Literally nothing. Everything just freezes up and seems to hang for a while. Eventually the confirm delete dialog box pops up, but it takes way longer than it should. Instead of letting you quickly delete an app and get on with using your device, it just feels like everything is locked up and you're stuck. If you're experiencing this problem on iOS 8 here's the good news — there is a workaround, and we're tacking it on this week's iOS Help.
Ever since I've been using iOS 8, my iPhone freezes up when I try to delete an app. I can't do anything when this happens other than wait an excruciatingly long time for the delete option to finally pop up. Why is this happening and how do I fix it?
Not everyone seems to experience this issue but those that do seem to typically have the following things in common: Those who experience hanging typically have the following things in common:
- Lots of apps installed on your iPhone or iPad (200+)
- Lots of apps running in the background
- iOS 8.0 or higher
Luckily, there is a way to stop the freezing issue from happening, at least until Apple issues a permanent fix.
How to stop your iPhone or iPad from freezing when deleting apps
This issue seems to result from a way iOS handles memory. Closing all open apps from the multitasking section of iOS before trying to delete an app solves the problem. If you don't know how to do that, just follow these steps:
- Double tap your Home button on your iPhone or iPad to bring up multitasking.
- Swipe all open apps up in order to close them.
- You can touch and throw away up to three apps at once to save time
Once all the apps have been closed, try deleting an app again. The freezing should be gone.
Special thanks to Ratkat on Twitter for pointing out this workaround!
