How to Permanently Delete Apps: Remove Apps from Android

Increasingly generous storage allowances make it easy to install multiple apps, but don't just install them and forget about them. We explain how to delete apps from Android.

How to delete apps on Android

Method one: Via the app info screen

On the latest Android phones you can tap and hold an app shortcut on the home screen or app tray to access its App info. If you don't have this option on your phone, try the following:

• Open Settings: Open the Settings app from the cog icon that will be found on the home screen, in the app tray or on the drop-down notification bar at the top of the screen

• Open Apps & Notifications: Scroll down to and select Apps Notifications, then choose See all apps. Browse the list of installed apps to find any that you no longer wish to keep on your device

• Select an app and choose Uninstall: Having found an app you no longer need, select it to access the App info page, then tap Uninstall

If you see a Disable rather than Uninstall option here then you are not allowed to delete this app; however, by disabling it you prevent it from running and using system resources. If you find something doesn't work properly as a result, revisit this page and click the Enable button.

Disable app Android

Method two: Drag and drop onto Uninstall

If your Android device doesn't have an app tray and all your shortcuts are on the home screen, you can still use the method above for removing apps. However, you may have a quicker option. Not all Android devices will support this, so give it a go to find out.

• Select the home screen shortcut: From the home screen, tap and hold the shortcut for the app you wish to uninstall, then drag it to the top of the screen

• Drag and drop the shortcut on to an Uninstall option: If an Uninstall option appears, drop the app icon on top of it. This method will also work on some devices that feature an app tray, but if you see a Remove rather than Uninstall option you are merely removing the icon from the home screen, not deleting it. You can verify this by opening the app tray and finding the app shortcut staring back at you

Method three

On some Android devices, the ability to uninstall an app from its shortcut icon extends to the app tray (this is your third option). Exactly as you just tried in method two with the home screen, tap and hold an app icon from within the app tray and drag it to the top of the screen to see whether an Uninstall option appears. If it does, drop the app shortcut on top of this option to remove it from your device.

Method four

The final way to uninstall apps from your Android phone or tablet is to reverse the installation procedure. So, open Google Play, browse to the app in question, but rather than pressing an Install button look for an Uninstall button.

Removing app references from Google Play

Even once an app has been deleted from your device, you'll still find a reference of it in the Google Play store on the 'Library' tab of My apps & games. Its appearance here does not mean there is a trace of it on your device, though should you want to also remove this entry simply click the cross to the right.

Dealing with misbehaving app shortcuts

Occasionally an app shortcut on the home screen will misbehave and become unresponsive, and when this happens you don't really want to delete the app but the shortcut itself.

If this happens, delete the app shortcut from the home screen by dragging it to top of the screen and dropping it on top of the Remove option. You can then replace the shortcut by finding the app in the app tray, and tapping and holding it to copy it to the home screen. (If it still doesn't work you should uninstall and reinstall the app.)

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