What does the little clock on an app mean in the new dock on iPad and how do I shut it off?

Thanks for posting this conversation.

I had the same problem with one particular app always appearing on the right hand side of the dock with the clock icon. I tried lots of things to remove it but it persisted. I then toggled the switch under Siri & Search for the particular app to turn suggestions off for that app. The icon then disappeared and I've not seen it return yet.

This was after updating to IOS 11.0.2.

It seems crazy that they have an option to remove suggested apps on the dock but this doesn't include time-based suggestions from Siri. Having to turn off suggestions for each app individually is a ridiculous way to resolve this problem.

The icon is telling you why Siri is suggesting the app to you by placing it in the Dock. Siri's proactive abilities means it suggests apps it thinks you are likely to use for a variety of reasons:

• Alarm icon: app suggested because of the time of day
• ‘Location’ arrow: app suggested because of your current location

You can disable apps from being suggested on the Dock by going to Settings → General → Multitasking & Dock and disabling Show Suggested and Recent Apps.

The solution to this was posted in page 2 in October 2017 by Volumetrix.

You need to do 2 different things:

1. Remove "Siri App Suggestions" from the widgets (far left home page). Just tap edit at bottom of widgets page and then remove. (This stops Siri suggesting apps based on when you used them or which apps you use when headphones are connected).

2. Go to "Settings">"General">"Multitasking and Dock" and turn off "Show Suggested and Recent Apps" (this stops recently used apps showing in iPad dock)

User KNB543 posted the solution in another thread:

"This is a Siri App suggestion based on time of day (indicated by the clock badge). For some reason when you disable the Siri App Suggestions on the Dock in Settings, it doesn't disable this. The way I found to remove it was to swipe from left to right and edit the at-a-glance widgets that show up there (scroll to the bottom and hit edit). Remove Siri App Suggestions from the list by clicking on the red - icon and hitting delete. Click done and go back to the home screen and the app and badge should be gone. "

This worked for me.

Turning off the Siri App Suggestions in the Settings app is not sufficient to get rid of that pesky clock badge. It takes two different steps to do this, for a similar reason that the Control Panel screen (swipe up) does not really turn off wifi, but that’s a story for another day.

HOW TO GET RID OF THAT ALARM CLOCK BADGE IN THE DOCK

1. THE SEARCH PAGE

a) Press and release HOME button, once.

b) Swipe right, to get to Search screen on the far left.

c) Scroll up, to get to bottom of ‘widgets’ page.

d) Tap “Edit“ button

e) Tap the red “-“ symbol next to ”Siri App Suggestions”.

notes: do so for any other apps you don’t wan‘t to show on the Search page; you can tap the green “+” symbol to put them back, if you wish.

2. THE SETTINGS APP

a) Press and release HOME button, once.

b) Select the “Settings” app.

c) Tap “General” menu item.

d) Tap “Multitasking and Dock” menu item.

e) Turn OFF the “Show Suggested and Recent Apps” setting.

Gratitude for the following discussions:

Simon@Home

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8087680?answerId=32915914022#32915914022

Daisylaa

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8087680?answerId=32798369022#32798369022

Bwanji & Volumetrix

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8087680?answerId=32408226022#32408226022

Apparently it is Siri suggesting an app to you based on the time of day...for example ‘hey it’s evening, why don’t you open iBooks and read a book’ or things of that nature.

I personally don’t use siri and have her disabled in the restrictions. ALso under the settings and Siri I have app suggestions turned off and I’ve turned off the recent apps part of the dock and I have yet to see it. No guarantees because it may be something that’s pushed out by Apple, but you could poke around in the settings and see if turning things off you don’t want or use help

Hi Cdbrown711. First, this is a Siri suggestion for an app that you appear to use about this time of day. There seems to be no way to stop these suggestions, but you can simply ignore them. Second, it's easy to remove the suggested app from the dock. Just hold any app until they all begin to shake (about 2 seconds), then tap on the ➖ that appears in the corner of the app.

I was able to get mine to go away. I went into Settings/ Siri and Search, scrolled down where the apps are listed and turned off Siri and Search for each one. It did now go away immediately. I had to reboot the iPad to make the change.

I think I’ve found a way to get rid of the icon popping up with the alarm clock, in my case Facebook.

As well as turning off the Multitasking and Dock and Siri Suggestions in Settings/General, as all other posts have said, mine still kept appearing. I then saw that Siri Suggestions was appearing in my Widgets (far left page), I removed it from here (Edit at the bottom of the page) and it disappeared immediately, this morning it hasn’t returned - hopefully it has gone forever.

I was trying a few different things and it seems when I turned the Siri suggestions widget off ( when you swipe right ), that did the trick for me. Btw I still have the recent apps enabled on the dock.

All I can tell you is my experience.

I have recent apps turned off in the dock settings

I have siri and search turned off in the siri settings

Under that there is a list of apps to be included in search/suggestions. I toggled all of those off

I have yet to see the little clock over an app icon.

You can still have apps in the dock and customize it, you just lose that ’helpful’ 3 icons of the 3 most recent apps.

You can also just drag them out of the dock, tapping on the X will delete the app.

I have siri suggested apps turned off and recent apps turned off and do not see any clocks on any of my dock icons.

Settings, general, dock and I have suggested and recent apps turned off. I’ve also turned off most if not all of siri’s suggestions and my dock only has the icons I want in it and there are no little alarm clocks on any of them.

Hi Skydiver119. Actually, the suggested and recent apps on the right end of the Dock work differently from the normal icons you're familiar with. You cannot drag a suggested app out of the Dock; it just pops back in. And when the icons are shaking, the suggested apps are decorated with a minus sign, not an x. Tapping the minus sign removes the suggestion, but does not remove the app, because the real icon for the app is on one of the Home screens.

I maybe late to the show here, maybe it’s solved already. I’ve seen some people have success by turning off Siri Suggestions. The badge appears to only happen with apps that have feeds. I think it is telling you that new information is available, and it’s “Time” to look at the new feed. Turning off the notifications definitely works. The only 2 apps I’ve seen it effect are instagram and Facebook.

Try this: Settings> Privacy> Location Services> System Services> and switch off both Location-Based Alerts and Location-Based Suggrstions. Switching off both may not be necessary but try both first and then try each one in turn If you so wish.