"Null" app can't be deleted

I had this same problem and just today was able to get my "null" app deleted!! This problem was also causing my backups to fail (either to iTunes or to iCloud). I am on a 6 running iOS 8.3.

Go into Settings, General, Usage, Manage Storage. Once there, find the "null" app and at the far right, touch the Right Arrow ">" to take you to the specific App detail screen. There I was able to see some of the details of the app to let me know which one it was (see picture below). In my case, the Blue Infinity logo helped me find it in the iTunes store...under Purchased Apps. Delete the App from this detail screen right now. Then go find it in your list of Purchased Apps and re-install it. Once re-installed I was able to do a backup to my computer...then I was able to delete it completely! Good Luck! Hope this works for you too.

Man, this was the fix I could not find anywhere else. I kept getting the useless "Could not backup iPhone due to error" and was going nuts until I found this. Turns out I had TWO "null" state apps, and after deleting them from the Manage Storage screen, I was able to backup successfully without even having to reinstall those apps.

Thanks for your help!

Sometimes you may delete the null app from the Manage Storage screen, but the moment you exit and re-enter that screen, it's back again. In my case, I had to identify the app from its version number, as there was no other clue. I used xcode to read the device logs and found a "Removed" entry with that version number, which told me which app it was. I then tried to install it from a fresh download. This failed; the phone went into some kind of locked state and I performed a hard reset. Maybe the hard reset after deleting the null app would have succeeded on its own! Anyway, the logjam was cleared and I am once again able to back up my iPhone.

I had similar issue just now after upgrading my iPad 3 to iOS9 but was due to a NewsStand App. Fixed it using a combination of the comments above. Thanks to Immo Huneke & gkschmahl

Retracing my steps:

1. Upgraded to iOS9

2. As 'NewsStand' has been discontinued a new Folder with all my old NewsStand Apps appeared.

3. As I had no more need for these deleted all these apps & folder

4. Then just happened to see the same (null) app under main Settings Page as the OP Joeden1946

5. Then from 'Settings' clicked through 'General --> Storage & iCloud Usage --> Storage: Manage Storage'

6. Scrolled down (as have many ,many apps this took a while) but found the null icon and tried to 'Delete App'.

7. Restarted Settings but (null) app was still there - (maybe should have tried a hard reset to see if it had disappeared)

8. Repeated steps 5 & 6 and found a version number 2.1.73

9. Ran a Google search on 'version 2.1.73 ipad' and had seen halfway done the list 'BBC Good Food Magazine' - one of the apps I deleted in step 3.

10. Redownloaded app, opened up 'BBC Good Food Magazine', ran 'restore purchases' (but had none), iPad froze and automatically rebooted.

11. After reboot went back to 'Settings' and (null) app no longer there. Yippee!!!

12. Repeated step 5 and found the app 'BBC Good Food' and deleted it.

iPad 3, iOS9

Thanks! This one fixed the problem!

I have this issue on my 6S and I can't fix it.

There is no icon in manage storage, and when I click delete it comes back seconds later. Also the version number is 1.7 so no great clues there, tons of apps have had a version 1.7.

This is super frustrating. I expect more from a company like Apple charging $1500 for a phone. Apple has certainly lost their high levels of polish lately.

iOS 9.0.2 fixed this issue for me.

Sorry reply to the wrong problem .

im having this same problem. I don't have codex. the version number and size of my null app is not in my list of apps on my device or not on my device and a google search didn't help. is there any help you can give me to find it please ?

There is an easier way to do this, especially if you aren't using cloud storage...

Open the AppStore, then follow the link to Purchased apps. scroll down the list observing the icons on the right. Normally the icon will be the box with Open (or Update) or the download from cloud symbol. The "null" apps have the bullseye download symbol for an unstarted download (mine looked washed out). Tap on that. For me, nothing happened for bit then I got a more normal download icon. I tapped on that, download did its thing and voila, all happy.

I Am using a iPod Touch 5, 32 gb, Blue, iOS 9.2. I try deleting them on the scree, but tried deleting them shut my iPod down, then turning it back on and still there. Do i need to do a factory reset, delete every app, take the iOS 9.2.1? I am so confused and annoye. I may have picked up a virus at ny school's wireless internet shared with 3 grades, and parents.

iPhone 6s Plus.

Ok, so I just dealt with this whole same ordeal, I could not find a non-installed app that matched the version number listed. However the method of removal was correct, you simply have to find the app you are missing, even if it's the long hard way.

In my case, the size of the app and the version number were both different as to what was displayed in the Manage Storage area of Settings compared to the App Store right now. I was looking for an app with a version of 3.0.12 and a size of 59mb (google was useless), when I found the app was actually in the App Store as 3.0.1, and a size of 96mb listed. The only way I figured this out was looking thru my list of "Not on this iPhone" apps, and for version numbers that were at least in the ballpark of the one I was missing. The app versions posted are going to be the most updated version, not the one you might have installed and "ghosted".

I also discovered you cannot look at every app's version history as well. Any app that has been removed from your country's iTunes store, you CAN re-download it (for the most part), but you CAN'T see any other information because it's been removed. So I ended up just re-downloading a handful of apps in the 3.0 to 4.0 range, this took awhile yes, but it worked out.

After downloading a few apps, I went back to Settings, the TOP ICON was still a ghost with no name, but when I tapped, instead of saying (null), it had the NAME OF THE APP!!!

So, I didn't DARE delete it right away, I wanted the iPhone to recognize it first. I rebooted (simple off and on), and the Settings page was corrected, the app was in it's proper place with name and icon. At this point, I deleted all the other apps the normal way (jiggles). However the offending app I deleted by using the Manage Storage section of General Settings. This time I could see the name of the app and the icon as well. It deleted just fine, then I rebooted for good measure, and all seems well in the world.

So hunting for the missing app was irritating, but it did work in the long run. This was the only time I've had an issue with an app I simply deleted, all other "ghosting" issues I have had with iOS 9 have been updates that don't finish properly.

I really feel this should be (and should have been) a high-priority fix from Apple's point of view. I've found people that use Auto-Update and they have no idea when apps just disappear from their phone because they weren't paying close enough attention.

The suggestion of delete and reinstall the problematic app in this discussion DOESN'T really solve the problem.

Because in a couple of days after you do so, a couple of other good apps will suddenly appear to have the problem!

This is like a cancer that you think you kill it but after sometime it hits back again!!

I have tried to reinstall my iPhone with a backup and this DOESN'T help.

(I don't want to try a total reset....)

I have written a bug report to Apple.

People who also suffer from this issue, please write a bug as well.

l hope more people can get more attention from Apple....
Apple feedback web page:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Apparently your suggestion is the most helpful solution. Hope someone in Apple pays attention to eventually.

I have a iPhone 6 with ios 8.4.1, since being contaminated with this "null" app, was neither able to back-up nor to upgrade to ios 9. Also the app version is just too simple 7.5, so google won't work in discovering its name.

Thank you so much. This worked perfectly. I would go to usage storage and delete it but it would always come back. My app version was 2.5.1 So I went into App Store/ app purchase/ not on this iPhone/ and basically installed every app that was version 2.5.1 I had about 5 different apps. The weird thing is the one that was messing up my backup was the newest of all the apps and it wouldn't install right away. It took a few times to try and download it. When it finally did download it was greyed out. I just held the app until toggle mode came on and deleted it. And it worked!!! Right away I was able to back up my phone. Thanks !!!