Gmail's delegated accounts have started showing up in the app on my iPhone, and I find this incredibly annoying.
I still need access to those mailboxes. I just don't want them on my phone. There should be a setting for that.
Instead, I can't find a way to hide them while keeping the delegation I need. A useful work permission has become an unwanted change to how I use email on iOS.
Hiding a mailbox shouldn't cost me access
Google's iPhone and iPad instructions explain how to open a delegated inbox from the account switcher. They also explain how an owner can remove a delegate. They don't document a way to hide a delegated mailbox on a particular device while preserving access.
Revoking delegation is a ridiculous price to pay for cleaning up a mobile app.
When “All inboxes” becomes too many inboxes
The frustration is bigger than a crowded account menu. In the Reddit thread “Removing delegated accounts from app”, people describe delegated messages turning up in “All inboxes” and complicating search. The original poster says finding things like tickets and return shipping codes became harder. Another commenter describes receiving duplicate emails across accounts and then getting confusing search results.
To be clear about the platforms: my complaint is about Gmail on iOS. The Reddit post began with an Android report, and many replies don't specify their device. Those reports describe related Gmail mobile frustrations; they aren't all evidence about the iPhone app.
One August commenter says roughly ten delegated accounts appeared, even though they only cover those mailboxes during colleagues' leave. On September 13, another reports “All inboxes” being flooded with 200–300 emails daily and considers moving work or personal email to another app. These are individual reports, but they make the cost of the missing setting pretty concrete.
The thread is getting busy again
Nineteen of the thread's 32 comments arrived in August and September. The daily view makes that renewed activity easier to see:
This is one 32-comment Reddit thread, not a representative survey; September is partial through September 18, 2026.
Comments on the Reddit thread by day. Source: the discussion, fetched September 18. Counts include all comments and replies by UTC date, with zero-activity days included; the latest comment was September 14.
These are activity counts, not unique people or classified complaints. Most recent replies describe unwanted accounts or disruption, with repeated requests for an off switch; some earlier commenters welcomed mobile delegation.
What's particularly irritating is the recurring hope that it's gone. Several people say the accounts disappeared, then returned. On August 14, one commenter wrote:
I had them, and then they disappeared and I was so happy. AND NOW THEY'RE BACK. 😭
That doesn't establish why the behavior changed. It does explain why people keep returning to ask whether anyone has found an off switch.
Give us an off switch that preserves delegation
I understand wanting delegated mail on a phone. Someone covering a shared inbox may be delighted to have it. A sysadmin in the thread makes exactly that point while asking for a toggle.
Google, let us hide or disable delegated mailboxes in the mobile app without revoking delegation. Let us choose which ones appear on each device. Let us exclude them from “All inboxes” and cross-account search. Keep the underlying delegation intact, so hiding a mailbox on my iPhone doesn't mean losing access when I sit down to work.
Having permission to open a mailbox should come with the freedom to leave it off my phone.
Yes, this post is for search engines
Yes, I'm partly writing this for search engines. If you got here searching how to remove or hide delegated Gmail accounts on iPhone or iOS, you're not the only one frustrated by this.
I'd like this to be a place to vent, compare notes, and share working solutions when they turn up. Vent below. And if you've found something that actually hides these mailboxes without revoking delegation, please share it, including your device and app version.
Top comments (2)
This hits on a classic software architectural failure: coupling permission state with presentation layer state.
From a system design perspective, having access permission (OAuth delegation token) should never automatically force a client-side data sync and view mount.
The fact that these accounts clutter "All Inboxes" and poll-pollute global search points to a few core client-side flaws:
render_in_mobile_ui: false).Decoupling backend delegation permissions from the local device UI layout is a basic UX pattern. Adding a simple "Show on this device" toggle in the app settings would fix this overnight without forcing anyone to revoke actual access permissions.
The last sentence nails the real design problem for me:
“Having permission to open a mailbox should come with the freedom to leave it off my phone.”
Access and presentation are two different concerns.
Delegation is an authorization decision: I am allowed to access this mailbox.
Whether that mailbox appears on this particular device, participates in “All inboxes,” gets included in search, or generates notifications is a client preference.
Those states shouldn’t have to be identical.
I’d actually go one step further and make the controls independent:
That would preserve the delegation while letting each device have a completely different operational profile.
One small caution about diagnosing the implementation, though: without documentation or reverse-engineering evidence, I wouldn’t assume we know whether Gmail is using a particular local database architecture, how delegated accounts are represented internally, or exactly what its sync pipeline does.
We don’t need those assumptions to identify the product problem.
The observable behavior is already enough: authorization is effectively coupled to mobile visibility where users need independent control.
And yes — “revoke access to clean up my UI” is a pretty absurd workaround. 😄