View full headers on a phone

Short answer: on most phones you can't. The built-in Mail app on iPhone and iPad, the Gmail app on Android and iPhone, and the Outlook mobile apps don't have a "show original" or "view source" option. The reliable fixes are to open your webmail in a browser (on the phone, if your provider's web version offers it, or on a computer), or to get the message to a computer as an attachment. Once you have the headers, paste them into the analyser, which works fine in a phone browser.

What each app can and can't do

Tapping the sender's name or the "details" link in these apps shows the From and To addresses and the date. That isn't the headers. It's the same tidy summary as on a computer, and it says nothing about where the message really came from.

Watch out: Forwarding the message from your phone doesn't help. A normal forward is a new message from you: it gets your headers, not the original's. The Received: lines and authentication results that matter were added on the way to your inbox (RFC 5321 §4.4) and stay behind.

Workaround 1: webmail in the phone's browser

Some providers' web versions do offer full headers, and you can sometimes reach them from a phone browser.

• iCloud Mail. Apple documents More → Show All Headers for iCloud Mail on the web (Apple Support). Apple's guide is written for a computer; whether icloud.com offers the full mail view in your phone's browser varies. If it shows a cut-down mobile page, try your browser's "Request Desktop Website" (Safari, in the page settings menu) or "Desktop site" (Chrome, in the ⋮ menu).
• Gmail. In a phone browser, mail.google.com normally shows a simplified mobile version without Show original. Requesting the desktop site sometimes loads the full Gmail interface, where the Gmail steps apply, but Google doesn't document or support this, and it may just send you to the app.
• Outlook.com and Outlook on the web. Same idea: request the desktop site and follow the Outlook steps (More actions → View → View message details). We haven't been able to confirm this works reliably on phones.
• Yahoo Mail and AOL. Same idea again, using More → View Raw Message from the Yahoo guide. Also unconfirmed on phones.

Desktop pages on a phone screen are cramped. Zoom in, find the message's own "more" menu, and be patient. If it doesn't work after a couple of tries, use a computer.

Copying on a phone. In the raw-text views, press and hold on the text, choose Select All, then Copy. On a long page, Select All can be slow. You don't need to trim anything: the analyser reads up to the first blank line, where the header section ends (RFC 5322 §2.1), and ignores the body.

Workaround 2: use a computer

The least fiddly route, if you have access to one. Sign in to your webmail on the computer, or open the message in a desktop mail app, and use the steps from the all-clients guide. Mail accounts sync, so the suspicious message on your phone is waiting in the same inbox on the computer (unless you deleted it; check Trash or Bin).

Workaround 3: forward it as an attachment

If someone else (a colleague, your IT team) needs to analyse it, or you want to move the message to a device where you can open it, send it as an attachment rather than an ordinary forward. An attached message keeps its original headers.

On phones this is limited too: as far as we can tell, neither the iPhone Mail app nor the Gmail app offers a true "forward as attachment". It is available on a computer: Gmail on the web has More → Forward as attachment (Gmail Help), and Thunderbird has Message → Forward As → Attachment. Your IT team may have its own "report" button in Outlook that does this for you.

Workaround 4: a different mail app

Some third-party mail apps for iOS and Android include a raw-source or headers view. We don't list or recommend specific ones here; if you try one, remember you're giving it access to your mailbox, so stick to well-known apps from your phone's official store.

If you only have your phone and need an answer now

Without the headers, you can still be careful:

• Don't click links or open attachments in the message.
• Don't reply, and don't call numbers in it. Contact the company or person through a number or website you already know.
• Use your mail app's Report spam / Report phishing / Junk option. That helps your provider even if you never see the headers.
• When you're back at a computer, get the headers and check them: how to spot phishing from headers explains what to look for, and display-name spoofing covers the most common phone-screen trick, where the name looks right but the address doesn't.

Next

Once you've got the headers, paste them into the analyser. Then read Received headers and Authentication-Results to make sense of what it shows.