How to see iOS26 mail on iPad full screen in portrait mode?

I just found a workaround for the issue - not a fix, and not ideal, but it is helpful.

• switch the list view from “categories” to “All Mail”

• long press the message you want to read in full screen view - a menu appears 

• select “open in new window”

Now you can read it in full screen! But there is no navigation to the next or previous email message from this new window. 

You just have to close it and repeat for the next message that you want to see. Annoying, but useful in a way. 

Please give feedback to Apple so they will understand how incredibly inconvenient this update to Mail is and hopefully fix it soon.

Product Feedback - Apple

There is not an option for feedback for the Mail app. So I reported it through the iPad feedback link.

whataprettyface wrote:

I just discovered that double tapping on any email in the list opens it into a full screen. Hurray! Portrait mode

Good tip, but it only works when you’re in “All Mail” list view not in “category view” (except for “Personal”)

I just discovered that double tapping on any email in the list opens it into a full screen. Hurray! Portrait mode

Hilariously you have to hit ‘reply’ then hit the ‘cross’ button that appears. Lost for words how unintuitive this is.

Sep 23, 2025 11:58 PM in response to cdorsey1

Double tap the email that you want to read. It opens onto full screen.

Good tip, but it only works when you’re in “All Mail” list view not in “category view” (except for “Personal”)

Double tap the email that you want to read. It opens onto full screen.

I was directed by chat support to report this through the following link:

Product Feedback - Apple

crazily enough, there is not an option for the Mail app feedback. So I just reported it through the iPad feedback link.

maybe if enough people give feedback the engineers will fix it in the next update ASAP

I do not believe it's possible.

Tell Apple: Product Feedback - Apple

Tap the very top of the screen…there is a small margin above the full page email. That will close the page.

Yes, this makes for an extremely inefficient user experience, seemingly with no satisfactory workaround. Super annoying.

iPad Mail is my primary email environment, and until installing iPadOS 26 last night, I could zip through large numbers of new messages in portrait mode with full-screen message display, navigate right there to next or previous message, and after moving each message to Trash or another folder directly in that view, automatically see the next message full-screen.

iPadOS 26 completely breaks that use case and has me wishing I could revert to iPadOS 18.7 until this is fixed. Foolishly and regrettably, however, I did not run a backup right before installing iPadOS 26. I really hope they fix this for a 26.1 release, based on product feedback some of us have submitted.

I took the OPs advice and wrote Apple:

Using the Mail.app on an iPad running iPadOS 26, the lack of a smooth, logical, intuitivel way - in either portrait or landscape mode - to view an email while at the same time not having the mailboxes take up screen space is just terrible. I know you can long press on the mail in portrait mode to view just the email, but to get back to your mailboxes in order to go to the next email you have to quit and relaunch Mail. This is so "un-Apple" it's mind boggling!

BlossOz wrote:

No traffic light signals visible or an x or any other clue as to how to close the window! Sure tapping around on top left eventually minimises, but this us sloppy work.

A penetrating glimpse into the patently obvious, because the very title of this Discussion is How to see iOS26 mail on iPad full screen in portrait mode?

iOS 26.

Not macOS 26.

Ok?

It is also the reason the very first reply to this Discussion is the only one worth the time to read, "Top-ranking replies" notwithstanding.

John Galt wrote:

I do not believe it's possible.

Tell Apple: Product Feedback - Apple

Do that. I assure you that Apple will listen. They do not listen here. They listen there. Not here.

There’s a tiny, tiny margin just above the full screen, tap that and the screen will close. So cumbersome to have to use these multiple steps to view and close the full screen.

to close full screen email, slide towards top of screen as you would to close any app, the mail app remains on screen.

This is very annoying, particularly if your have accessibility issues. Reading email in a narrow slither of screen is difficult. Please could portrait mode go back to what it was prior to iPadOS 26 update when the list of emails scrolled out of view.