“Editing an email” on an iPhone 13 can mean a few different things: fixing a message you are still writing, going back to a saved draft, pulling back a message you just sent, or changing the details of the email account itself. The Mail app handles all of them, and this guide walks through each one. The steps apply to the iPhone 13 and other iPhones running a recent version of iOS.
Quick answer
To edit a draft, open Mail, tap Mailboxes > Drafts, tap the draft, make your changes, and tap Send or Cancel > Save Draft. To fix a message you just sent, tap Undo Send at the bottom of the screen within a few seconds. To edit your email account’s details, go to Settings > Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts (or Settings > Mail > Accounts on older iOS versions).
Edit an email while you are writing it
- Move the cursor: touch and hold the text, then drag to where you want to edit. You can also touch and hold the space bar to turn the keyboard into a trackpad.
- Select text: double-tap a word, or triple-tap to select a paragraph, then drag the handles.
- Undo a change: swipe left with three fingers, or shake the iPhone and tap Undo.
- Format text: select text, then tap the Aa button above the keyboard to change the font, size, color, bold, italic or underline.
- Change recipients: tap the To, Cc or Bcc field, tap a name, and press Delete to remove it. Tap the + button to add contacts.
- Change the subject: tap the Subject line and type.
- Change the From address: if you have more than one account, tap From and choose a different address.
Edit a saved draft
- Open the Mail app.
- Tap Mailboxes in the top-left corner.
- Tap Drafts. If you have several accounts, choose the Drafts folder for the account you used, or All Drafts.
- Tap the draft to open it and make your changes.
- Tap Send when it is ready, or tap Cancel and then Save Draft to keep working on it later.
Shortcut: while writing a message, you can swipe the message window down to minimize it. Tap the minimized bar at the bottom of the screen to reopen it. Touch and hold the compose button to see a list of recent drafts.
Edit an email after you send it
You cannot edit a sent email, because it has already reached the recipient’s server. But the Mail app gives you a short window to cancel it.
- Right after tapping Send, look for Undo Send at the bottom of the mailbox list.
- Tap it. The message reopens as a draft so you can fix it and send it again.
By default you have 10 seconds. To give yourself more time, go to Settings > Apps > Mail > Undo Send Delay and choose up to 30 seconds. If the window has passed, the best option is to send a short follow-up email with the correction.
Edit a scheduled email
If you used Send Later, open Mailboxes > Send Later, tap the message, and tap Edit to change the time, or open it to change the content before it goes out.
Edit your email account details
If you meant editing the email account itself, such as its name, description or password:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts (on older versions of iOS, Mail > Accounts).
- Tap the account you want to change.
- Tap the account address to edit details such as the Name shown to recipients, the Description shown in the Mail app, or server settings.
- Tap Done.
For Gmail, Outlook and other accounts signed in through the provider, you change the password with the provider, not on the iPhone. iCloud account details are managed at the top of the Settings app under your name. For more on display names, see and to add a new address, see how to add another email to iPhone 13.
Edit your email signature
Go to Settings > Apps > Mail > Signature. You can use one signature for all accounts or choose Per Account to set a different one for each address.
Troubleshooting
- Drafts folder is missing: on the Mailboxes screen, tap Edit and tick Drafts (or All Drafts) to show it.
- Draft did not save: drafts are saved to the email server; check your connection and that the account is on in Settings.
- No Undo Send button: update iOS in Settings > General > Software Update, and make sure Undo Send Delay is not set to Off.
Drafts and replies are easier to find when each message has its own row, which is what happens when you turn off Organize by Thread in Mail.
Summary
- Edit while writing using the cursor, selection and Aa formatting tools.
- Open Mailboxes > Drafts to edit a saved draft.
- Tap Undo Send right after sending to fix mistakes.
- Use Settings > Apps > Mail to edit account details and signatures.
Kermit Matthews runs Live2Tech from just outside Philadelphia. He is an IT specialist with over 20 years of experience, from a university help desk to small-business IT, IT management and his own consulting practice, and has written tech guides full time since 2020. Steps are checked against the current software on a real device or the maker’s official documentation. More about Kermit.