Permanently deleting apps

Thanks for all the help - I guess apple just likes tracking EVERYTHING you do.

oh well...

Apple aready KNOWS you purchased it. It is in your purchase history.

Keeping it available for you to redownload has nothing to do with tracking it.

It's your's and you paid for it.

If Apple were to make it so you could remove apps, they would inundated with request to put apps back that people deleted because these people don't want to purchase it again

I was having this same problem, and have figured out if you open your itunes on the computer on the left under library you will find apps. Click on that and in categories you will find all of the apps you have ever downloaded. click on one and it will display everything in that category, from there click on the app you want to delete and press the delete button on your keyboard, you can then put the app in your trash bin and its gone.

I hope this helps everyone out. I know I am much happier

thank you,

I too was trying to get rid of apps that I no longer used.

Now, they're gone 🙂

It is very easy to permanently delete all apps on the iPad3. Go to settings, then general, then usage, then storage. Under storage, click on "show all apps". Then click om the app(s) you want to delete. The word "delete" will appear there. Apple DOES have a delete apps function, it is simply hidden and can be found under my steps above. Cheers!

That's for uninstalling an app. It is still on your account, as it should be.

This is stupid.
follow me here.

You want an accounting app. there are 4 apps available. In order to find out which app works best for you, you download them and test them out, and through the process of elimination, you are left with the app you want.

your idevice gets wiped or replaced. You want to get back all the apps you had previously, BUT WAIT! Your cloud account has every app you downloaded that you DIDN'T like as well as the ones you DID like!!!

Now your device is loaded with a bunch of useless apps that you don't want and you need to again figure out which app is best for you by going through each app.

There must be a way of CLEANING THE JUNK off the server so you can keep the things you really want and not be confused by the apps you deleted because they didn't work for you.

Apple, please respond!

mute_one wrote:

This is stupid.
follow me here.

You want an accounting app. there are 4 apps available. In order to find out which app works best for you, you download them and test them out, and through the process of elimination, you are left with the app you want.

I wouldn't download them all.

your idevice gets wiped or replaced. You want to get back all the apps you had previously, BUT WAIT! Your cloud account has every app you downloaded that you DIDN'T like as well as the ones you DID like!!!

Okay.

Now your device is loaded with a bunch of useless apps that you don't want and you need to again figure out which app is best for you by going through each app.

You mean all the apps are on your account. None are on your device until you redownload them.

Don't redownload the apps you don't want.

Hide the apps you don't want.

-> iTunes Store: Hiding and unhiding purchases

If your device is wiped or replaced, you restore your backup that doesn't include the apps you don't want.

Chris CA,

How would you not download them all if you're not sure which one worked for you?

I think you misunderstood the scenario.

imp68,

You're right, but this is a hypothetical.

alright, say your device isn't wiped and you haven't backed up in between purchases or the computer with your backup stored on it is unavailable. You accidentally delete the app you like. going to purchases reveals 3 programs with similar icons. which app was the one you were using? How can you tell without downloading the purchased apps and trying them out?

Just think a little bigger picture here - the average Apple user is never going to figure any of this out and it will lead to a huge amount of confusion and frustration on the user's part.

It seems like every solution is more convoluted than it needs to be in this situation.

permanently deleting apps you don't want, never use, or never want to open again should be a lot easier than this.

Don't get me wrong, Apple has many strong points and I don't mean to offend anyone, but Apple very frequently neglects the number of actions it takes to do common tasks. I shouldn't need to preform 5 or 6 actions just to 'Hide' an application that I don't want, especially when invariably it's close to 100:1 apps I don't want to ones I do. Over time, there will be an amazing amount of undesireable apps in the 'purchased' list.

There has got to be a better way.

"How would you not download them all if you're not sure which one worked for you?"

I certainly don't waste my money on 3-4 purchases of every type of application I want then use only one.

I do a bit of research and purchase one. Even if they are free I don't simply download a bunch.

Apple should have a way to download and app and use it free for a few days. If you don't purchase it within 3 days, it gets locked.

This would definitely prevent the scenario above.

Suggestions here -> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Hi Chris,

I'm not interested in arguing,

and I certainly wouldn't purchase 3-4 apps. That's ridiculous. Fact of the matter is, some apps are free. Some apps are 'Lite'. The 'Lite' versions are pretty much equivalent to a trial version.

I also research apps, but weather the app is the 'best' or not for your intended use, is all up to user experience. sometimes you don't need all the features (and overhead) of the top tier app.

As a side note - I tried the 'hide' option on my iphone4 and it didn't seem to work.

AppStore>Updates>Purchases>list of apps -> swipe does nothing.

regardless, it's still in the cloud. forever.

As a side note - I tried the 'hide' option on my iphone4 and it didn't seem to work.

AppStore>Updates>Purchases>list of apps -> swipe does nothing.

This seems to have been broken with iOS 6.

Suggestions here -> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

You can still hide them in iTunes.

While restoring purchases on a new/replaced device from iCloud, if iOS does not restore HIDDEN apps, that would be the right solution. If I need to reinstall a hidden app, I just unhide it and restore. This way, all the apps are there in our account but only the VISIBLE apps are downloaded to our device.

@ dme0979: 😎 Thanks for this piece of advice! Yours was the only one which got rid of the unwanted apps permanently. Thank you once again!!! 🙂 "I know I am much happier" And so am I 😀

😎 Thanks for this piece of advice! Yours was the only one which got rid of the unwanted apps permanently. Thank you once again!!! 🙂 "I know I am much happier" And so am I 😀

dme0979 wrote:

I was having this same problem, and have figured out if you open your itunes on the computer on the left under library you will find apps. Click on that and in categories you will find all of the apps you have ever downloaded. click on one and it will display everything in that category, from there click on the app you want to delete and press the delete button on your keyboard, you can then put the app in your trash bin and its gone.

I hope this helps everyone out. I know I am much happier