If you have an iPhone or iPad and are looking for different ways to manage your device’s storage, you might come across this term – “offload apps”. Yes, it is one of the ways to help users clean up storage space.
In this article, we will look at What indicates offloading apps, How to offload an app on iPhone or iPad, and more details.
Let’s start.
What does unload the application say?
Offloading an app basically means removing the app from the device while keeping the app data along with the settings. Apple first introduced it with iOS 11 and is also available in later versions. This useful tool helps users quickly free up space by offloading unused apps. Indeed, you do not have to delete your favorite photos or videos; just use Apple’s offload tool.
One of the best things about this Storage Manager – Offload Apps is that when you reinstall the app, it works just like before offloading. Yes, suppose you unload the Word application which stores all your documents, when you reinstall it, all your documents and settings will be available before unloading.
When you offload an app, the app icon will still appear in the app library as well as on the home screen; a small download icon will also appear before the app name, which you can tap to install it.
So, yes, there is no need to install any third-party app to manage storage. The app offload tool is available directly in the general settings.
Let’s see how you can use it on your device to offload unnecessary apps.
How to offload an app on iPhone and iPad [Manually]
Offload Apps is not enabled by default, but you can enable it with a few clicks and clean up storage. There are two different ways to offload apps on iPhone and iPad: automatic and manual. Here’s how you can manually offload apps to your Apple device.
- Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap General Settings.
- Select iPhone Storage or iPad Storage.
- Select the application you want to offload.
- Now tap on Offload App option.
- That’s it.
This simple step saves about 563MB of storage on my iPhone! You can do the same to free up space on your device.
How to offload an app on iPhone and iPad [Automatically]
This is a very useful feature and you can also enable auto offload, the feature will only offload apps that are not in use. Here’s how you can enable it.
- Open Settings.
- Scroll down and select App Store.
- Find offload unused apps.
- Enable the toggle to offload unused apps.
- That’s it.
How to remove offloaded apps
Offloaded apps are those that haven’t been used in recent times. Indeed, you may want to remove it altogether in the near future. Therefore, if you want to remove the offloaded apps completely, you can follow these steps.
- Open Settings.
- Tap General.
- Select iPhone Storage.
- Find the app, then select Remove app.
- That’s it.
Obviously, you can also delete the app by simply holding the app icon on the home screen or app library and then selecting the Delete App option.
How to stop offloading apps
If you’ve enabled app offloading on your iPhone and you find that apps are offloading automatically and you want to stop it, here’s how to do it.
- Open Settings.
- Scroll down until you find App Store.
- Tap App Store.
- Find Offload unused apps, then turn off the toggle in front of it.
- That’s it.
How to reinstall offloaded apps
If you manage to clean up the storage on your iPhone or iPad and want to reinstall the offloaded apps, you can do that quite easily. There are two different ways to do this.
As I said earlier, a download icon will appear in front of the app name, you can tap on it for a quick install, if not, follow the steps below to reinstall downloaded apps.
- Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap General.
- Select iPhone Storage or iPad Storage.
- Select the offloaded application.
- Tap on the Reinstall app option.
- That’s it.
Can I offload all applications?
App Offloading works seamlessly with third-party apps as well as some proprietary Apple apps. Talking about default Apple app list, you can offload apps like Apple TV app, Music, Mail, Files, Maps, Freeform, Apple Music Classical, Books, Reminders, Podcasts, Contacts, Calendar, Shortcuts, GarageBand, Measure, Home, Compass, Stocks, FaceTime, Tips, Testflight, iTunes Store, Notes, Translation, Apple Developer App, Calculator, Weather, Voice Memos, Apple Connect, Magnifier, iMovie, Numbers, Pages, Apple Store, KeyNote and Apple Support.
Basically, apps listed on the Apple Store can be offloaded, but essential apps like Phone, Messages, Photos, Safari, Wallet, and Health apps cannot be offloaded.
If you still have questions about offloading apps, you can leave a comment. Also, share this article with your friends.
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