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iOS 18.4 Bug Seemingly Resurrects Previously Deleted iPhone Apps

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple's latest iOS 18.4 software update appears to be causing long-deleted apps to reappear on some users' iPhones, based on corroborating reports on forums and social media.

Generic-iOS-18.4-Feature.jpg

Several Reddit threads (1,2,3,4) and posts on Apple's Community Support pages over the last 24 hours are filled with reports from users who, after having updated to iOS 18.4, immediately discovered third-party apps and/or games installed on their device that were not there before.

Going on the reports, the iOS 18.4 update has manifested a bug that is causing apps to reappear – since in most cases it appears that the apps had been deleted by the users months or even years ago and long forgotten. Apple released iOS 18.4 on Monday.

The behavior doesn't seem to be related to Apple's Automatic Downloads option either. The setting enables automatic downloads of apps purchased on other Apple devices. However, many affected users say they do not own another Apple device.

Likewise, the bug is impacting users with devices that have never been jailbroken and have never used an alternative marketplace outside of the App Store.

It's not clear how prevalent the glitch is, but not everyone is affected, suggesting it could be related to location or device model. As it stands, the current solution for affected users is just to re-delete the reappearing app while we await further details around the issue.

(Thanks, Tanner!)

Article Link: iOS 18.4 Bug Seemingly Resurrects Previously Deleted iPhone Apps
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/04/02/ios-18-4-update-deleted-apps-returning/
  • Haha
Reactions: gusmula, decypher44, SqlInjection and 1 other person
I didn’t see this happen on my iPhone, but it happened on my Apple TV 4K after updating to tvOS 18.4. Apps I deleted years ago were on the Home Screen…which I had to re-delete. Strange as it only happened on one of my Apple TVs, not both.
 
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  • Wow
Reactions: mganu, gusmula, SantaFeNM and 10 others
MartyMcfly88 said:
Whoever is in charge of software updates needs replacing. Compared to my Android devices, iOS and MacOS has been one bin fire of frozen apps, closing apps and other issues after another.

Get your act together Apple. Not good enough for a $3 trillion business.
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Lmao considering androids barely get updated eh I’ll take randomly deleted apps
Reappearing again over anything android.
 
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  • Love
Reactions: freedomlinux, UliBaer, Yrmmont and 12 others
iOS 18 is the absolute worst iOS version in history. Not even the latest 16 Pros are able to handle it smoothly. Insane amount of bugs and terrible battery along with Bluetooth and WiFi having issues even in previous iPhone models that worked perfectly fine on older software.
 
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Reactions: Hammerd, chemenski, gusmula and 13 others
I've an issue with Lockdown Mode breaking images on many common sites I use. Do we need to wait for x.x.1 updates to fix major releases like x.4 now? Sheesh.
 
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Reactions: nt5672
Have had Bluetooth issues since updating to 18.4, specifically when trying to connect to a HomePod Mini. The speaker will either refuse to connect or when it eventually does, music continually cuts out to the point I can't be bothered to reconnect. Didn't have this prior to 18.4. Might just be a coincidence.
 
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  • Wow
Reactions: gusmula, SqlInjection, Böhme417 and 1 other person
This is an old App Store bug. The apps that were downloaded at random are those that were once downloaded by "pre-registration".

Yes, you uninstalled the app a long time ago, but after updating/restore, — the App Store for some reason randomly triggers these downloads again.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: Lizzard899
Parowdy said:
You‘re updating it wrong.

Unfortunately I didn’t. Nothing unexpected here. Guess I’ll continue to encounter problems nobody else does.
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That also happens to me, it is because there are only a few people that "actually" use Apple devices outside of social media, photos, and a little email. You know outside of the teenager stuff Apple designs and codes for. Teenagers are not critical of Apple flaws so that is the demographic.
 
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happened to my with Sequoia 15.4 on my Mac mini M1. an app I purchased in 02/2023, deleted after few minutes and for which I asked and obtained a refund, suddenly reappeared after the update.
insane. and I always use CleanMyMac / AppCleaner to uninstall any app, so there shouldn't be leftovers...
 
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Reactions: Vetiver1 and valdikor
Parowdy said:
They should have a forum themselves but their Apple Community guidelines prohibit posting about beta software problems… and their Feedback app doesn’t help either.
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Wow - I did not know that. No, that's not helpful at all.
 
f0ku5 said:
You seem to live under a rock. Android devices are updated more frequently than iPhones recently.
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Yes. I’ve often thought “do they update this every week???” When wife’s phone cries for another update. (We live in a broken home)
 
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