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Level 1

63 points

Wrong icons showing up for apps...and a possible work-around.

I just upgraded to the iPhone 3G S from an iPhone 3G, and have run into a problem where some apps are showing up with icons from other apps.

I did some searching, and there are a several threads with many other people saying they are having the same problem, so it looks like this needs to be "run up the flagpole" so to speak. I also think I found a common thread that could be used to track down the problem.

I have tried rebooting the iPhone, syncing the iPhone, deleting and re-installing the apps from the iPhone app store, and they still just show back up with the incorrect icon.

Right now Bejeweled 2 shows the Statefarm app icon, Hero of Sparta shows the Flight Control icon, and the Kinda app shows the Trixel icon.

The common thread is that I downloaded all these apps directly from the iPhone app store and not through an iTunes sync. Two of them I already owned prior to the download (kindle and bejeweled2), so it doesn't seem linked to buying them NEW now, but in fact DOWNLOADING them.

If I delete the apps (through the home-screen, or by unchecking them in the iPhone/iTunes application tab) and then reinstall them through iTunes instead of the iPhone app store, they show up just as they should.

It appears that it's an icon caching issue to me. I didn't have Trixel, Flight Control, or Statefarm installed at the time, but their icons showed up on those apps when I downloaded an app from the iPhone app store.

My wife's 3G(non-S) 3.0OS phone doesn't seem to have this issue, she she has, and has had, few fewer apps installed than I have.

iPhone 3G S, iPhone OS 3.0

Posted on Jun 25, 2009 8:34 AM

62 replies

Jul 16, 2009 3:05 PM in response to Hickeroar

ok so i figured it out follow these steps carefully.plug in your phone to itunes, then double click the phone, go to the application tab, make sure that SYNC Aplications tab is checked as well as selected application tab is checked. then uncheck all the apps everyone of them then click on apply.let it remove all the apps this will take a couple minutes when it is done reset your phone by holdong the 2 buttons until the apple sign appears , when it is finished do the same thing but this time check all the apps you want then click apply , this will reinstall all the apps and fix all the pics on them i promise. this works but it is not a perm solution you may have to do it as you add new apps if they mess up. but it will get you by until the new software comes out to correct this problem

Jul 18, 2009 4:26 PM in response to Hickeroar

Had phone for two days. Was working great last night. Turned on the phone to be greeted by a bunch of mixed up app icons and pictures. Get it together apple. Get that patch sorted .

abushard

Level 1

0 points

Jul 21, 2009 9:50 AM in response to Hickeroar

Same thing here...got the 3Gs last week and all of a sudden it just scrambled some icons and a few of them are just hazed over. Hope this gets fixed soon...now i have to read the apps instead of find the icon, oh well. Still love the phone but this needs to get fixed ASAP

Jul 21, 2009 10:05 AM in response to abushard

just go to reset in settings and erase all content and data. then do a restore, this should fix it. do NOT restore from backup.

Jul 21, 2009 10:10 AM in response to macho_man

I wouldn't follow the advice of wiping your device. It is likely to just happen again. For some people, wiping the device is a major loss of time.

Mine corrected itself by not doing anything at all and hasn't broken again since.

Jul 21, 2009 10:15 AM in response to psrichmond

psrichmond wrote:
This worked for me:

1. Delete the apps with the incorrect icons from the iphone.
2. Delete the same apps from iTunes.
3. Download the apps from iTunes (it still recognized that I bought them previously).
4. Sync the iphone.

Has anyone tried this? It worked fine for me with no restores and wiping.

Joeec

Level 1

9 points

Jul 21, 2009 10:40 AM in response to psrichmond

This worked fine for me on all 3 generations of iPhone

Jul 22, 2009 2:19 PM in response to stefeb

I have tried all the suggestions restoring the iphone to a new phone and not using backup. Resyncing etc. This is still not working anytime I connect to Itunes or turn the phone off and back on it returns. It is an internet shortcut and not an app any other suggestions?

Jul 22, 2009 8:55 PM in response to Hickeroar

I am having the same problem. At first I was getting Icons from Apps I deleted. I did a full restore back to a blank Phone. Now I get gray icons. I hope Apple fixes this soon. A full restore fixes it for about a day but after that it resorts back to the gray icons after a reboot.

Krellan

Level 1

13 points

Jul 28, 2009 12:37 AM in response to Hickeroar

Add me to the folks that have gotten bit by this bug.

Pretty much ALL my app icons are scrambled, except the original ones that come with the phone. Dozens of icons. None has their original picture anymore, others have different shades of other apps (icons in their grayed-out state, etc.).

The problem started to happen, then I did the iTunes workaround to reinstall the icons: uncheck apps, sync, check apps, sync. It erases the data for the icons, though. This worked to fix the problem, temporarily, until I rebooted the phone. Then, it got worse! Now, instead of a few icons out of place, dozens of them are shuffled around.

It's just cosmetic. The apps all run normally.

I'd love to see a fix for this, though!

Jul 29, 2009 7:24 AM in response to Hickeroar

This is highly aggravating as well. I had issues w/ my 3GS from the get-go - including horrible battery life... and I had the jacked up icons. I got the iPhone the week it was launched and returned it after a week -geniuses at the store saw the jacked icons and they just replaced the phone. The battery life is no longer an issue, but the jacked icon issue persists.

I encourage everyone here to go to:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

and give Apple feedback on this - no telling if anyone is monitoring these threads or not - but from what I hear, they DO read the feedback, although they never reply there.

rkkeller

Level 1

137 points

Jul 29, 2009 7:49 AM in response to Hickeroar

This is fixed in the soon to be released 3.1 update.

Irwan

Level 1

0 points

Aug 4, 2009 7:52 AM in response to Hickeroar

I found a fix that works for me from this site but I modified it a bit. And it's sooo easy and simple.

1. Go to App Store and find a free app (any app)
2. Install the app
3. Once it says loading, tap on the icon to pause the download
4. Hold the power button until red slider shows up and turn off iphone
5. Wait a bit (1 minute) and turn it back on

This fix works for me. Don't know if it'll be permanent. But this is much much better than restore. Do try it.

Krellan

Level 1

13 points

Aug 7, 2009 2:08 AM in response to Hickeroar

I'm pleased to mention that this is FIXED for me in the latest iPhone 3.0.1 software.

When I ran the upgrade, I had pages and pages full of scrambled icons. After the iPhone rebooted after the upgrade, all the icons were magically restored to what they should be. I've installed several apps, deleted several apps, and moved some around since then, and they all have retained their proper icons! That's good. I'm pleased with Apple for fixing this, even though it wasn't announced as part of the small changelog that came with the 3.0.1 upgrade notice.

Aug 7, 2009 6:51 AM in response to Krellan

Well, I saw this also. But then I found out that it wasn't 3.0.1 that fixed it. The fix was the Restore that is done as part of the 3.0.1 upgrade. The way this was brought home: I added a new app and after rebooting the phone it had the wrong icon again. But a simple Restore fixed it.

Wrong icons showing up for apps...and a possible work-around.