How to Edit Your iPhone or iPad Email Signature

Personalize your iOS emails with a unique signoff

What to Know

  • Create a basic signature: Settings > Mail > Signature. Enter a signature. Tap BIU for bold, italic, or underlining
  • For more formatting, create a signature in an email account on a computer and paste it into Signature settings.
  • Select All Accounts to use the new signature for all email accounts, or tap Per Account to create custom signatures.

This article explains how to create an email signature on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch running any version of iOS from iOS 6 and later.

How to Make a Basic iOS Email Signature

An email signature shows up at the bottom of outgoing emails. It might include a name and title, a quote, or information, such as a website URL or phone number. Email signatures are set up on the iPhone and iPad in the Settings app.

The iPhone's default signature line is "Sent from my iPhone," but you can change this signature to anything you want (or use none at all). You can even make an email signature that differs for each of your connected email accounts.

Here's how to set up a basic email signature that automatically shows up at the end of each of your outgoing emails on your iPhone or iPad:

  1. Open the Settings app and select Mail.

  2. Scroll down and select Signature.

  3. Type the desired email signature in the space provided, or remove all of the text to delete the email signature.

    iPhone settings with Mail, Signature, and Signature field highlighted

    If you have more than one email address set up in Mail and use the same email signature for all addresses, tap All Accounts. Or, choose Per Account to specify a different email signature for each account.

  4. To apply some basic formatting, double-tap the signature and use the handles to select the portion of the signature that you want to format.

  5. In the menu that appears above the selected text, tap the BIU tab.

    If you don't see the menu, tap the right-pointing arrow on the menu bar.

  6. Tap either Bold, Italic, or Underline.

    iPhone Signature settings with message, BIU, and Bold, Italic, Underline highlighted

    To apply a different formatting style to another part of the signature, tap outside the text, and repeat the process.

  7. Tap the arrow in the upper-left corner of the Signature screen to save the changes and return to the Mail screen.

Add Images and Other Formatting to a Signature

You can't change the color, font, or font size of an email signature by default. The iOS Mail app signature settings offer only basic rich-text features. Even if you copy and paste a formatted feature from elsewhere into the Mail signature settings, most of the rich-text formatting is removed.

However, there's a trick to creating additional formatting details, including images.

  1. From a computer, log in to your email account and create a signature exactly as you want it to look on your iOS device.

    Custom signature in Mail on a Mac
  2. Compose a new message so that the signature is used, save the email as a draft, and then open it from your iPhone or iPad.

  3. Tap and hold an empty space in the message, choose either Select or Select All, and then make changes to the highlighted content.

  4. Select Copy.

    iOS Mail with draft open and select all > Copy highlighted
  5. Select Cancel on the draft message, and then open the Signature area in the Settings app.

  6. Tap and hold in the signature box, and then select Paste. The signature looks similar to, but not exactly like, the one you created.

    iPhone signature settings with Paste highlighted and new signature shown
  7. Shake the device and, in the Undo Change Attributes dialog box, choose Undo.

  8. The signature returns to the way it was when you copied it. Tap the button on the top left corner of the screen to save the signature and return to your email.

  9. You can now send emails from your iPad or iPhone with a customized signature.

    iPhone signature with Undo highlighted and new signature shown

Tips for Composing an Email Signature

Although the default signature-formatting options on an iOS device don't provide much variety, you can still generate an effective signature by following a few guidelines.

  • Keep it short. Limit your signature to no more than five lines of text. If you think you can't make your information fit, use pipes (|) or colons (:) to separate text sections.
  • A business signature should include your name, title, company name, a link to the company website, and a business phone number. If available, add a link to a recent article or post about you or your company.
  • You don't need to include your email address in your email signature because it's at the top of the email. 
  • For a personal email account, include links to your social profiles on social media.
  • Short, inspiring quotes often appear at the end of email signatures. These are more appropriate for personal than business signatures.
  • Leave out any legal disclaimers unless your company requires you to include one.
  • Test your formatted signature with several email clients to make sure it looks the way you want.
FAQ
  • How do I add an email signature in Outlook?

    Setting up or changing an email signature in Outlook is fairly straightforward. However, the process is a little different depending on whether you're using the Outlook app or Outlook.com.

  • How do I create an email signature in Gmail?

    Email signatures in Gmail are created via a slightly different process through either the desktop version, or a mobile browser or mobile app. No matter the platform, start in your account settings.

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