Whether you're an Apple Mail veteran or have chosen to manage your inbox on the go with a third-party app, the iPhone's native iOS email app has gotten a refresh with iOS 9 that could change the way you send emails. Last month's software update was a subtle one, with tweaks designed to make the user experience faster and more intuitive taking precedence over the sweeping visual changes that characterized iOS 7, and the updates to Apple Mail are no different. While the update brought no major visual changes to the inbox, the way you can interact with it has become smarter and more immersive. Here are five of our favorite new Apple Mail features in iOS 9.
1. Draw on attachments
To make notes and draw on email attachments, tap and hold on the attachment and select "Markup." A menu will appear with different pen sizes, color options and a text tool.
2. Pause a draft
Sometimes while writing an email, you need to jump back to reference a line from a previous message. While using multiple windows makes this easy on a desktop, it has proven more difficult on a mobile device, until now. In Mail for iOS 9, simply swipe down from the title of an in-progress draft to dismiss it. When you're ready to start typing again, simply tap the banner at the bottom of the screen to bring it back up.
3. Edit gestures
In keeping with its goal of becoming more intuitive and immersive, iOS 9 introduced new gesture commands in Apple Mail's inbox. If you find that you activate them without meaning to, or want to change the default actions, edit them via the "swipe options" menu in Settings.
4. Get notifications on important threads
iOS 9 makes it easier than ever to stay on top of your most important priorities, allowing you to activate alerts for specific email threads. When writing a reply to an email in the thread, you will see an alarm bell icon next to the subject field. Tapping the bell will turn push notifications on for any email in the thread, regardless of the sender.
5. Bring up draft list
To quickly navigate to your works-in-progress, tap and hold the pen and paper icon you would use to compose a message.
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