Can I create folders in Gmail on iPhone?

Last reviewed: October 15, 2026 · Markdown version

Yes, though Gmail calls them labels. In the Gmail app, tap Menu at the top left, then under "Labels" tap Create new, enter a name and tap Save (Create & manage labels in Gmail, iPhone & iPad, read 15 October 2026). Google is careful to add that "Labels are different from folders", and the difference matters once you start filing: one email can wear several labels at the same time, where a folder would hold only one copy.

Filing mail under the new label

Touch and hold one or more emails, tap More at the top right, then Labels, tick the labels you want and tap Done. To move mail from one label to another, choose Change labels instead, untick the current ones and pick new ones (the iPhone labels page above). If you file the same kind of mail every day, Google suggests a swipe: Menu, Settings, Inbox customizations, Swipe actions, then set Right swipe or Left swipe to Move.

Letting the label fill itself

This is the part of the iPhone page most people never find. The app can label incoming mail for you without a trip to a computer: Menu, Settings, Inbox customizations, Labels, tap a label, tap Add, type a name or address in the "From" field, tap And to add a subject or keyword, then Save. Google's note on it reads: "New messages that match your criteria are automatically labeled." That wording covers new mail only, and the page does not say whether mail already in your account gets the label too (the iPhone labels page above). For the backlog, select and label it by hand as in the section before.

What the iPhone app does not offer

Nesting one label inside another is documented only on the computer version of Google's page, through a "Nest label under" checkbox, and so are label colours (Create & manage labels in Gmail, read 15 October 2026). The iPhone steps cover creating, renaming, deleting and applying, so build a Work/Invoices style tree from a browser and use it from the phone. Renaming and deleting on the phone go through Menu, Settings, Inbox customizations, Labels; editing Gmail labels explains what deleting a label leaves behind.

If you read Gmail in Apple's Mail app

Apple's Mail app has real folders, which it calls mailboxes. Apple's steps: "In the Mailboxes list, tap Edit in the upper-right corner, then tap New Mailbox", name it, and choose the account under Mailbox Location if you have several (Use mailboxes to organize email messages on your iPhone or iPad, read 15 October 2026). Apple's page does not mention Gmail. Google's developer documentation fills the gap from the other side: "Gmail treats labels as folders for the purposes of IMAP", and labels can be changed with the folder commands "CREATE, RENAME, and DELETE" (IMAP Extensions, read 15 October 2026). In our reading, then, a mailbox you create on a Gmail account in Apple Mail becomes a Gmail label.

The warning runs the same way. Apple says that deleting a custom mailbox "permanently deletes all of the email messages inside the mailbox and from your account" (the Apple page above), so tidy up mailboxes with care; deleting a mailbox on iPhone walks through it safely.