How do I delete an iPhone application from iTunes?

Now that I have a shiny new iPhone, I've gone a bit wild adding applications from the iTunes Application Store. So many applications that it's out of control. Now I want to delete some, but each time I delete them on the iPhone then hook the phone up to the computer, they reappear! :-(

Dave's Answer:

You aren't the only person to be puzzled by this problem, from what I have been reading on blogs and discussion boards, so don't feel like you're doing something wrong. :-)

The trick is to realize that you probably have iTunes configured to automatically sync all of your Apps with your Apple iPhone. Which means that if you delete it on your phone, iTunes dutifully adds it back, just like it's supposed to do so.

One solution you can do is to stop syncing, but what I think works better is to just delete the apps you don't want from the iTunes application on your computer and your iPhone will only have what you want without you fiddling with it directly or fighting the sync process.

Here's how I deleted an unwanted application and what happened when I resync'd the iPhone afterwards. First, here's a small subset of the apps I've already downloaded:

It's not obvious what to do here, but if you hold down the Control key and click on an application icon. You see:

Choose "Delete" as I am doing, and the icon -- and application -- vanishes. Well, not without you confirming that's really what you want to do:

You can, of course, check "Do not ask me again" if you'd rather not have this extra confirmation window each time you axe an app. But there's still another one left:

Choose "Move to Trash" if you're truly done with this iPhone application and don't want to ever drop it on your phone again, otherwise you can opt to "Keep Files" if you want.

Next time you sync, here's what you should see if you haven't also manually deleted the app on your shiny new iPhone too:

I have to admit that at this point I found things a bit confusing: i selected "Don't Transfer", on the belief that it meant that the apps from my iPhone wouldn't then be copied back onto the computer and it didn't, but it also didn't actually copy the new apps I'd downloaded from the iTunes Application store until the second time I sync'd up my phone. Your experience may vary, but don't be surprised if you have to sync once or twice extra before everything's all as you want.

Finally, if you haven't been here before, I encourage you to check out the extensive iPhone help offered here, all gratis, of course.

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Categorized: iPhone and Cell Phone Help (Article 8397, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: apple iphone, apple itunes, iphone apps, itunes application store, sync
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Reader Comments To Date: 25

Andy said, on July 19, 2008 1:26 PM:

Ya I couldn't figure out the apps delete either its such an easy fix I'm glad Dave figure it out I also figure out u need more than one app for the applications icon to show up in itunes or maybe my itunes is being funny but it worked for me. So simple but awesome advice!!

Bonnie Rottstin said, on September 8, 2008 2:33 PM:

Regarding the second question about whether or not you want to keep the app. I said yes. And now I want to restore it. I'm sure it is probably very simple to do, but I don't know how. When I look in Google I see how to do it on a jailbroken phone, but I have no jailbroken phone. Let's just say I deleted scrabble.ipa. Where is it kept and what do I do with it to restore it. As I remember it is still in something like the mobilesynch folder and I know to use Tinkertool if it is hidden. I've already made a backup copy of all my .ipa files.

Peter said, on September 9, 2008 7:19 PM:

I've got two Macs, a work system and a home system. I did all of my new iPod touch setup on the home system, including downloading a bunch of music & apps. I just plugged the iPod into my work system to charge the battery and it proceeded to wipe all of my music and my apps!!! The only question it asked is if I wanted to BACKUP my apps.

Rude behavior to say the least. Any known fix for this?

Chris said, on December 14, 2008 12:10 AM:

my iPhone do not sync an application from iTunes

liam said, on January 6, 2009 3:06 PM:

i have a question.

i bought an unlocked iphone from ebay and now the applications close after about 3 seconds, and i want to delete the applications but they arent in my itunes library just on my phone, how else do i delete them permanently ?
please someone reply

Marc Michaud said, on March 31, 2009 12:46 PM:

I have a quick question, I purchased a iphone straight from china and I was going through it and noticed that it did not have Itunes App on it. If im not mistaken when you purchase an iphone from the Apple Store,does it not already have the Itunes App on it ? If not how do you add that App to it?

