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How Do I Delete Apps on My Smartphone?
These forgotten or infrequently used programs are merely taking up space
VIDEO: Unused Apps May Be Secretly Hogging Space
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Key takeaways
- Unused apps can consume storage, not get updated and sometimes drain system resources in the background.
- iPhone users can delete apps from the Home Screen, App Library or iPhone Storage settings.
- Android users can remove apps through app settings or by managing apps in the Google Play Store.
Got a tech query? AARP members and readers are invited to send me their questions about devices, online safety, social media and navigating today’s technology.
I have all these apps on my phone that I seldom use anymore. Is there an efficient way to get rid of them?
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Typical smartphone users may have a few dozen apps on their devices, and for some folks, a lot more. But only a fraction of those apps are in the average person’s regular usage rotation. That sounds a lot like you and, truth be told, yours truly as well.
You may have forgotten why you even downloaded some apps in the first place.
Perhaps you were seduced by an app that was a fad for about five minutes, or because a job you had or an industry you no longer work in required it. That app is now collecting virtual dust.
If some of the apps that do little more than take up space on your device are past their expiration date, they may no longer receive regular updates or be supported by their publishers, making them vulnerable to cyberattacks. Heck, the app publisher may no longer be in business. And if some apps, unbeknownst to you, are running in the background, they can drain system resources.
Here’s how to remove apps you’re no longer using, on both iPhones and Android.
Remove apps on an iPhone
You actually have several ways to remove apps on Apple’s handsets.
From the Home Screen. Having a lot of unused apps on your device can clutter up one or more of your Home Screens, making those places a good starting point for removing neglected apps.
To do so, press and hold your finger down on the app icon, then tap Remove App from the menu that appears. That brings up a second menu. Tap Delete App to get rid of the app everywhere. If you tap Remove from Home Screen instead, the app icon will disappear, but the app itself will remain in your App Library, which leads to the next method for deep-sixing apps.
From the App Library. Navigate to the App Library from a Home Screen by swiping right to left until you get past all the screens populated with apps. The App Library shows you all your apps on the phone in one place, including titles that may need to be re-downloaded.
Tap the search bar at the top that is labeled App Library so that apps are listed alphabetically by name, right next to their icon.
Press and hold your finger on the listing for the app you want to remove, then tap Delete App. A pop-up will warn you that deleting the app will also remove its data, which should clear up some space. If you’re still good to wave bye-bye, tap Delete.
From Storage Settings. If one of your motivations for deleting apps (and corresponding data) on your device is to preserve storage in one fell swoop, try this method. Go to Settings | General | iPhone Storage and examine the list of apps by size. When you scroll to apps on the hit list, swipe their names from right to left until a red Delete button appears. Tap that button. As with other methods, you will have one more chance to reconsider removing the app. To proceed, tap Delete again.
You’ll also notice an Offload option here. Tapping it will free up storage used by the app but will keep any documents or other data associated with the app. That way, if you ever reinstall the app, assuming it is still available in the App Store, you’ll have that data at the ready.
If you tap the icon for an app that is no longer available in the App Store, a pop-up may indicate so. If that’s the case, tap the Delete button.
Remove apps on Android
Steps for removing apps on Android devices vary, since not every phone on the platform follows the same process. But like the iPhone, you have more than one way to get the job done. On a Google Pixel running Android 17, press and hold an app icon, then tap App Info | Uninstall. When prompted again, tap Uninstall.
Another option is to launch the Google Play Store app and tap your profile picture/icon in the upper-right corner of the screen | Manager apps & device | Manage, which displays a list of apps on the phone. The list can be sorted by different criteria, among them, Name, Size and Least used. This last option is likely to surface strong candidates for removal. Tap the checkbox next to the listed app you want to dispose of | trashcan icon at the upper right | Uninstall.
Poof, they are gone.
Bonus Tip: Bring back deleted apps
If you are having second thoughts about deleting an app you purchased or acquired for free, you can always download it again from Apple’s App Store or the Google Play Store. If it was a premium app, you won’t have to pay again. But whether free or not, the big if is whether an app is still available. Chances are, if you’ve given up on an app that has been idle on your handset, presumably other former users have as well. And that may be a good indicator why you can no longer find it in either app store.
The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.
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