Deleting an app feels like a decision, but on iPhone it's easy to reverse. The App Store remembers everything you've ever downloaded, so getting TikTok, Instagram or a betting app back is a search and one tap on the cloud icon. Your login is usually still saved, so you're back where you left off in under a minute.
Screen Time has a setting that turns off app installs completely. This guide shows how to use it, what it doesn't cover, and how to lock it so you can't switch it back on when you're bored.
Step 1: Set a temporary Screen Time passcode
Go to Settings > Screen Time > Lock Screen Time Settings and set a simple passcode like 1234. You'll replace it in Step 5. Without a passcode, anyone holding the phone, including you, can change the restriction below in a couple of taps.
Step 2: Install anything you'll need first
Once installs are off, adding any app means turning the setting back on. Before you start, think about the next few weeks and install anything you're likely to need: a parking app, an airline app for an upcoming trip, your bank's app, a work tool. Update the apps you have too.
Step 3: Turn off app installs
- Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on.
- Open App Installations & Purchases.
- Set Installing Apps to Don't Allow.
The App Store icon disappears from your home screen and App Library, and no app can be downloaded until the setting is turned back on. Now delete the apps you want gone. They can't come back.
On the same screen you can also set Deleting Apps to Don't Allow. That's useful if you keep an app installed but blocked with an App Limit (see below), because it stops you deleting and reinstalling it to reset the limit.
Step 4: Close the browser route
Most apps you'd delete, like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit and X, have a website that does nearly everything the app does. With the app gone, Safari is where you'll end up. Go to Content & Privacy Restrictions > App Store, Media, Web & Games > Web Content, choose Limit Adult Websites, and add each site to Never Allow.
The block applies in every browser on the phone, including Chrome, so you don't need to block each browser separately.
Step 5: Replace the passcode with one you don't know
You know 1234, so right now you can bring the App Store back in a few seconds. Replace it with a passcode you don't know. WaitToUnlock generates a random passcode, walks you through entering it under Change Screen Time Passcode without learning it, and only reveals it after a 6-hour wait. When you genuinely need a new app, you request the passcode and install it later that day. When you only want to reinstall Instagram, the urge has usually passed before the 6 hours are up. Having a trusted friend or partner set the passcode works too.
Then close the recovery loophole: iOS lets you reset a Screen Time passcode with your own Apple Account unless you set things up carefully. Here's how to disable that.
The alternative: keep the app installed but blocked
Turning off installs blocks every app, which is too strict for some people. iOS has no way to block reinstalls of a single app, but you can get a similar result by keeping the app on your phone and stopping it from opening:
- Go to Settings > Screen Time > App Limits > Add Limit and choose the app.
- Set the limit to 1 minute.
- Turn on Block at End of Limit.
- Set Deleting Apps to Don't Allow as in Step 3, so you can't delete and reinstall the app to get around the limit.
The App Store stays available for everything else. There are step-by-step versions of this for TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
Common questions
How do I stop apps being reinstalled on iPhone?
Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > App Installations & Purchases and set Installing Apps to Don't Allow. The App Store disappears from your home screen and no app can be downloaded until the setting is turned back on.
Can I block one app from being reinstalled but still use the App Store?
Not directly. iOS has no per-app install block. The closest option is to keep the app installed and give it a 1-minute App Limit with Block at End of Limit turned on, so it stays on the phone but won't open.
What happens when I need to install a new app?
You enter the Screen Time passcode, turn Installing Apps back on, install the app, and turn it off again. If you use a passcode you don't know, plan ahead, because getting it back takes time.
How do I stop myself turning app installs back on?
Protect Screen Time with a passcode you don't know. Use WaitToUnlock or have a friend set it, and remove your own Apple Account from passcode recovery.