Article
Removing Purchased Apps from iCloud
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Q: I have an iPhone 5 that I bought new a few months ago. I followed the instructions in your Q&A section for Deleting App Data from iCloud and it did not work. I then deleted all iCloud data and even closed my iCloud account and the app data is still on my phone. The location of the unwanted apps is in the App Store, under Purchased, under “Not on this iPhone”—it shows apps that were downloaded free and to the right of each app is a picture of an iCloud with a download arrow on the iCloud. I cannot delete these completely from my phone any way that I know of. Any suggestions on how to get rid of them completely?
- Anonymous
A: Firstly, just to be clear, the apps in question aren’t “on” your iPhone per se, which is why you can’t actually delete them from your iPhone. What you’re looking at is your purchase history from your iTunes Store account, which simply shows you—and provides you with access to—everything that you’ve previously purchased or downloaded with that account.
Note that your iTunes account is separate from your iCloud account, so closing your iCloud account will not get rid of these prior purchases, as they form part of your iTunes Store account history. These entries also do not include any application data—they are simply the actual apps being made available to you so that you can re-download them should you ever want to reinstall them back onto your device.
These entries have little impact other than perhaps cluttering up your purchase history; they take up no space whatsoever on your iPhone, nor do they store any of your personal data—they’re simply a link to the app on the App Store. That said, if you want to remove these from your purchase history for whatever reason, you can hide them by going to the iTunes Store from within the iTunes app your Mac or PC. This doesn’t actually remove them from your purchase history, but will prevent them from appearing in your recent purchases on your iPhone or in your iTunes Purchased section.
To do this open the iTunes Store from within iTunes, and choose “Purchased” from the Quick Links section on the right hand side of the iTunes Store home page. This takes you to your purchase history; from here you can view and re-download any of your previously purchased music, movies, TV shows, apps, or books.
From the “Apps” section, simply hover over any app that you would like to hide, and a small “X” will appear at the top left corner of the app icon. Clicking on this will remove the app from your visible purchase history on all of your devices.
Again, this only hides the app—it doesn’t permanently remove it. You can see any apps (and other iTunes Store content) that you’ve hidden by going into your iTunes Store account settings and selecting the “Manage” option beside “Hidden Purchases” section. This brings up a screen similar to the Purchased listing above, but instead showing only those purchased items that you’ve hidden.
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1
This doesn’t work with iOS7.0-7.0.2
If the apps are hidden in iTunes, they are still visible from the AppStore “purchases” section on the iOS7.0 devices.
Posted by Bertrand on September 30, 2013 at 9:10 PM (PDT)
2
Q. Would it be possible to actually ‘delete’ the unwanted, old apps, instead of just ‘hiding’ them from iCloud if logged into iTunes on a Mac or PC? Then in iTunes show all apps, then select the ones to delete?
Anxiously awaiting your reply!
Thanking you in advance,
Brenda
Posted by Brenda on October 8, 2013 at 4:05 PM (PDT)
3
Hi.
Any way I can delete recent downloaded app, History which shows on iTunes download page?
Thank`s.
C. Robert.
Posted by C. Robert on October 15, 2013 at 3:55 AM (PDT)
4
I also want to know how to actually delete an app because the one that is on iCloud is corrupted and will not work no matter how many times I hide it, delete the data, etc. It is a free library app that is no longer working on my iPad.
Posted by Pat on October 18, 2013 at 8:23 AM (PDT)
5
Agree with Bertrand. Hidden in iTunes is not hidden in iPhone for iOS 7. Is there something else?
Posted by Bob on October 18, 2013 at 3:08 PM (PDT)
6
Yeah, I’d like to delete as well not just hide. My kid downloaded apps that I need to completely REMOVE from everywhere and not have them be downloadable again.
Posted by shabnam on October 23, 2013 at 8:02 AM (PDT)
7
Figured it out for iOS7 devices. Hide the unwanted apps in iTunes on your Mac or PC as described. Then go to your iOS7 device. Go to settings and iTunes & Apps Store. Click on your Apple ID, which will bring up a menu. Click on Sign Out. Leave settings and reopen App Store app on your iOS7 device. Go to your purchase history, which will now be blank. Click on Sign In and reenter your information. All the apps that were persistent although you hid them are now GONE! This worked for my iPhone and iPad.
Posted by HiEyes on October 25, 2013 at 3:49 PM (PDT)
8
@Posted by HiEyes on October 25, 2013
Thanks your suggestion worked!
Posted by Justin_Time on November 6, 2013 at 11:32 AM (PDT)
9
It worked! thank you for the suggestion..
More power!
God Bless!
Posted by Mr. Marc Concina on December 8, 2013 at 11:53 AM (PDT)
10
Thanks HiEyes, it really works
Posted by wlk on December 20, 2013 at 12:35 AM (PDT)
11
Thank you so much HiEyes you are a life saver.
Posted by Goofy1u2c on December 21, 2013 at 7:28 AM (PDT)
12
the tip at Posted by HiEyes on October 25, 2013 at 2:49 PM (PST) works!
thanks man, have a great year!
Posted by person on January 4, 2014 at 2:28 PM (PDT)
13
wow , thank you so much HiEyes. This was one of the reason for my breakup (Which turned out to be a great thing) My ex was told I had a dating app on my phone , which i had no idea about so i showed her that there is no dating app on my phone, We went to the app store and the cloud was in the corner showing that it was on my Itunes account somewhere. After doing some research I found out the app was downloaded 2 years prior from a guy at work explaining to me how the app worked. True story
Posted by chubzgsxr on February 23, 2014 at 8:19 AM (PDT)
14
HiEyes tip didn’t work for me on my ipod touch! :( What do I do, every time I log in again it’s all there again? I erased everything from itunes… Sometimes I hate Apple :/
Posted by Nathan on April 4, 2014 at 2:48 PM (PDT)
15
I hate that! I think The Apple should adding DELETE for the purchased APPS as wellas free Apps. Leaving it in the icloud apps from iPhone is really annoying me.
Posted by bearmon2010 on May 3, 2014 at 12:40 PM (PDT)