In iOS 18.2, Apple introduced a new feature in its official Mail app. This feature allows the app to automatically sort incoming emails into categories, even without using Apple Intelligence. The function, called “Categorization,” recognizes four types of emails: “Primary” (urgent emails or recent messages from contacts), “Transactions” (such as payment confirmations and order updates), “Updates” (newsletters and social media), and “Promotions” (advertisements from companies and organizations).
However, the sorting is not always accurate, both in English and German. If you enable this feature, you might miss important messages. The “Primary” category becomes the main focus for most users once categorization is active. This means that other categories might be overlooked since they need to be accessed manually. Therefore, it is crucial that the sorting works correctly. Unfortunately, in practice, this is not always the case. During testing, some emails ended up in the “Promotions” category, where they clearly did not belong.
It is frustrating that you need to go through several steps to inform the app that it made a mistake. You have to use the “…” menu to recategorize the email sender. In the “Primary” section, this can be done through the reply menu. However, Apple Mail only considers the sender, not the email content. Sometimes, you might receive emails from a sender that are not “Primary.”
It is recommended to try the email categorization feature before keeping it active all the time. Apple may improve it internally, but it is unclear if this will happen outside the next iOS update. If you cannot get used to the categorization, it is best to switch back to the list view.
Apple itself does not seem fully convinced of this feature. So far, categorization is only available in iOS 18.2 and has not been implemented in iPadOS 18.2 or macOS 15.2. Recently, there have been reports of other issues with Apple Mail in iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2, where emails are not reliably retrieved.
In conclusion, while the categorization feature in Apple’s Mail app could be useful, its current implementation has some flaws. Users should be cautious when enabling it, as important messages might be miscategorized. Apple may improve the feature in future updates, but for now, it might be safer to stick with the traditional list view to ensure no important emails are missed.