Having the Mail app on your iPhone deliver new message alerts to Notification Center adds convenience in more ways than one. Along with knowing instantly when new emails arrive, you can decide what to do with them from the same screen—no need to open iOS Mail. Learn how to delete emails in Notification Center using any device with iOS 8 or later.

What to Know

  • Select an email alert in Notification Center, then choose Archive or Delete (depending on the phone settings) to remove.
  • To delete from the banner, press or swipe down on the message, then choose Archive or Delete.
  • Change the swipe settings to control whether the message is archived or deleted.

How to Delete Messages in iOS Mail From Notification Center

To move a message to the Trash folder from an iOS Mail alert in the Notification Center:

  • Select an email alert in the Notification Center to open an options menu.
  • Choose Archive or Delete (depending on the phone settings) to remove the email from the Inbox.
  • The message will move accordingly.

How to Delete Mail in iOS Mail From a Banner

If your Mail notifications are set to include banners (alerts that show up at the top of the screen) when you get a new message and the iPhone is unlocked, you can also delete and archive messages.

Email providers such as Gmail let you decide whether to trash or archive messages when you delete them from the Inbox. If you want to change this, adjust the settings to make sure discarded messages go to the trash.

Select an email alert in the Notification Center to open an options menu.

Choose Archive or Delete (depending on the phone settings) to remove the email from the Inbox.

The message will move accordingly.

Either press (with 3D Touch) or swipe down (if the phone doesn’t have 3D Touch), then choose Delete or Archive.

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