How to View Recently Deleted Apps on iPhone

Deleting an app on an iPhone is a walk in the park. You lightly press the app you want to get rid of and all the apps start wobbling, you tap the “x” icon and the unwanted app disappears.

But is there a way to keep track of all the apps you deleted?

Yes, there is and it is very easy to do. The following sections will show you how to preview deleted apps and also restore them if you want. Without further ado, let’s pe in.

Preview of deleted apps

Once you press the “x” icon and confirm by tapping Delete, the app, along with its data, will disappear. However, it has not disappeared forever. Remember that all your applications (removed or installed) are located within the App Store. You are just a few steps away from accessing them at any time.

To view previous downloads, follow these steps:

1. Open the App Store and tap your profile photo in the top right corner.
   
2. Tap Shopping.
   
3. Tap My shopping.
   
4. Tap Not on this iPhone.
   

If you select the “All” tab, you will be able to see all the applications in your account. The installed ones have the Open button on the right and the ones you removed have a small cloud icon.

How to restore applications

After a while, you may find that you want to go back to some of the apps you deleted. As you might expect, there are a few different ways to restore apps on an iPhone, and all of them are easy.

App Store

You already know how to get to the “Not on this iPhone” tab, so there is no need to repeat the steps. Once you get to the tab, browse the list of deleted apps and tap on the cloud icon to reinstall it. You will need to enter your Apple ID password to confirm and download the app.

The small blue circle indicates the download status. When it’s done, you’ll see the Open button next to the app. The good thing about this feature is that you don’t need to pay twice for the apps you purchased. Restoring the application is enough.

name search

It may be faster to type the name of the app into the App Store search bar and find it this way. The store, of course, remembers your purchases and the process is quite similar to that described above. Tap the magnifying glass icon at the bottom right of the App Store, type the name, and select the app from the results.

The cloud icon appears below the app name; just tap on it to reinstall the app.

Perform a restore using iTunes

For some reason, Apple decided to remove the Apps tab/icon from iTunes 12.7 onwards. But if you haven’t updated iTunes in a while, you may still be able to restore apps. In that case, click on your iPhone, choose Apps, and click Install next to the ones you want to use again.

On the other hand, you can use the Restore from Backup feature on any version of iTunes. However, this may be too much to get some applications. You need to make sure to update iPhone in a timely manner and there is always a risk of losing some of your data. Therefore, it is better to follow the methods described above.

Missing apps

You may notice that some of your apps are nowhere to be found even though you haven’t deleted them. But there’s no need to worry: these apps aren’t gone forever. Starting with iOS 11.0, Apple introduced the Unused Apps feature, which removes apps you don’t use.

All downloaded apps can be reinstalled through the App Store. If you don’t like this automatic feature, it’s easy to turn it off. All you need to do is this:

1. Gonna Settings and touch iTunes and app store.
   
2. Scroll down to Download unused applications.
   
3. Flip the switch to deactivate the function.

Tip: Use Spotlight Search to find missing or deleted apps. Type the name of the app and select the App Store icon if the app is downloaded or downloaded.

Frequent questions

These are the most frequently asked questions about how to find deleted apps on iPhone.

If I delete an app I paid for from my phone, will I have to pay to download it again?

As long as you use the same Apple ID and password, you won’t have to pay to download the app again. Simply visit the App Store on your phone, click the cloud icon and download the content.

You may see a button that says “Buy” instead of cloud. If you use the same Apple ID and password, you shouldn’t have to pay for the app. If it’s a lower cost app and you don’t care, go ahead and download it because you’ll often get a pop-up saying “You’ve already purchased this app.” Unfortunately, that’s not a guarantee, so you may need to contact Apple.

How do I know if I downloaded an app before?

Some apps offer you special benefits for creating an account. Others are apps we don’t use often, so we add them back only when necessary. Luckily, there’s an easy way to tell if you’ve ever used a specific app.

Go to the App Store and type the name of the app. If it has a cloud icon, you’ve downloaded it before using your iCloud account. If it says “Get” or “Buy,” you haven’t had that app before.

If I change my Apple ID, can I still get my apps back?

Unfortunately not. If you delete or lose access to your Apple ID, you will also lose access to all saved information and your purchases. The only solution to this is if you had Family Sharing set up.

Reactivate Family Sharing with your new Apple ID and see if your purchases are available. If you deleted your Apple ID, this may not work because you also deleted all purchases. Alternatively, if you or someone in your family made the purchases and your account is still active, it’s certainly worth a try.

How do I recover a downloaded application?

If you manually downloaded an app, or iOS did it for you, you can easily recover it. Unlike deleting an app, downloading it means the app icon is still on the home screen. Here’s what you can do to identify and recover your downloaded app:

1. Scroll the home screen looking for an app with the download icon.

2. Tap the app and wait for it to download again.

Apps are always available

In short, the easiest way to view deleted apps is through the Purchased tab in the App Store. From there, you can quickly restore multiple apps at once by tapping the cloud icon. The other important takeaway is that the Download Unused Apps feature automatically removes apps. Turn it off to avoid temporarily losing some of your apps.