Because what it does when I hook it up to my computer - it comes up with USB option.

I downloaded Itunes8.0 and after I plugged in the phone and it does not show up in Itunes -

Please help

Snapdragon said, on May 25, 2009 7:51 AM:

On The Weather Channel, I use several cities while traveling, but cannot DELETE them out of the second box (Recents) - no edit or delete button there. I don't want cities piling up. How do I delete?
Ipod Touch

Sean Tan said, on December 22, 2009 12:54 AM:

Thx! That helped a lot! :-)

De said, on January 4, 2010 8:31 AM:

I tried what you said but I have an applicationi that hasn't completely downloaded. I can't delete it. When I hold the icon down no x appears to delete. I have been waiting for it to download for 3 days. Please help.

Dave Taylor said, on January 4, 2010 7:45 PM:

I've seen that too, De, but I have no clue what to suggest, other than to get connected to a wifi network, go into the iTunes app store, then reselect the app to get it to download successfully. Then delete it.

ap said, on January 9, 2010 7:03 PM:

Doesn't work in Windows

JOE STANDISH said, on March 28, 2010 10:26 PM:

I want to delete files from my iPhone no stupid desktop connection.

Larry said, on May 4, 2010 9:05 PM:

I must say, Dave, thank you for having such a wonderful and helpful website!!! Thank you for being so knowledgeable about the IPhone!! I have tried the help menu in ITunes many times and that help menu is terrible, never answers my questions or problems and to be quite frank, it is like reading a Japanese instruction manual! I applaude you for your knowledge and helpful advice and detailed instructions!! I guess someone has to do it for all us technological
dummies out there. I am sure I
speak for many people, THANK YOU!!!!!

MBRIDGE said, on June 10, 2010 2:18 PM:

Thanks for this posting.

Kate said, on June 19, 2010 12:58 PM:

Thanks for the iTunes help Dave. Now why isn't that in iTunes help?

aj said, on October 2, 2010 11:45 AM:

thanks very much - very helpful!

thanks said, on November 2, 2010 9:05 AM:

yeah it seemed to make more sense the deletion would occur in the ipad screen not the itunes app section. though i suppose with multiple devices you may have apps on either, both, or obviously neither (in which case candidates for deletion).

Marci Liroff said, on December 5, 2010 12:03 PM:

Thanks SO much for this. I simply couldn't figure out how to delete an app from the list.

Rebekah said, on April 7, 2011 12:30 PM:

YAY! Thank you so much for this! I have had this crazy annoying app (Dragon Dictation) on my phone and everytime I try to text it says what I'm texting aloud --- so that everyone around me can hear. So embarrassing. I've had to mute my phone just to text for months now. Not anymore. Thank you!

Leslie said, on May 20, 2011 10:21 AM:

Ok - this was easily the best written advice I found. So easy to do when you have pictures to follow. Thanks.

Carl said, on June 27, 2011 11:23 AM:

What isn't clear is... if you delete an app from iTunes, does it completely delete the app from your account? Or can you still get it back through the iStore Purchase History?
I have several apps that, at the present time, I doubt I'll ever use again. They're set to not sync onto my phone, but they're still in iTunes of course. And I'm hesitant to delete them from iTunes because one or two were relatively expensive and, you know, as soon as I decide to delete them, I'll think of a good use for them and want them back.

markus said, on July 9, 2011 12:33 PM:

Now that's what I would like to know: completely erase purchases from my iTunes account as if I never ever purchased them. It annoys me that they are still in that list. Haven't figured it out, because Apple doesn't allow you to manage your purchase history yourself.

Barney said, on September 27, 2011 3:52 AM:

Cheers for the information, it now seems straightforward and easy to delete unwanted aps

MauiMacMan said, on May 24, 2012 11:26 AM:

thanks Dave, it helped!

abuabdellah said, on November 8, 2012 3:38 AM:

THANK YOU

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

How do I delete an iPhone application from iTunes?

Reader Comments To Date: 25

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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