App in limbo between deleted and installed (icon with white circles and lines)

Question

Level 1

9 points

App in limbo between deleted and installed (icon with white circles and lines)

Hey, hope someone can help me, I'm pulling what's left of my hair out.

I deleted an app from my phone last week, planning to reinstall it to fix a bug. I did a forced restart of my phone in between to clear the cache. When my phone rebooted the app returned to my home screen to haunt me, but as a ghost icon with circles and lines. Clicking it does nothing, and deleting and doing another hard reset just gives the same result ad nauseum. I'm on iOS 15.5.

In the App Store, the phone shows as downloaded with the 'Open' button, but tapping that also does nothing.

Weirdly, the app doesn't show up in iPhone Storage, but it does show in my list of apps at the bottom of the main Settings page, albeit with only a couple of settings (Siri & Search, Notifications, Background refresh) rather than the full list that this app normally has.

I've deleted, force restarted and tried again about 30 times now and it's killing me. It's my banking app, so I need to get back in! I'm loath to do a factory reset for one app as it's a pain in the *** having to set the whole phone up again and restore all my preferences, etc. I can download and delete other apps just fine, it's just this one, and I reckon the problem started because I force restarted after deleting, rather than just delete and reinstall.

Has anyone experienced similar and found a way to fix this madness? I'm hoping the next app update (this app has regular weekly updates) might sort it if the App Store allows me to update, as it'd effectively be a reinstallation of the app?

Posted on Jul 3, 2022 7:20 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

MrHoffman

Community+ 2024

Level 10

117,729 points

Jul 3, 2022 8:30 AM in response to captainruin

I’ve used a factory reset to clear apps with those white template-icon cases.

With a local Windows or Mac computer for the backup and restore, and with a decent-speed network to re-download apps from Apple, it takes an hour or two.

It does also mean you will be running the latest versions of iOS or iPadOS and apps—was already doing that here, but some folks are not and are trying to preserve some old app.

Reply

Answer 2

blfr507

Level 2

164 points

Jul 3, 2022 7:33 AM in response to captainruin

Hello there, it sounds like you've tried almost everything! If you're willing, follow the steps in this article: If you can’t download or update apps on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Sorry if it seems similar of what you've already done.

Best regards,

Bryce Keels

Reply

Answer 3

captainruin Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 3, 2022 7:37 AM in response to blfr507

Hey Bryce, thanks for that!

I have indeed tried all of that to no avail. Blast! I think my only hope is to wait for Monzo to update their app tomorrow and pray that reinstalls it. Otherwise I'll either need to factory reset the phone or change backs (both dismal prospects!).

Reply

Answer 4

captainruin Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 3, 2022 8:42 AM in response to MrHoffman

Hey MrHoffman, if I backup locally on my Mac and restore from there, do you know whether that'll preserve all my app and iPhone settings and preferences? It's having to wade through and set all those up again (or hunt for those that weren't preserved) that's filling me with dread.

Reply

Answer 5

Jul 3, 2022 10:50 AM in response to captainruin

captainruin wrote:

Hey MrHoffman, if I backup locally on my Mac and restore from there, do you know whether that'll preserve all my app and iPhone settings and preferences? It's having to wade through and set all those up again (or hunt for those that weren't preserved) that's filling me with dread.

I just did this on an iPad—backup and restore—as part of chasing down a different and unrelated issue, and lost nothing.

Settings, passwords, and the rest were all preserved.

Didn’t lose the open tabs and the tab groups on the active Safari sessions.

I use Mac Finder and Photos to sync photos and videos, so those were all already local to the Mac for the restore.

Worst I’ve noticed in a couple of days’ post-restore usage: did have to re-download some books from iCloud Books and from Apple Books again, as the restore didn’t restore (re-cache) what ePub and PDF books were cached locally. All of the stuff was still in iCloud Books and Apple Books Store, so nothing was lost; just a few extra ☁️ icons to tap.

Reply