How to Turn Off Offload Unused Apps: Step-by-Step Guide

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This setting is why your apps keep uninstalling!

Co-authored by Kyle Smith Reviewed by Stan Kats

Last Updated: March 5, 2025 Fact Checked

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Turning off Offload Unused Apps

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Offloading Apps Manually

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Tips

Turning off the Offload Unused Apps feature is easily done through the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad. This feature deletes apps that you haven’t opened in a while, meaning you would need to redownload them. Turning off the feature prevents this from happening. You can manually offload apps if needed. This wikiHow guide will show you how to turn off the Offload Unused Apps feature and how to manually offload apps on your Apple device.

Things You Should Know

Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Go to App Store > Offload Unused Apps.
Toggle off the “Offload Unused Apps” feature to turn it off.
Manually offload apps by going to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. Tap an app and select Offload App.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Turning off Offload Unused Apps

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This is the gray gears icon on your iPhone or iPad home screen.
It’s next to an icon with a white “A” on a blue background.^{[1]
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Tap the toggle next to “Offload Unused Apps”. This will turn off the Offload Unused Apps feature for your iPhone or iPad. The toggle should be gray and in the left position.^{[2]
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- If you want to get rid of a few apps, check out how to delete an iPhone app. You can always redownload them from the iPhone App Store.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Offloading Apps Manually

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This is the gray gears icon on your iPhone or iPad home screen.^{[3]
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This option has a light gray gear icon on a dark gray background.^{[4]
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This will open a new page showing your device's storage capacity and distribution. Note that this button will be called iPad Storage if you're on an iPad.^{[5]
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This will open a page showing the app's details.
This will offload the app from your device. The app itself will be deleted, giving you more storage space, but its data and documents will remain installed. This allows you to reinstall the app later and retain the same settings and data.^{[6]
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