How to Find Unread Emails in Gmail (Web, Android, iOS)

We get lots of e-mails every day and it’s impossible for us read them all. There are promotional emails, marketing emails, and emails from our subscriptions. Over time, these unread emails accumulate, and one day you realize there are hundreds and thousands of them buried deep in your Gmail inbox. I have developed the habit of marking the emails I am not interested to read and trash them in bulk. I still have hundreds of unread emails in my inbox which don’t show up even if I browse the old pages to find them. In this quick tutorial, we’ll see how we can find unread emails in the Gmail app for Android and iOS and Gmail for the web, and mark them as read or delete them.

According to Statista, the estimated number of emails exchanged per day in 2023 reached an astounding 347.3 billion. As the internet is becoming more and more accessible, there’s no doubt that this number will keep ramping up every year.

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How to See the Number of Unread Emails in Gmail

If you have lots of unread emails in your Gmail inbox, it’s time to stop ignoring them. Just follow this easy tutorial to get rid of them.

Unread emails in Gmail for web

You can easily see the number of unread emails in the web version of Gmail. However, in the Gmail app for Android, you need to launch the app and tap the Hamburger icon (≡) to see how many unread emails you have.

number of unread emails in gmail for app for android

Unread emails in the Gmail app for Android

In order to find unread emails in the Gmail app on iPhone or iPad follow the steps given below.

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How to Find Unread Emails in Gmail

In Gmail for Web

Open Gmail in your desktop browser.
Click on Settings (gear icon) in the top-right corner of the screen and select See all settings.
Click on the Inbox tab.
Now, click on the drop-down next to the Inbox type and select Unread first from the list of options.
Next, click on the Options drop-down next to Unread and choose the number of unread email items you want to be listed per page.
Finally, click on the Save changes button located at the bottom of the Settings page.
Now, click on Inbox in the left-hand sidebar. You will see all your unread emails under a section called Unread followed by the Everything else section. If you click on the Everything else button, it’ll hide other emails and show the unread emails in Gmail only.

You can select the mark all option to delete all unread emails in Gmail (50 items at a time).

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In Gmail App for Android

If you have an Android device, follow the steps below to show the unread emails in the Gmail app.

Open the Gmail app on your Android device.
Tap on the hamburger icon (≡) on the top-left corner of the screen.
Select Settings found at the bottom of the Gmail app menu.
If you are signed in with more than one Gmail account, select the account for which you want to see the unread emails.
On the next screen, tap on Inbox type and select Unread first from the pop-up box.
Now go back to your Gmail inbox and you will find all unread emails there.
To delete the unread emails in bulk, tap the letter or photo next to and emails you want to delete and then hit the Trash icon.

In Gmail App for iPhone and iPad

Open the Mail app on your iPhone or iPad and tap on the Mailboxes button.
You will see the list of accounts you’re signed into on your device.
If you don’t see the Unread option on the screen, tap the Edit option in the top-right corner of the screen.
On the next screen, hit the empty circle before the Unread option to select it and tap on Done in the top-right corner of the screen.
You’ll see all the accounts to which you’re signed in. If the Unread option isn’t shown, press the Edit button. This should bring the option to the screen.
That’s it. You can now see all unread emails in the Gmail app on your iPhone or iPad.

Advanced Methods to Search Unread Emails in Gmail

Besides the method described above, there are a few more ways to search for unread emails in Gmail. You can use the “is:unread” keyword with different parameters to refine your search in the Gmail app for Android and iOS, and the desktop browser version.

1. Find All Unread Emails: ‘is:unread’ or ‘is:unread in:inbox’

Just type is:unread or is:unread in:inbox in the search box to make Gmail show all unread emails in your inbox. You can use this keyword in both Gmail for smartphones and desktop browsers. Once you see the list of unread emails, you can set different parameters like sender, timeframe, and type of attachments to fine-tune your search.

Similarly, you can use ‘is:unread‘ in the Gmail app on your phone or tablet to find the unread emails.

2. Find Unread Emails in the Primary Inbox

If you want to find your unread emails from the Primary tab only in your Gmail, you can add a ‘category’ parameter to the ‘is:unread’ keyword to find them. Just type the following line in the Gmail search box and hit the enter key. There are 2 other variations of the keyword that can be used to show a list of unread emails from the Promotions or Social tabs only.

category:primary is:unread
category:promotions is:unread
category:social is:unread

You’ll see the list of unread emails from your Primary inbox only. You can also use just ‘is:unread’ and then click the Exclude Social and Exclude Promotions tabs to show unread emails categorically from the Primary tab only.

3. Search Unread Emails by Date Range

If you want to find unread emails between specific dates, you can use the following parameter.

is:unread before:2022/08/23 after:2018/01/01

4. Find Specific Unread Emails

Below is an example of how you can find unread emails from a specific sender.

is:unread from:[email protected]

5. Find Unread Emails from a Specific Domain Name

In case you want Gmail to show all unread emails sent to you from a specific domain name, you can use the following parameter.

is:unread from:*@google.com

6. Search Unread Emails by Name

There is another handy method using which you can search unread messages by name of a sender.

is:unread from:Tom

7. Search Unread by Combining Different Parameters

Finally, there is yet another potential scenario in which you can use more than one parameter together to refine your search for unread emails in Gmail. Here’s an example.

is:unread before:2022/08/23 after:2018/01/01 from*@technastic.com

Mark All Unread Emails as Read in Gmail

In most cases, the very purpose you want to find the unread emails in your inbox is to either mark them as read or just delete them. Once you have your unread emails right in front of your eyes, it’s very easy to mark them as read. In Gmail for desktop browsers, you just need to click on the down arrow icon next to the square box that’s used to select emails, select All or Unread, and click the 3-dot More icon, and select Mark all as read.

If you want to mark the unread emails as read in the Gmail app for Android or iOS, follow the steps given below.

Open the Gmail app on your Android device or iPhone.
Make sure you have already followed to steps to make Gmail show the unread emails on the screen.
Tap the round icon with a letter or image next to unread emails to select them.
Now, tap the Unread (open envelope) icon on the top as shown below.

I think I have mentioned all possible ways to find unread emails in Gmail, mark them as read and delete them. In case you have any queries or just want to share a tip, feel free to drop a comment below.