If you are a newly turned apple-ite, you might have noticed that few (unused) apps disappear on their own. No! It’s not a ghost, or a bug or a plane. It’s your beloved iOS trying to free up some space!
Since iPhones look down upon the concept of expandable storage, we are all stuck with what we get. And, jumping a memory tier on an iPhone usually costs around INR 7000, which makes it hard to justify buying that extra storage, especially when it comes at the cost of your groceries. This is why most of us end up buying the base model and then crib about running out of space!
So, what does our beloved Apple do to combat this problem? Offload apps you haven’t been ghosting for a while. Mind = Blown!
A Closer Look
Basically, Apple’s ‘Offload Unused Apps’ feature was introduced in iOS 11 to save all humanity. The feature magically (automatically) ‘offloads’ apps that you either didn’t use or rarely used when your phone is running low on storage.
Don’t worry, they will be there on your Home screen, but the icons will look a little ashen (grey) with a small cloud logo next to them.
And no, you won’t lose your data because unlike deleting an app, offloading saves the app’s documents and its data on your device. So when you reinstall the offloaded app, all your data will be brought back to life. Neat trick, huh?
Now, if you are an app hoarder, here’s how you can get your crap, oh I mean apps, back!
Sadly, Apple doesn’t present you with a list of the apps that you have offloaded. But, the one saving grace is that your offloaded iOS apps remain in the list of apps that you accessed before.
So, to Reinstall an App –
- Take a trip to the recently used apps.
- Tap on the app you wish to bring back to life
- Then tap on the “Reinstall” button and done!
As you can see, reinstalling offloaded iOS apps is pretty darn easy. So maybe, sit back and let Apple do its thang and marvel at the fact that you will (almost) never have to crib for space ever again! Besides, why question GOD’s doing!
