear above the keyboard—usually two or three options.
Unlike generic "Thanks" or "Okay" suggestions, Apple Intelligence creates contextual responses that address what was asked or said in the email.
- Open an email and tap Reply
- Look above keyboard for Smart Reply suggestions
- Tap any suggestion to insert
- Edit if needed and Send
How Smart Reply Actually Works
The AI analyzes the incoming email, identifies questions or requests, then generates appropriate responses. If someone asks about your availability, you get replies with time confirmations. If someone requests information, you get responses acknowledging the request.
Smart Reply Scenarios
Incoming: "Can you send me the Q3 report by Friday?"
Suggestions:
- "Yes, I'll send it by Friday."
- "I can get that to you by Friday afternoon."
- "I need until Monday—is that okay?"
All three actually respond to the question. First two confirm, third asks for extension. Pick whichever fits, maybe add a greeting, send.
When to Use Smart Reply
Best for straightforward emails that need simple responses. Questions with yes/no answers. Meeting confirmations. Quick status updates. Anything where the response is obvious but you'd still spend 30 seconds typing it.
I use Smart Reply constantly for internal work emails where formality doesn't matter much. Colleague asks if I reviewed something—Smart Reply suggests "Yes, I reviewed it this morning" which is exactly what I'd type anyway. Tap, send, move on.
When to Ignore It
Personal emails to friends and family feel weird with Smart Reply. The suggestions are grammatically correct but lack personality. Better to type something that sounds like you.
Sensitive workplace communications—performance reviews, conflict resolution, anything requiring careful word choice—write those yourself. AI suggestions won't capture the nuance needed.
First contact with someone important. Smart Reply is great for ongoing conversations but makes a poor first impression. When reaching out to a potential client or responding to an important introduction, craft a proper response manually.
Writing Tools: Polishing Emails Before Sending
Writing Tools work in Mail exactly like everywhere else in iOS. Draft your email, select text, access Writing Tools, choose your option: Proofread, Rewrite, adjust tone, whatever you need.
- Compose email
- Select text (double tap)
- Tap "Writing Tools"
- Choose Proofread, Rewrite, or Tone
Proofreading Emails
Catches typos, grammar mistakes, awkward phrasing. Essential when composing emails quickly on your phone. The AI highlights corrections with explanations.
I always run Proofread on work emails before sending. Has saved me from numerous embarrassing typos that autocorrect missed or actually caused.
Tone Adjustment
Professional, Friendly, or Concise options change how your email reads. Professional formalizes casual language. Friendly warms up stiff messages. Concise cuts unnecessary words.
The tone adjustment is honestly the most useful Writing Tool for email. Draft quickly in your natural voice, then adjust tone to match the recipient. Takes 5 seconds and ensures your message lands appropriately.
Tone Transformation
Original Draft (too casual for client): "Hey! Just wanted to check in about the project. We're running a bit behind but should be good to go by next week. Let me know if that works!"
After Professional Tone: "I wanted to provide an update on the project status. We're slightly behind schedule but expect to deliver by next week. Please let me know if this timeline works for you."
Same information, completely different presentation. Appropriate for the client relationship without sounding robotic.
Compose with ChatGPT (iOS 18.2+)
Later iOS versions add ChatGPT integration to Writing Tools. This lets you generate email content from scratch based on prompts.
Tap the Writing Tools icon, select "Compose," describe what you want to say, and ChatGPT drafts the email for you. Useful when you know what to communicate but can't figure out how to phrase it.
I use this occasionally for formal correspondence where I need proper business language. Give ChatGPT a rough outline, let it generate the formal version, then edit to add personal details and ensure accuracy.
Email Categories: Automatic Organization
iOS 18.2 added automatic email categorization. Mail sorts incoming messages into four categories: Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions.
This isn't technically exclusive to Apple Intelligence—works on all iOS 18.2 devices—but the AI powers the categorization logic, so it's worth covering here.
- Open Mail
- Tap three-dot menu
- Select "Categories"
The Four Categories
Primary: Personal emails, work correspondence, important messages from people you know.
Transactions: Receipts, order confirmations, shipping notifications, payment confirmations.
Updates: Newsletters, social media notifications, automated updates from services you use.
Promotions: Marketing emails, sales announcements, promotional content from businesses.
