How to Automatically Move Blocked Emails to Trash in Apple Mail on iOS and macOS

What happens when we keep getting unwanted emails in Apple Mail? Well, most of us block them to prevent annoying emails from messing up the inbox. But the biggest question is, does mere blocking completely sort out the problem? No! Unfortunately, the unwanted emails continue to flood the inbox even after you have put them on the block list. And if you want to keep those emails out of sight, you have to take the extra step of deleting them. But bother not, there is a way to automatically move blocked emails to the trash in Apple Mail on iOS and macOS device. Let me show how this blocked mail filtering feature works in Apple Mail!

Automatically Move Blocked Emails to Trash in Apple Mail on iPhone/iPad and Mac

Apple Maill marks the blocked emails so that you can easily spot them in the inbox and avoid opening them. The reason why the mail app doesn’t dump them directly into the trash is that it thinks that you might want to check those emails before removing them from the inbox.

Though this default behavior doesn’t seem out of context, I don’t think too many people prefer to check out the blocked emails before eliminating them. I guess the mail app perhaps wants to save itself from being cursed for wrongly blocking a genuine email.

Send Blocked Emails to the Trash Automatically on iOS

  1. To get started, launch the Settings app on your device and choose Mail.

Launch Settings app and choose Mail

2. Now, navigate to the Threading section and select Blocked Sender Options.

Choose Blocked Sender options

3. Next, select the Move to Bin/Trash option.

Automatically move emails to trash

That’s pretty much it! Going forward, all the blocked emails will be automatically moved to the Trash on your iPhone and iPad. Of course, if you ever want to change this behavior and leave them in the inbox, come back to this same setting and choose the “Leave in Inbox” option in the end.

Send Blocked Emails to the Trash Automatically on macOS

  1. Launch the Mail app on your Mac.

Launch Mail app

2. Now, click on the Mail menu at the top left corner of the screen and choose Preferences.

Choose Preferences

3. Select the Junk Mail tab and then make sure the switch for Enable blocked/junk mail filtering option is turned on.

Enable junk mail filtering

4. Next, mark the circle to the left of “Move it to the Trash.”

Automatically move junk mails to the trash on Mac

5. Now, a popup will appear saying, “Move all messages marked as junk in the selected mailbox to the Junk mailbox. Depending on how you have set your Mailbox Behaviors preferences in the Accounts pane of Mail Preferences, messages in the Junk mailbox might be deleted automatically.” Finally, click on Move to confirm.

Click on Move to confirm

Keep the Blocked Emails Out of Sight in Apple Mail

That’s all there is to it! So, that’s how you can deal with the blocked emails in a better way. Now that you know how this junk mail filtering works in Apple Mail, take advantage of it to prevent junk emails from cluttering the inbox.

By the way, what’s your take on this useful feature? Share your thoughts with us in the comments down below. Also, tell us about how well Apple Mail stacks up against the best third-party email apps for iOS and macOS.

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comment Comments 10
  • margaretta says:

    Here it is, 2023, and putting blocked messages automatically in trash still doesn’t work. i’d be willing to delete them myself if I could sort or filter to find them. anyone know how?

  • jean says:

    agreed with all comments. The solution is not working. Still received emails after blocking. Seems apple have no idea how to solve this issue.

  • Nana says:

    As everyone else I have blocked and requested move to trash. They still come to the inbox with the 🚫 sign on the email. Come on Apple you are smarter than this or is there a kick-back for you?

  • Paul says:

    I don’t understand why when I block something such as telemarketers on my iPhone or e-mails on my Mac they are not actually blocked. Apparently they can still leave messages I’ll never hear. Ive unsubscribed to these e-mail’s many times. I want them to stop calling and sending, that simple. Why can’t they be sent a message similar to when you get an e-mail address wrong and its undeliverable. kind of like how a border is supposed to work. Perhaps these people should get real jobs like the ones Americans supposedly don’t want to do like pick vegetables, mow lawns or clean houses. A bigger problem I believe is that when I have an account with a company to provide service they should not be allowed to share or sell my information. Which I believe is where all of this nonsense begins.

  • Gloria says:

    I agree with everyone else. This article is useless because it doesn’t achieve the desired effect – stop blocked email addresses from getting through. I read a lot about this and some articles talk about the blocked sender using a slightly different address to get through. I’ve monitored my blocked email addresses and they are getting through with the identical addresses again and again. My computer even tells me “this message is from a blocked sender”. I don’t want to have to deal with each and every one of these emails. Wake up Apple!

  • Kim says:

    I agree with the others. This does not work! It’s pointless to say that this is even an option.

  • Brady Smith says:

    This does not work.

  • Lindsay Jelleff says:

    Yes, I agree, I have BLOCKED many emails and they continue coming into my Junk email box. Why??? I want them to be automatically deleted, thats why I specifically marked them as BLOCKED!!

    • fabio says:

      same here. I went through all the steps in this article, but blocked mail are still there. The only way to finally get rid of them is the “apply rules” feature. Bit it’s a manual step and you have to do it every single time. It doesn’t make sense. Apple is loading Mac with hardens of useless features, but it can’t stop blocked senders…. unbelievable!!

  • Linden Stead says:

    I have got my iMac set up to move all emails that come into my junk folder, and have been marked as Blocked, to the Trash but this is not working. They come into my Junk folder and stay there until I manually trash them. Why is this happening?

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