diff --git a/doom-modeline-segments.el b/doom-modeline-segments.el
index a068b1f..bad947d 100644
--- a/doom-modeline-segments.el
+++ b/doom-modeline-segments.el
@@ -1586,28 +1586,26 @@ mouse-1: Toggle Debug on Quit"
              (doom-modeline--active)
              (bound-and-true-p mu4e-alert-mode-line))
     ;; don't display if the unread mails count is zero
-    (mu4e-alert--get-mu-unread-mails
-     (lambda (mails)
-       (if (> (length mails) 0)
-           (concat
-            " "
-            (propertize
-             (concat
-              (if doom-modeline-icon
-                  (doom-modeline-icon-material "mail"
-                                               :height 1.1
-                                               :v-adjust -0.225
-                                               :face 'doom-modeline-warning)
-                (propertize "#"
-                            'face '(:inherit (doom-modeline-warning doom-modeline-unread-number))))
-              doom-modeline-vspc
-              (propertize (length mails)
-                          'face '(:inherit (doom-modeline-warning doom-modeline-unread-number))))
-             'mouse-face '(:box 0)
-             'help-echo (if (= mu4e-alert-mode-line 1)
-                            "You have an unread email"
-                          (format "You have %s unread emails" mu4e-alert-mode-line)))
-            " "))))))
+    (if (> mu4e-alert-mode-line 0)
+        (concat
+         " "
+         (propertize
+          (concat
+           (if doom-modeline-icon
+               (doom-modeline-icon-material "mail"
+                                            :height 1.1
+                                            :v-adjust -0.225
+                                            :face 'doom-modeline-warning)
+             (propertize "#"
+                         'face '(:inherit (doom-modeline-warning doom-modeline-unread-number))))
+           doom-modeline-vspc
+           (propertize (number-to-string mu4e-alert-mode-line)
+                       'face '(:inherit (doom-modeline-warning doom-modeline-unread-number))))
+          'mouse-face '(:box 0)
+          'help-echo (if (= mu4e-alert-mode-line 1)
+                         "You have an unread email"
+                       (format "You have %s unread emails" mu4e-alert-mode-line)))
+         " "))))
 
 (defun doom-modeline-override-mu4e-alert-modeline (&rest _)
   "Delete `mu4e-alert-mode-line' from global modeline string."