I updated on Saturday, and under my batter usage, the mail app was coming up as 15m background activity, which I am assuming is separate from background app refresh, as that is disabled. The odd thing is, I didn't have the mail app open, and I don't have any email accounts added to it. I have literally never used it. It wasn't open before I updated, or after. Did 14.7 change something that would have caused this? Anyone else seen this? I can't even think what it would need to do, given it's not used for any email accounts.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Unexplained background activity from mail app after updating to iOS 14.7
- Thread starter humpbacktwale
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I can't advise why you never seen it before but if you are signed into an icloud account, the mail app will automatically be used for the email address associated with icloud. Have you ever created an icloud email account before? I can't remember if this was voluntary or automatic years ago but if you have one, that would be why there would be an email address bound to the mail app. Easy way to tell, open the mail app, if it asks for you to sign into an account, it was not setup. If it just goes to an inbox, it is using @icloud.com email.
I am currently not signed into iCloud. My iPhone is, however, upon every reboot, asking me for the login credentials to the last account I was signed into, despite being signed out. Also, I have been signed in before, and have never received mail from an email account associated with the apple account. If I open the mail app, it asks for me to sign into an account.
Do you know what is asking for credentials on a regular basis? Could be the appstore, I would think if you have any apps installed, it has been known for doing that. With that said, I would play with the settings of the mail app as well as ensure that background app refresh is disabled on it. It would not make sense to have it running all of the time but I remember the mail app doing this as far back as iOS 4 or 5, lol.
Now, I am not sure if this option is available without an account signed in or not but try this,
1. Open Settings
2. Tap Mail
3. Tap Accounts
4. Disable the "Push" option and set "Fetch to "Manually."
Normally, when one uses the mail app, it is the Push service that keeps the app alive, it is very possible that a new bug was introduces that is causing the app to run.
I am not sure what is asking for it. It just appears when I first unlock my device after a reboot. It could be that signing out of the account in settings didn't remove the credentials from the app store.
Background app refresh is currently disabled on my device. Moreover, the mail app doesn't even appear as an option to disabled under background app refresh. However, since apps like signal and whatsapp still show background activity under battery usage, I think background activity must be a separate thing from background app refresh.
I think you are correct in that disabling push notifications doesn't work unless an account has been added.
Background app refresh is currently disabled on my device. Moreover, the mail app doesn't even appear as an option to disabled under background app refresh. However, since apps like signal and whatsapp still show background activity under battery usage, I think background activity must be a separate thing from background app refresh.
I think you are correct in that disabling push notifications doesn't work unless an account has been added.
So your mail app is also turning up as background activity, despite it not being open and you having no accounts for it?
Is it also only doing it while connected to charger? Seems to be the case for me.
Edit: to confirm, this also happened to me when I updated to 14.7.1 as well.
Last edited:
I understand you have background refresh turned of but what are your Fetch/Push settings?
It looks like this....
So after updating to 14.8, it did the same thing. About 7-10 mins of background activity, despite having never used it, nor the app being open or having any accounts associated with it.
I’ve got the same issue, on iOS 15, iPhone 13 Pro Max. Except I’ve got almost 5 hours of background usage. What’s even weirder is the fact that Mail’s background usage = screen on time + screen off time. So basically it’s always running in the background. Weird.
Yeah, same with me. I activated my 13 Pro on 19th this month and was having terrible battery life. I was about to give it back on warranty, but I've updated to iOS 15.1 yesterday and it seems to be better. However, I also get such a big Mail background activity.... All day long since yesterday's update... I turned off everything I can (Push to Fetch, etc), force closed the Mail app and still.... If it won't get better tomorrow I will try to uninstall the Mail app...