Switching Views
I switch between views depending on what I'm doing. Categories help when processing email—I can tackle all Transactions at once, ignore Promotions entirely on busy days, etc. List View works better when searching for specific messages where I don't remember which category they'd be in.
If emails consistently land in the wrong category, you can manually adjust where future emails from that sender appear. Tap and hold on an email, look for category options, select the correct one. Mail remembers and categorizes future emails from that sender accordingly.
Privacy: How Your Email Data Is Handled
Apple processes email analysis on your device. Priority Messages, summaries, Smart Reply suggestions—all happen locally using your iPhone's Neural Engine. Your emails never leave your device for AI processing.
This matters significantly. Google reads Gmail content for ad targeting. Other email services scan messages for various purposes. Apple's approach keeps your correspondence private.
What About Private Cloud Compute?
Some features might use Private Cloud Compute when tasks exceed device capabilities. When that happens, data is encrypted, processed on Apple's servers, then immediately discarded. No persistent storage.
In practice, most Mail features don't need cloud processing. The summaries, priority detection, and categorization all work offline once models are downloaded to your device.
ChatGPT Integration Privacy
When you use ChatGPT features (Compose function), that sends data to OpenAI, not Apple. You'll see prompts asking permission before this happens. If privacy is paramount, skip ChatGPT features and stick with native Apple Intelligence tools.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Priority Messages Not Appearing
Verify Apple Intelligence is enabled in Settings. Check that Show Priority is toggled on in Mail (three-dot menu). If still missing, you might genuinely not have urgent emails—the section only appears when priority items exist.
Summaries Seem Inaccurate
Summaries improve over time as the AI learns your email patterns. First week can be rough. Also remember summaries prioritize brevity over completeness—some detail loss is intentional. For critical emails, read the full text regardless.
Smart Reply Not Suggesting Anything
Smart Reply works best for emails with clear questions or simple requests. Rambling emails without specific asks might not trigger suggestions. That's actually appropriate—those emails need thoughtful responses AI can't generate.
Can I Disable Individual Features?
You can disable summary previews (Settings → Apps → Mail). Priority Messages can be hidden by tapping the three-dot menu and unchecking Show Priority. But you can't disable Smart Reply or Writing Tools without turning off Apple Intelligence entirely.
Battery Impact?
Minimal. The Neural Engine handles AI tasks efficiently. I haven't noticed significant battery drain from using Mail features constantly. Your mileage might vary if you process hundreds of emails daily on cellular data.
Building an Efficient Email Workflow
Here's how I've integrated these features into a system that actually works:
Morning routine: Check Priority Messages first. Deal with those immediately—they're urgent by definition. Scan inbox summaries to identify other important emails. Process those next. Everything else waits until after morning tasks are done.
Quick replies: Use Smart Reply liberally for straightforward responses. Don't overthink it. If the suggestion is 80% right, tap it, add the 20%, send. Perfectionism wastes time on emails that don't matter.
Longer responses: Draft quickly in my natural voice. Run Proofread to catch mistakes. Adjust tone if needed for the recipient. This three-step process takes 30 seconds and ensures nothing embarrassing goes out.
Thread summaries: Before joining long email chains, tap Summarize to understand context. Reply based on the summary unless something seems off—then read the full thread.
Categories for batch processing: Switch to Categories view once daily. Process all Transactions at once (verify orders, save receipts, etc.). Skim Updates for anything worth reading. Ignore Promotions unless I'm actively shopping.
Final Thoughts
Apple Intelligence doesn't revolutionize email. What it does—and does reasonably well—is reduce the mental load of email management. Identifying priority items automatically. Condensing long threads into digestible summaries. Offering quick response options when you're busy.
The features aren't perfect. Priority Messages misses important emails sometimes. Summaries occasionally strip crucial context. Smart Reply suggestions can be awkward. But they're good enough that using them saves more time than the occasional correction costs.
Give everything a solid two-week trial. The AI learns your patterns over time, so features improve with use. After that trial period, keep what helps and ignore what doesn't. Not every tool will fit your workflow, and that's fine.
The best email system is one you'll actually use consistently. If Apple Intelligence features help you maintain inbox zero or at least inbox manageable, they're worth learning. If traditional email management works better for you, stick with that. The goal is productivity, not using AI for AI's sake.