How-To

How to Schedule Emails on an iPhone

By Brian Burgess

Last Updated on November 15, 2022

If you want to compose emails and schedule them to go out at a specific time, you can on an iPhone. Learn how to schedule emails on iPhone using this guide.

If you use the default email app on your iPhone, you can set it up to schedule emails without using third-party apps or services. In addition to scheduling emails, it works with whatever email service you need.

For example, if you want to schedule an email to send to a Gmail or Proton Mail address, there’s no extra work required.

If you need to get a message to someone at a specific time, we’ll show you how to schedule emails on your iPhone using the default Mail app on iOS 16 or higher.

How to Schedule Emails on an iPhone

Sending an email on a schedule is helpful for both you and the recipient. It allows some sync time between receiving and sending messages over time.

To schedule an email message on your iPhone:

1. Launch the Mail app on your iPhone and tap the Compose button.
2. Start writing the note you want to schedule and send out.
3. After adding the recipient, subject, and message, tap and hold the Blue up Arrow button, and you’ll see different times to schedule the message to send out.
4. If you want to choose the time manually, tap the Send Later option. Then scroll through and manually enter the date and time to send the email. Tap the Done button to send the message when configuring the time and date.

How to Manage Scheduled iPhone Emails

After you schedule an email to send at a specific time and date, you might want to manage them. Perhaps you need to schedule it sooner, send it right away, or delete the message.

Whatever the case, you’ll find your scheduled emails in a separate mailbox in the Mail app.

To locate and manage your scheduled emails on iPhone:

1. Open the Mail app and tap Mailboxes in the top left corner of the screen.
2. In the Mailboxes section, you’ll see a Send Later mailbox with the number of messages you set to send later.
3. Tap the Send Later option to see which messages are due to go out and the time.
4. It’s important to note that you cannot change the content of the message you have scheduled. Instead, you’ll need to delete and compose a new message. You can delete it by swiping the message to the left and tapping Trash.
5. While you can’t modify the email message content, you can reschedule it. Tap to select the scheduled message and tap the Edit button.

Can’t Schedule iPhone Emails? Update Your Device

The ability to schedule emails was added to the Mail app beginning with iOS 16. To ensure you have it go to Settings > General > Software Update and download iOS 16 if available.

Also, you can check your version of iOS by going to Settings > General > About.

Apple’s iOS 16 also features lock screen widgets, haptic feedback for the keyboard, and you can remove the Search button from the home screen. Apple only supports iOS 16 on an iPhone 8 and newer. For more details on the update, check Apple’s list of iPhone models compatible with iOS 16.

Getting More from Mail on iPhone

If you need to schedule emails on your iPhone, the steps above will allow you to do it. However, it’s important to remember that editing a saved message changes it to an immediate time schedule. So, for example, if you hit Done instead of Cancel, your mail will send immediately.

Mail on iPhone allows you to do some critical things. For example, you can use VIP Mail notifications to get important email alerts. In addition, you can create separate signatures for multiple email accounts.

If you’re new to the Apple ecosystem, you may want to learn how to set up email accounts on iPhone or iPad or change the default email signature in the Mail app. And if you aren’t happy with Apple’s Mail app, you can change the default email app on your iPhone or iPad.