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how do I delete message from all devices simultaneously?

how do I delete messages from iMac and iOS simultaneously?


MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.4

Posted on Aug 1, 2021 8:01 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 1, 2021 9:45 AM

Email messages are treated differently between POP3 & IMAP email accounts.


  • For POP3, the first email client that accesses the POP3 email server, has all of the email downloaded to that device. The next device trying to access it will find no mail there. So, if you access this account, and delete all of the emails, they will be "gone" for any other device that attempts to access this account.
  • For IMAP, the messages stay on the email server, unless a client deletes a message. In this case, if you delete all of the emails from any client, they will be removed from the email server, and the next client that accesses that same server will find them missing. However, it may take a few minutes for these deleted messages to be synced.


For iCloud mail, which is IMAP, messages are synced to any Apple device that you log in with the same Apple ID with.

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 1, 2021 9:45 AM in response to wdubbsy

Email messages are treated differently between POP3 & IMAP email accounts.


  • For POP3, the first email client that accesses the POP3 email server, has all of the email downloaded to that device. The next device trying to access it will find no mail there. So, if you access this account, and delete all of the emails, they will be "gone" for any other device that attempts to access this account.
  • For IMAP, the messages stay on the email server, unless a client deletes a message. In this case, if you delete all of the emails from any client, they will be removed from the email server, and the next client that accesses that same server will find them missing. However, it may take a few minutes for these deleted messages to be synced.


For iCloud mail, which is IMAP, messages are synced to any Apple device that you log in with the same Apple ID with.

how do I delete message from all devices simultaneously?

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