In this article, we’ll walk you through how to prevent apps from being deleted on your iPhone or iPad.
Have you ever given your phone to someone, say a kid, and later found out that they accidentally deleted an app, or multiple apps on your phone?
Yeah, I know how that feels, especially if the app/apps contained vital information.
Luckily Apple has a handy feature called Screen Time. With this feature enabled, you can impose restrictions on what people can do with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
For instance, after setting up my nephew’s iPad with his favorite apps, I then disabled the ability for him to delete or download them from the App Store.
How To Prevent Apps From Being Installed And Deleted
To prevent accidental app deletion or installation of new apps follow the following steps:
- Open the Settings app and tap Screen Time.
- If Screen Time is disabled, tap Turn On Screen Time and complete the setup.
- Don’t forget to set a Screen Time passcode, which is different from your device passcode.
- Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
- Make sure the toggle for Content & Privacy Restrictions is enabled.
- Touch iTunes & App Store Purchases and enter your Screen Time passcode to get inside.
- To prevent apps from the App Store from being installed on this device, tap Installing Apps and pick Don’t Allow.
- To prevent apps from being deleted, go back and tap Deleting Apps > Don’t Allow.
Disabling the ability to delete apps from the device removes the Delete App button from the Home Screen when you tap & hold an app and pick Remove App.
Disabling app installations removes the App Store icon from the Home screens and Spotlight Search.
How To Reverse The Restriction Settings
To reverse this, simply follow the above steps and choose Allow instead of Don’t Allow.
You can also turn off Content & Privacy Restrictions, which will disable all such limitations.
