How to Refresh Email on iPhone When Mail Stalls

To refresh email on iPhone, open Mail, go to the inbox, and drag the message list down until a spinner appears at the top, then let go. That's the whole gesture. Whether you should ever need it depends on the account. A push account, like iCloud Mail with Push on, delivers new mail on its own. A fetch account on Apple's default setting doesn't, at least not often. Apple's can't receive email page says that on the Automatically setting the phone fetches new data in the background "only when your device is charging and connected to Wi-Fi." So an unplugged iPhone on cellular is stale by design, and the pull-down is the refresh.

If the pull-down produces nothing, or Mail asks for a password, the rest of this page sorts the problem into stale or broken and works each one in order. The generic steps for any app, quitting Mail, restarting the phone, updating iOS, are in the refresh an app guide and aren't repeated here.

Stale or Broken

There are two versions of "my email won't refresh," and the fix for one does nothing for the other.

Stale means the mail exists and the phone hasn't asked for it. New messages show up on the provider's website, or on a computer, and appear on the phone only after you pull down. Nothing is wrong with the account. The schedule is wrong for how you use the phone.

Broken means the phone is asking and being refused. Mail prompts for a password it already has, shows "authentication failed" or "connection to server failed," or stays empty even after the pull-down. Apple's first two checks apply here before anything else. Confirm the phone is on the internet by opening any website, and check the provider's status page, because Apple's line is to "check with your email service provider to find out if there's a service outage."

One test settles which you have. Sign in to the provider's website. If the new mail is there and the phone catches up when you pull down, it's stale. If the website also shows nothing new, the problem is upstream of the phone, and no iPhone setting will produce mail the provider hasn't received.

Fetch New Data, Decided

The setting that controls stale mail is Settings, Apps, Mail, Mail Accounts, Fetch New Data. Apple's page describes the options, and the iPhone accounts guide adds the reason for the default. This table is my reading of what each choice costs.

Two lines on Apple's pages explain most stale-mail complaints. The first is that Automatically is the default on iOS 11 and later. The second, from Apple's iCloud Mail page, is that when you have several accounts, "you can only use Push with one account at a time." So a phone with a work account and a personal account may be pushing one and fetching the other on the charging-only default, which looks like the second account is broken when it's merely waiting for a charger.

My rule is to open Fetch New Data once, turn Push on for the account I care about, and put the rest on a timed schedule instead of Automatically. If battery matters more than promptness, leave Automatically and treat the pull-down as normal.

The Stale Ladder

Nothing here changes anything you can't change back.

Pull down. Once, and wait for the spinner to finish. Google's Gmail app page describes the same gesture for its own app, so the habit transfers.

Check Fetch New Data. Open the account under Fetch New Data and see what it's set to. An account that says Fetch and a global setting of Automatically is the stale-by-design case above. Turn Push on if it's offered, or pick a schedule.

Check Low Power Mode. This is the rung nobody on the first page of results mentions. Apple's Low Power Mode page lists what the mode limits, and two items on the list are "Turns off email fetch" and "Turns off Background App Refresh." The battery icon turns yellow while it's on, and Apple says the mode switches itself off once the phone charges to 80 percent. That's why mail can refresh fine in the morning and stop in the afternoon, and why a phone with Adaptive Power turned on can drop into the mode below 20 percent without you touching anything. Settings, Battery is where to look; on an iPhone 15 or later it's under Power Mode there. If Low Power Mode is on, fetch is off until you charge or turn it off. The battery drain guide is the place to fix the reason it keeps coming on.

Check Background App Refresh, for third-party mail apps only. Apple's Mail uses the Fetch New Data schedule. The Gmail app, per Google's page, uses Background App Refresh to download mail while it's closed, and other App Store mail apps generally depend on the same switch. Google's page gives the path, Settings, General, Background App Refresh, then Gmail on. If it's off, the app is current only while it's open. This switch does nothing for Apple's Mail.

Check the connection. My concern with a Wi-Fi network that drops in and out is a fetch that stalls part-way without Mail saying so. Open a website. If it loads slowly or not at all, the Wi-Fi disconnecting guide is the next stop and Mail is a symptom.

Check notifications separately. Mail that arrives without a banner is a notification problem, and the inbox itself is current. Apple's page sends you to Settings, Notifications, Mail to adjust Alerts, Sounds, and Badges, and the iPhone notifications guide adds that Customize Notifications sets them per account. If the inbox is current when you open it, this is the section for you.

Stop when the pull-down brings mail in within a few seconds and the schedule matches how you use the phone. That's a working setup.

