How to Turn off Offload Unused Apps on iPhone

September 5, 2024 By Janne Smith No Comments 5 minutes

The flexibility of keeping apps and only offloading them is a great feature, but constantly reinstalling the offloaded app can be a hassle. Our guide on how to turn off offload unused apps helps you resolve the issue.

When you offload unused apps, this saves up a great deal of space without ever deleting the background data. For example, you can save your favorite game’s progress even after offloading the app from your device. You can try reinstalling the application and continue using the saved profile data.

However, it’s mostly inconvenient to reinstall the deleted apps. And that’s where you may want to learn how to disable offload unused apps. That said, this guide briefly walks you through why you may want to disable the offloading unused apps features, how to disable offload unused apps and how to re-enable it if needed and wrap up with FAQs.

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Should I Turn off Offload Unused Apps?

Here are 2 common reasons why you might want to turn off offload unused apps feature on your iPhone or iPad:

1. Less Storage Space

Saving up storage space is the first reason why you would want to offload unused apps. However, reinstalling the app after a limited amount of storage space is available can be another hassle. Following this, you’ll have to constantly delete other apps and files to make up the required space for application reinstallation.

2. Unavailability of WiFi or Cellular Data

There can be instances when you don’t have cellular data or WiFi connected. Meaning, you won’t be able to install the offload apps iPhone. For example, if you leave for a hike and need your tracker running, but it turns out it’s offloaded and you can’t reinstall it. For this, you might turn to solutions like how to turn off offload unused apps.

How to Disable Offload Unused Apps: A Brief Tutorial

This feature rolled out during iOS 11’s release in 2017, and since then, it’s been a bliss for many, and a hassle for others. Initially, it does seem alluring of how your data will be there even when the app isn’t. However, if it’s one of the important apps that you might want in the future, then the hassle of reinstalling the offloaded app isn’t preferable.

Moreover, you don’t have a say in which applications Apple decides to offload. That’s where iOS users route for ways on how to disable offload unused apps. That said, here’s how you can do so on your iPhone:

Go to your device Settings.
Navigate and select App Store.
Toggle off the bar beside “Offload Unused Apps.”

That’s all. Once you disable the feature, you won’t have to deal with offloading apps and the inconvenience of reinstalling them.

Is It a Good Idea to Offload Unused Apps?

It’s better to offload unused apps if you prefer always having extra iPhone storage. And despite the app not being there, the data is available and you can always reinstall the app and continue without signing in or starting off again. However, there can be a list of reasons why you might want to find out ways for turning off offload unused apps.

How to Offload Unused Apps on iPhone and iPad

Now that you know how to disable offload unused apps, you might still want to enable the feature again to save the storage space. Here’s how to offload apps iPhone or iPad:

Go to Settings.
Scroll down or use the search bar to find and select App Store.
Scroll down. Toggle on Offload Unused Apps.

How to Offload Unused Apps Manually

As mentioned before, this feature can be a great way to save storage space. But, there can be other challenges, like constantly reinstalling the app when there’s no WiFi. However, if you enable the offloading apps feature, then that offloads any app it wants to, without requiring user permission.

To avoid this situation, you can manually offload specific apps from the Settings. Here’s how to do that:

Go to your device Settings.
Scroll down and select General.
Go to iPhone Storage.
Scroll down to see the Applications list. Select the one you want to offload.
Select Offload App to confirm the action.

FAQs - How to Turn off Offload Unused Apps

What does offload app mean on iPhone?

Offload app is Apple’s feature which deletes apps from your device without removing its data. For example, even if your favorite is uninstalled, the game progress wil remain. And, whenever you reinstall the app, you can continue with the same progress you left with.

Is offloading an app the same as deleting it?

Offloading the app isn’t the same as deleting it because the data is saved, but only the app is uninstalled. Meaning, you can reinstall the app and continue with the saved information instead of starting from scratch.

How do I turn off offload apps on my iPhone?

You can always Offload apps iPhone, and this can be a great way to save storage space. However, there can be other challenges for why you may want to turn off the feature. Here’s how to do that:

Go to your device Settings.
Navigate and select App Store.
Toggle off the bar beside “Offload Unused Apps.”

Is offload app the same as clear cache?

No, offload apps iPhone isn’t same as clearing up the cache. The offload feature only results in app deletion without wiping off the data. Whereas, clearing the cache removes the temporary files and free up extra space from RAM.

How to disable offload apps on iPhone?

Here’s how to disable offload apps on iPhone:

Go to your device Settings.
Navigate and select App Store.
Toggle off the bar beside “Offload Unused Apps.”

Wrapping Up

Instead of deleting apps to clear out the space, you can now disable the feature and reinstall apps whenever needed without losing app data. And, this article primarily walked you through tutorials for automatically and manually disabling offload unused apps feature along with tutorials on how to enable them as well.