I am an iPad user, and the other day, I went to check my emails because I was expecting an important message. Instead of that email, I saw an error message which read ‘this message has not been downloaded from the server’. I refreshed the mailbox several times, but I still couldn’t get that particular email to arrive properly so that I could read it. How very frustrating. I had to resort to my laptop to read the message, and then I did a little investigating to see what the problem was with the inbox on the iPad. Apparently this is a very common occurrence both on iPad and iPhone, and the chances are that it has been caused by some sort of disruption during the downloading of the email from the server. An erratic connection to the server is the most common problem, and as I live in a rural location with very poor internet and mobile phone strength and coverage, this is probably the cause of most of my failures to receive emails on my iPad. If this is not the cause of your own email download issues, there are a few more things that you can check if the problem keeps happening.
Check the obvious things first
Go to Settings and see if you have AirPlane mode active. If it’s ‘On’ (green), you won’t receive emails because you are not connected. Even if it is ‘Off’ (grey), just to be on the safe side, switch it On and then Off again to refresh your connection. This may be all that you need to do, but if the problem persists, take a look at the Wi-Fi setting – if there is no network connection visible, then you’re off the air and nothing can come in. You can either walk around until you find a decent connection, or you may need to try the ‘switching things on and off’ approach until the problem goes away.
Check your version of iOS
Has there been an upgrade that you’ve missed? Go to Settings, General, Software Update and see if you’re on the latest version. If not, then update the device (it’s usually best for the device to be plugged in while this happens to ensure you have enough power to complete an update).
Quit mail and re-open
To quit the Mail app, give the Home button two taps, grab the bottom of the Mail window and push it off the top of the screen. Tap the Home button once, then tap the Mail icon, and it will re-open.
Switch Off and On
If quitting mail doesn’t solve it, the next step is to switch the device off and on again to get it to reset itself. The method of switching off and on varies a little depending on the model of device you are using, so do whatever is needed to achieve the switch off and then on again.
Still not solved?
It has been suggested that if you’ve got this far, and the problem still exists, you may need to delete the troublesome mail account and load it up again. It sounds alarming, but it’s not too hard to do. In Settings tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars, find the account causing the problem and tap on it. Tap Delete Account, then Add Account, choose the one you want and input the details, and the account should be back as good as new and ready to receive email.
