Top 5 Ways to Fix iPhone/iPad Mail not Updating Automatically

Mail app doesn't update automatically

I am struggling with a little frustrating problem with the system Mail app - despite setting it all up, the app doesn’t update mailboxes automatically. Anyone has faced the same problem and have a solution? Many thanks for any ideas and answers!

- Question from Apple Community

The system Mail app makes it possible for Apple users to manage more than one mail account in one place, and it usually works well. However, you may find that sometimes iPhone or iPad Mail not updating automatically. You can access Mail app, but there aren’t any emails refreshed or fetched.

In this passage, you will get 5 practical ways of troubleshooting when you cannot get mails on iPad and iPhone.

• Part 1. Possible reasons why iPhone/iPad Mail does not update
• Part 2. 5 solutions to iPad/iPhone Mail not updating automatically
  • Solution 1. Check network connection
  • Solution 2. Enable notifications from Mail
  • Solution 3. Adjust Fetch New Data setting
  • Solution 4. Enable Background App Refresh
  • Solution 5. Remove mail account in Mail app
• Conclusion

Part 1. Possible reasons why iPhone/iPad Mail does not update

Many reasons may result in iPad Mail app not working. The followings are some of the most common reasons, you can check if one of them causes your issue.

⨠ Weak network on your iPhone/iPad. The Mail app can only work well when your device is connected to a stable Internet.
⨠ Certain Email service may be unavailable. If you have more than one mail account from different email services and only one of them cannot work well, then the email service provider may be down at that time.
⨠ Accidentally disable some settings. There are some settings that can make Mail updates automatically or not. They will be mentioned in the next part in detail.

Part 2. 5 solutions to iPad/iPhone Mail not updating automatically

Based on the reasons mentioned above, there are five effective solutions to iPad/iPhone Mail not updating automatically. You can try to restart Mail apps and your iPad/iPhone before these solutions first. If it doesn’t work, hope you can fix it with one of the methods below.

Solution 1. Check network connection

A stable network connection is a prerequisite to making Mail updates automatically. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is to check the network connection. You can turn off and turn on the cellular or Wi-Fi again to have a try. 

Just in case, you may need to reset network settings to fix network-related errors. On your iPad or iPhone, go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

Wi-Fi networks and passwords, cellular settings, and VPN and APN settings that’s you’ve used before will be reset. After resetting, power off the iPad and restart it again.

Solution 2. Enable notifications from Mail

You may turn off notification from Mail by accident, and you will find you cannot get mails on iPad. Just in case, go to Settings > Scroll down and tap Mail > Notifications to toggle it on. In addition, you can also choose different alerts here, like Show on Lock Screen, Show in History, and Show as Banners.

Solution 3. Adjust Fetch New Data setting

By default, Fetch New Data function is set to Automatically, which may affect how often your iPad/iPhone receives and updates emails. You can try to adjust it when iPhone/iPad Mail not updating automatically.

Follow the steps to adjust Fetch New Data. On your iPad/iPhone, go to Settings > Mail > Account > Fetch New Data to choose a setting, such as Automatically or Manually. You can also choose a schedule for how often the Mail app will fetch data.

Note: Your iPad or iPhone will only fetch new data in the background when it is charging and connected to WiFi.

Solution 4. Enable Background App Refresh

Background App Refresh can enable apps to refresh their contents when the WiFi or cellular is on in the background. If you find iPad Mail app not working, you can turn it on to have a try.

To turn on Background App Refresh, go to Settings on your iPad/iPhone > General > Background App Refresh to toggle it on.

Note: As you can see in your iPad or iPhone, the battery life may get preserved when you turn it off. Therefore, you can turn off this function to some unnecessary apps.

Solution 5. Remove mail account in Mail app

If you cannot get mails from only one mail account, the last solution is to reset mail account in Mail app because it may cause some data loss and all settings of the certain mail account will be reset.

On your iPad/iPhone, go to Settings > Mail > Accounts > Tap the mail account you want to remove and tap Delete Account.

If the issue still remains, you may need to contact your mail service provider to check whether there is an outage of your mail.

Conclusion

That’s all about how to fix iPad/iPhone Mail not updating automatically. Hope you can get rid of this issue with one of the solutions in this passage with ease. To avoid data loss caused by iPad error, we strongly recommend you to use the best freeware phone tools -FoneTool to back up iPad and keep your iOS data safe.   If this passage solves your problem, share it to help more people.