How to Delete All Social Emails in Gmail on Android

Rob Leung

With more than one billion users worldwide, Google Mail is one of the most widely used email services. The users of the system are aware of the customizable tabs in the system (Basic, Social, and Promotional). Though it is easier to categorize your inbox, it is also quite easy to accumulate thousands of emails before you clear it. Most users receive dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of marketing emails per week from various online and physical stores, newsletters from online magazines, and many others.

Social emails are sent by platforms such as Facebook and YouTube in order to encourage you to visit their sites and make use of them. All social media emails are automatically sorted in your Gmail account and deposited in your Social folder. Google will sort your emails automatically unless you set up customized filters for your account. These social emails can consume a lot of space.

Is it possible to delete all social emails from Gmail on an Android device? Yes, you may delete all social emails in your Gmail account on an Android phone. At the time this article was published, however, this was not possible with the Gmail App for Android. A web browser would be required for this.

The Gmail Inbox displays no more than 100 messages per page. Thus, if the emails you wish to delete span multiple pages, you will need to process them in multiple steps (100 social emails at a time). Although bulk deletion is not possible with one simple button, at least it is possible. The process involves several steps as outlined below. In this article, we will discuss how to delete all social emails in Gmail using your Android Phone.

How To Delete All Social Emails In Gmail On Android Phone

To delete all social emails in Gmail on your Android phone, you can follow the steps outlined below. The screenshots below are using the Firefox browser.

  1. Log on to your Gmail account using an Internet Browser.
  2. Tap the 3 dots to show the Browser Settings
  3. Enable Desktop site
  4. A question is shown if you want to leave the site. Tap LEAVE
  5. On the upper left part of the page, tap Gmail’s Hamburger Menu
  6. Tap Desktop as shown at the very bottom of the screen. The link is easy to miss but it is there at the bottom of the Navigation Menu.
    •  
  7. Once your email loads in the desktop mode, scroll down to the bottom of the screen and locate the Gmail view. Tap standard.
  8. This will load your Gmail just as you see it on the Desktop when you are on your computer. From there, simply tap the Social folder.
  9. Select the uppermost checkbox to delete all 100 social emails on the page
  10. Tap the trash can icon

Gmail moves all selected social emails to the trash after you click the trash can icon. If you are concerned about deleting all your emails, you can scroll down the list and deselect the ones you don’t want to delete. If you want to free up space right away, you’ll need to delete the emails that have been in your Trash folder for more than 30 days.

Getting Rid of Social Emails

It is not necessary to use any third-party app to organize your Gmail account. Here are a few suggestions:

  • Unsubscribe from social emails directly. The unsubscribe button is at the bottom of your email.
  • Utilize the Gmail Filters to send unwanted emails to the trash or to another folder
  • Hide the Social tab
Here are some more details on how to organize social emails in your Gmail account.

Unsubscribe from the Emails

The easiest and best way to get rid of social emails is to stop receiving them in the first place. Each time you receive a social email that you are not interested in, simply click that email and look for the unsubscribe button in the message.

Use Gmail Filters

You can use the built-in filters of Gmail itself to get rid of social emails. Each time you receive a social email, simply follow the steps below:

  1. Tap the three dots
  2. Tap Filter messages like these
  3. Tap Delete it 

Setting this filter rule will enable you to send all social emails from the given user directly to the trash can.

Hide Social Tab

The Social tab can also be hidden if you do not wish to see it by selecting the folder label on the Gmail menu and clicking hide. Please note that by doing this, you are not deleting all of the emails in the Social tab on your Android or iOS device.

Final Thoughts: How To Delete All Social Emails In Gmail On Android Phone

On an Android phone, you will not be able to delete social emails via the Gmail App. In order to accomplish this, you must mimic the desktop version of Gmail that is accessed through a web browser. You can then select the uppermost button on the Social folder, and delete all of the social emails that you wish to eliminate.

However, if you do not wish to load your Gmail account in Desktop mode, you can still delete your social emails. However, there is no option to delete all messages at once; you will need to do so one by one.