How to delete apps on your iPhone (and save their data)

By

apple iphone 7Sean Gallup/Getty

  • Deleting iPhone apps is an easy process that takes seconds.
  • While the process of simply deleting an iPhone app is straightforward, there’s a more advanced form of deletion that can archive your app’s data before you remove it.
  • If you happen to delete an app accidentally or you decide you want the app again later on, you can redownload apps from the App Store.

 

Certain iPhone apps sound great in theory, but once you’ve download them, you realize they’re not as good as the reviews made out or that those pesky "in-app purchases" are necessary for any level of real functionality.

Maybe you’ve just stopped using an app because you’ve found something better and now you’re scrolling through seven screens worth of apps when you really only use about two. If this sounds like your situation, it might be time to delete some of the iPhone apps that you don’t want or need.

Doing so is a quick and painless process that should take you a few seconds or less. You don’t need any special tools or even a lot of technical know-how to be able to complete the process.

Ready to get started on deleting your unwanted apps from your iPhone? Here’s how to do it.

The basic way to delete apps from your iPhone

app deleteApple; Business Insider

  1. Press and firmly hold the icon of the app you want to delete. It may take one or two seconds, but wait for all of the icons on your screen to begin shaking back and forth and little Xs appear at the top of each one.
  2. Press the X which appears at the top left corner of the app you want to delete. Doing so will launch a prompt which asks you to confirm your deletion of the app in question or to cancel.
  3. If the app you’ve chosen to delete was the right one (a slip of the finger happens from time to time!), go ahead and click on "Delete." Otherwise, click "Cancel" and repeat the process with the correct app.
  4. And voila! You’ve just deleted the app you no longer want.

If you accidentally delete an app that you actually wanted, don’t worry — you can easily visit the App Store on your iPhone and redownload the app quickly and easily.

Given that your past downloads are stored in the cloud, redownloading has the added advantage of not requiring you to re-enter your iTunes account username and password before restoring the app to your phone.

Note that if you do need to redownload an app you deleted, you’ll likely have to re-enter any app-specific login information or reconnect the app to Facebook or any other social media apps you’d previously integrated. 

But if you’re looking to remove an app and retain its data so you can redownload it later, you’ll want to try a different method.

The advanced way to delete apps from your iPhone

iphone_settingsApple; Business Insider

If you want to delete multiple apps at once, or you want to "Offload" an app — removing it from the iPhone but archiving its data, allowing you to pick up where you left off if you reinstall the app — you should go through this process instead of the tap-hold-jiggle-X deletion.

  1. Open your iPhone’s settings (the icon looks like black gears on a gray box).
  2. Tap the "General" tab.
  3. Tap "iPhone Storage."
  4. Scroll down to find a list of apps and tap the one in question.
  5. Tap "Delete App" then confirm by hitting "Delete."
  6. Alternately, hit "Offload App" and then confirm by hitting "Offload App," as depicted below.

offload appApple; Business Insider

Note that these same processes of deletion will work for apps on iPad and iPod Touch as well. 

Steven John contributed to this article. 

NOW WATCH: Apple forever changed the biggest tech event of the year by not showing up

See Also:

SEE ALSO: The best iPhone for every type of person and budget

Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Jennifer Still)

MustHaves.LA a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.