How to Ungroup Emails on iPhone Mail (Group by Sender Off)

If iPhone Mail shows one row per sender with a count instead of every email, that is Group by Sender, and you can switch it off in about ten seconds. It only applies inside Transactions, Updates and Promotions, and it is set separately for each one.

If your problem is replies folded into one conversation rather than senders stacked into one row, that is a different setting: jump to the Organize by Thread section below.

How to ungroup emails on iPhone (Mail app)#

These steps use the labels from iOS 26. Apple's iPhone guide now has a version picker that includes iOS 27, so if a label on your phone looks different, check the guide for your release. Where the menu button is called More (three dots) below, expect the same button on iOS 18.2 to 18.5 as well.

1. 1

   Open Mail and tap a category

   In the main inbox, tap Transactions, Updates or Promotions in the category bar. Group by Sender is not offered on Primary, so start on one of these three. If you see no category bar at all, categories are off or you are inside a single mailbox rather than the main inbox.

2. 2

   Tap the More (three dots) button

   It sits at the top right of the category view. The menu you get here belongs to the category you are in, not the whole inbox.

3. 3

   Untick Group by Sender

   Tap Group by Sender so its checkmark disappears. The list redraws with every email on its own row, so it gets longer.

4. 4

   Repeat in each other category

   Go back, open the next category, and do the same. The setting applies only to the category you are in, so turning it off in Transactions leaves Updates and Promotions stacked.

5. 5

   Optional: switch to List View to drop the tabs

   From the main inbox, not from inside a category, open the More (three dots) menu and choose List View. All mail then sits in one flat list with no tabs and no grouping. To bring the tabs back, open the same menu and choose Categories.

What Group by Sender actually does#

Group by Sender is a display choice inside a category. With it on, ten receipts from the same shop show as one row: the shop's name, a preview of the newest receipt and a count for the rest. With it off, you get ten rows in date order, like any other mailbox.

It matters most in Transactions, Updates and Promotions because those tabs fill with repeat senders: order confirmations, newsletters, app notices. If you scan those tabs to find one specific email, one row per email is usually faster. If you only skim them for the odd important one, stacks can be tidier. Either way the choice is yours and you can flip it back with the same menu.

Which problem do you have: Group by Sender or Organize by Thread?#

Two different settings make Mail look like it is stacking your messages. Check what the stacked row actually contains.

How to stop Apple Mail grouping messages by sender (iPhone and iPad)#

The grouping arrived with Mail categories in iOS 18.2 and carried into later releases, so it appears depending on your device, region and whether categories are switched on. Mail stacks every email from one sender into a single row showing the latest message and a count. Nothing is deleted or moved: the older messages are still in the category and stay reachable from the stacked row.

iPad Mail has the same categories, so look for the same More menu inside Transactions, Updates or Promotions. Apple's iPad and iPhone guides each have a version picker, so check yours if the label differs.

Version and platform notes#

If it still shows grouped rows#

• Check where you opened the menu. Group by Sender only appears in the More menu when you are inside Transactions, Updates or Promotions. From the main inbox that menu offers List View and other inbox-wide options instead.
• Check each category. Because the setting is per category, a tab you did not touch is still stacked.
• Check your version and the tab. Category tabs need iOS 18.2 or later, and Primary never groups by sender. If Primary looks stacked, you are seeing Organize by Thread.

See every email at once without changing a setting#

If you only need to find one message and would rather leave your categories alone, swipe the category bar at the top of the inbox to the left until you reach All Mail, then tap it. That shows everything in one chronological list without touching Group by Sender or switching to List View. Swipe the bar back to return to your categories.

If you run several accounts, remember that List View applies to the inbox you are viewing when you tap it, so repeat it in each account's inbox you want flat.

A different way to sort a busy inbox#

Ungrouping changes how rows are drawn; it does not change how much mail arrives. If you want sorting that works the same across accounts, AI Emaily sorts mail into Primary, Social, Promotions and Updates across Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and IMAP accounts, and its triage uses the Personal Context you set and per-client profiles to surface what needs a reply. In Copilot mode you approve every send, and actions have undo and an audit trail. The 7-day free trial on Pro or Autopilot comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee.