How to Flag Messages in the iPhone and iPad Mail App

iPhone & iPod

Updated June 19, 2019

The stock Mail app for iOS includes a basic feature to flag emails for later attention. Within Mail, unread messages sport a blue dot; flagged messages display a golden-yellow dot. Flag messages individually or in batches.

The procedures outlined below have been tested for both iOS 11 and iOS 12.

Flag an Email in the iPhone and iPad Mail Application

To flag an important email in iPhone Mail or iPad Mail:

Open the email in the Mail app.
Tap the Flag icon.
Select Flag from the options that appear. Other options are Mark as Unread, Move to Junk, and Notify Me, which notifies you when someone replies to an email thread.

A flagged email displays an orange dot next to it in the Inbox as well as within the message itself. You can also find flagged emails in the Mail home screen folder marked "Flagged," which makes it easy to view and act on flagged emails without the distraction of other messages.

Marking Multiple Messages at the Same Time

To add or remove flags from several messages simultaneously:

Open the folder that contains the messages whose flags you want to edit.
Tap Edit at the top of the screen.
Tap Mark All at the bottom of the screen to mark every email in the folder. If you only want to mark some of the emails, tap each email or thread you want to mark in the empty circle next to each email to fill it with a check mark on a blue background.
Tap Mark at the bottom of the screen. Other options are Move and Trash.
Select Flag to add flags to all the selected messages. If the messages are already flagged, tap the Unflag option to remove the flags. Other options are Mark as Unread and Move to Junk.