The Broken Ladder

These rungs are for a password prompt, an authentication or server error, or an inbox that stays empty after the website shows new mail. Each one is more disruptive than the last.

Confirm the password on the website first. Apple's instruction is exact. If Mail asks for a password, "make sure that your password is correct" by signing in to the provider's website. Don't type it into the prompt until the website accepts it, because a wrong guess on the phone tells you nothing. If the website rejects it, the problem is the account, and the provider's reset flow fixes it.

Ask whether the account needs a special password. Apple's page says that if you've turned on security features like two-step verification, you "might need a special password or may need to request authorization from your email provider." This is my first suspect when a correct password fails on the phone while the website accepts it. The provider's security settings page is where such passwords are made, and the whole step happens on the provider's side, outside the iPhone.

iCloud accounts have their own list. Apple's iCloud Mail page adds checks that only apply to an @icloud.com address. Confirm Mail is on under Settings, your name, iCloud, then Mail, with Use on this iPhone on. Check the iCloud system status page, and check that you haven't gone over your iCloud storage limit, which Apple lists as a cause. Apple also says that if you have a VPN configured, turn it off and try again, and to confirm the account works at icloud.com/mail. If none of that helps, Apple gives a sequence I'd follow exactly. Turn off iCloud Mail on the device, turn off Push in Fetch New Data, restart, then turn both back on.

Remove the account and add it back, last. This is the Mail version of clearing an app's data, and Apple puts two warnings around it. Before removing, sign in on a computer and "make sure that all of your email is there or make sure that your email is saved somewhere other than your device." Apple's reason is on the same page. An iPhone backup "backs up your mail settings, but not your email," and deleting or changing an account means "previously downloaded emails might be removed from your device." The backup methods page says the same from the other side, that iCloud backups don't include Apple Mail data or mail stored with Gmail and Exchange. Whether the mail comes back depends on whether the provider still holds it, and the website check is how you find out. If it's there, it returns with the account. If it's only on the phone, Apple's warning applies.

Once you've checked, the path is Settings, Apps, Mail, Mail Accounts, the account, then Delete Account or Sign Out. Apple's guide notes this "doesn't cancel the email account; it just removes it from your iPhone." Then add it again under Mail Accounts, Add Account. Apple's add an account page says iCloud, Google, Microsoft Exchange, and Yahoo set up from the address and password alone; anything else may need the incoming and outgoing server details, and the provider has them.

If the re-added account fails the same way, stop. Apple's own page ends there too, with "contact your email service provider." A second removal won't change the answer.

What About the Gmail App

Some people asking this question mean the Gmail app and not Apple's Mail, and Google's page for it is short. The refresh is the same swipe down from the top of the inbox. Google's other checks are to update the app, restart the phone, test the connection by opening a website, turn on Background App Refresh for Gmail, and check the days-to-sync setting under the app's Settings, Data usage, Sync settings. Google also says that if Gmail is getting new mail but a non-Google account inside the app isn't, check that account on a computer and contact its provider. The iPhone app update guide has the store path if the update won't show.

Questions Google Attaches to This Search

Why is my iPhone not updating new emails? The account is on Fetch with Automatically, and the phone isn't charging on Wi-Fi. Or Low Power Mode is on. Both are one screen away, and both are above.

Why is my iPhone Mail not loading new emails? If the website has them and the phone doesn't, the fetch schedule. If the website doesn't have them either, the provider.

How can I reset my emails on my iPhone? Remove the account and add it back, after confirming the mail is on the provider's website. Apple's two warnings above are the reason for the order.

How do I get my email to refresh? Pull the inbox down. To stop needing to, turn on Push or set a schedule under Fetch New Data.

Why is my email inbox not refreshing? My order of suspects is Low Power Mode, then the Automatically setting, then a connection that drops mid-fetch.

Why is my email not getting any new emails? Check the provider's website first. An empty inbox there is a provider or sender problem, and no phone setting changes it.

How do I change the default email app? Settings, Apps, Mail, then Default Mail App, per Apple's Mail settings guide. Apple describes it as the app for new emails you draft outside a specific app, such as ones you create with Siri. It doesn't affect refreshing.

The Short Version

Pull the inbox down. If you keep having to, open Fetch New Data and turn on Push for the account that matters, or give it a schedule, because the default only fetches while charging on Wi-Fi. Check whether Low Power Mode is on, since it turns fetch off and switches itself off again at 80 percent. If Mail wants a password, prove it on the website first and ask the provider about a special password. Remove and re-add an account only after the website shows your mail, because a backup doesn't hold it. And if the provider's website is empty too, the phone was never the problem.