Heading off the grid and don’t want to leave your email contacts hanging? If you use the Gmail app on your iPhone SE 3, you can easily set up a vacation responder to automatically reply to emails while you’re away. Here’s how to do it step by step.
Open the Gmail App
- Tap the Gmail icon on your iPhone’s Home screen.
- Once the app opens, tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-left corner.
Go to Your Gmail Settings
- Scroll down and tap Settings.
- Select the Gmail account you want to set the vacation responder for by tapping the right arrow next to your email address.
Enable Vacation Responder
- Tap Vacation responder from the list of settings.
- Toggle the switch next to Vacation Responder to turn it ON.
Set Your Vacation Dates
- Tap to set the First day and Last day of your vacation.
- Use the date picker to select the dates you’ll be away.
Write Your Auto-Reply Message
- Enter a Subject for your auto-reply (e.g., “Out of Office”).
- Type the Message you want people to receive when they email you.
Limit Replies to Your Contacts (Optional)
- If you only want your vacation message sent to people in your contacts, toggle on Send only to my contacts.
- Leave it off if you want everyone who emails you to get the response.
Save Your Settings
- Once everything’s set, tap Save in the top-right corner.
That’s it — your vacation responder is active and ready to go! Anyone who emails you during your set dates will receive your auto-reply.
Need to Make Changes Later?
You can go back into the Vacation responder settings at any time to adjust the dates or message.
Alternative: Set Vacation Responder from Gmail Web
If you prefer doing this on a computer:
- Go to mail.google.com and log in.
- Click the gear icon in the top-right, then See all settings.
- Under the General tab, scroll down to Vacation responder.
- Fill in your dates, subject, and message.
- Click Save Changes at the bottom.