Home Forums Peripherals & Multimedia iTunes, iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple TV How do you delete an app from iPhone?

I have downloaded some apps from the App Store that I now want to delete. I can't find a way to get rid of them on my iPhone or when I access the apps through the cable connection through iTunes on my Mac Pro. What am I missing?

I don't know what you're missing, but there are several ways to delete apps from your phone. The quickest way is to do it directly on the iPhone by touching and holding any app icon until all icons on the screen start to jiggle. You'll notice that each jiggling app icon now sports an 'x' at its left top. Hitting that 'x' deletes the app you manipulate. It's easy to hit the wrong icon, so be careful. As long as the icons are in jiggling mode, you can also drag them around the screen or between screens to rearrange them. When you're done, hit the Home button to lock the icons down again.

The second way to delete apps from your iPhone is via iTunes. Once you load iTunes and connect the iPhone to your Mac, your iPhone will show up in iTunes' left column under 'Devices'. Select it, followed by the apps (from the button bar at the top of the right hand pane). Next, find the app you want to delete from the list on the left of the right hand pane and uncheck the box in front of it. When you're done selecting, hit the 'Apply' button at the screen's bottom right and your iPhone apps will be updated without the app(s) you unchecked. They will remain in your iTunes Library until you remove them there too.

However, if you've got a lot of apps in iTunes that app list can be quite long. In that case it may be quicker to hover the cursor over the icon of the app you want to get rid of (in the right part of the app pane that represents your iPhone screens) and hit the 'x' that will appear on its top left, like in the first example I listed above. Then hit the 'Apply' button.

On the iPhone or iPad, touch and hold the app icon until it starts vibrating and a black circle with a white X appears at the top left corner of the icon. Touch the black circle then touch "Delete" in the window that will appear. The next time you connect to iTunes it will recognize the deletion, but the app will remain in iTunes to be reinstalled at your pleasure.

To delete the app using iTunes, connect your iPhone to the computer and if iTunes does not open automatically, open iTunes. Under the Devices tab on the iTunes tool bar select your iPhone, then select Apps. Scroll to the app in the list of apps on your iPhone and click on the tab labeled "Remove". Then click on the "Sync" button at the bottom right of the iTunes window.

To completely remove the app from iTunes click on the drop down menu at the left end of the iTunes tool bar and select Apps. Again on the Tool bar select "All" then control+click on the app you wish to remove completely and select "Delete" from the Context menu.

Alternaut beat me to the answer by a few seconds, but I will take the opportunity to add that even if you delete the files from iTunes, the App Store retains a record that you purchased/installed the app and at any time you can reinstall it without having to purchase it again.

Dear alternaut and joemikeb: Thanks for the assist in unison. You've been very patient with me for a lot of years.

Please forgive me for not being more precise with my question. I know very well how to get apps off my iPhone. Looking at my question, I didn't really say what I meant. What I can't figure out is how to get the darn things out of the left hand column in the iTunes Apps window...

WAIT A MINUTE! I WASN'T LOOKING CAREFULLY ENOUGH! In the far left edge of the window under LIBRARY in small type, there's a category called Apps. There, I can click on the icons I want to dump and use Delete. Presto! they're gone. Thanks a lot. Now, if I could just get rid of a useless weather icon that doesn't have a black & white circle when they are jiggling, things would be perfect. I assume it has the same status as Passbook and a few others that you just can't get rid of.

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate you guys.

That "useless weather icon" is a built in iOS app. There is no way to delete it. Just drag it to another screen so you don't see it.

That's what I've done. Thanks again for the assist. The answer was right in front of me and I couldn't see it. Sheesh!

By now this may be like mustard after the meal, but to expand a bit on joemikeb's comment about removing Apple's iOS default apps: under normal circumstances you cannot do that. But you can hide them, as he suggested, although the trick I link to here differs from his in details. Please note that this approach is some years old and may no longer apply to current iOS versions. The idea behind it is the same, however, and it can easily be undone if needed as the article explains.

An alternative requires jailbreaking your iPhone, but that's got other consequences you may not want to have to deal with. As with the previous hint, this approach will likely also vary with the iOS version you use. Because of these uncertainties, you'd be well advised to apply due diligence researching your options before you commit.

OK. I read the MacEnstein stuff. Thank you. It was entertaining, but I felt it was more like entertainment during a dull day than a useful maneuver, especially since it will go away whenever you Sync. I Sync at least once a day. I'm better off to just do what I've already done by putting the "useless" weather icon on the last page where I don't have to look at it very often. I have WeatherBug that I paid for and it's great. As far as jailbreaking goes, no thanks. My phone is a tool, but it often morphs into an entertainment piece. I just don't want to do anything that may alter its usefulness or consume time when I don't have it to consume. I appreciate the assist and the background education. Thanks a lot!