A method, in a mobile electronic device having an input interface and a display, comprising: receiving via the input interface a user input specifying a time interval; receiving messages and storing the messages as received message data within a message store, wherein the time interval is shorter than a range of time from the reception of an oldest message to reception of a newest message such that a subset of the messages represented by the received message data are selected as received messages; determining from the received messages a number of unread messages having a time of reception within the time interval; determining from the received messages a number of read messages having a time of reception within the time interval; determining a value which corresponds to the number of unread messages relative to the number of received messages; utilising the value to generate a graphical indicator (90, 210); outputting on the display, in a message listing interface (88, 240, 280), a list of received messages, wherein the received messages are received within the time interval, and, adjacent the list of received messages, the graphical indicator (90, 210) representative of a number of unread messages relative to a number of received messages stored in a message store, the graphical indicator (90, 210) comprising a fixed-length bar consisting of a plurality of portions, each of the plurality of portions representing a respective different group of message statuses selected from the group comprising: unread messages, read messages, urgent messages and unseen messages, each of the plurality of portions having a different colour, each of the plurality of portions having a respective relative length based on a respective number of messages in the respective different group of message statuses; each of the plurality of portions of the fixed-length bar being dedicated to representing relative numbers of the respective messages; a portion, of the plurality of portions, becoming larger as the respective number of messages that the portion is representing increases, relative to other portions of the plurality of portions; and the portion becoming smaller as the respective number of messages that the other portions are representing increases relative to the respective number of messages that the portion is representing; and receiving selection via the input interface of a message or a message thread in the message listing interface and, in response, causing the message or the message thread to be opened and shown in a message reading interface. receiving via the input interface a user input specifying a time interval; receiving messages and storing the messages as received message data within a message store, wherein the time interval is shorter than a range of time from the reception of an oldest message to reception of a newest message such that a subset of the messages represented by the received message data are selected as received messages; determining from the received messages a number of unread messages having a time of reception within the time interval; determining from the received messages a number of read messages having a time of reception within the time interval; determining a value which corresponds to the number of unread messages relative to the number of received messages; utilising the value to generate a graphical indicator (90, 210); outputting on the display, in a message listing interface (88, 240, 280), a list of received messages, wherein the received messages are received within the time interval, and, adjacent the list of received messages, the graphical indicator (90, 210) representative of a number of unread messages relative to a number of received messages stored in a message store, the graphical indicator (90, 210) comprising a fixed-length bar consisting of a plurality of portions, each of the plurality of portions representing a respective different group of message statuses selected from the group comprising: unread messages, read messages, urgent messages and unseen messages, each of the plurality of portions having a different colour, each of the plurality of portions having a respective relative length based on a respective number of messages in the respective different group of message statuses; each of the plurality of portions of the fixed-length bar being dedicated to representing relative numbers of the respective messages; a portion, of the plurality of portions, becoming larger as the respective number of messages that the portion is representing increases, relative to other portions of the plurality of portions; and the portion becoming smaller as the respective number of messages that the other portions are representing increases relative to the respective number of messages that the portion is representing; and receiving selection via the input interface of a message or a message thread in the message listing interface and, in response, causing the message or the message thread to be opened and shown in a message reading interface.