App Store Icon is Missing From iPhone or iPad

Mitch Bartlett Comments (50)
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If the App Store icon seems to be missing from your Apple iPhone or iPad, give these steps a try to find it.

Fix 1 – Double Check Everywhere

Be sure the icon is not in a folder. Check every Home screen and every folder. Also use search to see if you can find it. From the Home screen, swipe all the way to the left screen, then search for “App Store” to see if it appears.

Fix 2 – Check Restrictions

  1. Open “Settings” from the Home screen.
  2. In iOS12 and higher choose “Screen Time” > “Content Privacy & Restrictions” > “Content Privacy” > “Allowed Apps“. In iOS 11 and lower, choose “General” > “Restrictions“.
  3. Ensure “iTunes Store” and you will want to set it to “On“.

Fix 3 – Reset Home Screen

It is possible that the icon is on a different home screen or in a folder. Look on other screens and within folders. If you still can’t find it, try resetting the home screen by selecting “Settings” > “General “> “Reset” > “Reset Home Screen Layout“. This should return your icons to default settings and restore the App Store icon.

Note: If your iPad was provided to you by the organization you work for or a school, it is possible there is software on the device that locks access to the App Store. Ask your IT department for access if you feel this might be the case.

Author Mitch Bartlett

Through my career that spans over 20 years I have become an expert in Microsoft Systems Administration, Android, and macOS. I started this site as a technical guide for myself and it has grown into what I hope is a useful knowledgebase for everyone.

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Comments

  5. The “reset homescreen” option is no longer there on iPhone 13 pro. The only reset is just to completely reset (wipe) the phone back to factory settings. What else can we do?

  6. Hi there
    PLEASE PLEASE help! I am disabled and cannot get to the I Store at all.
    I have an iPad mini software update iOS 12.5.5. I also have a neurological illness which means I have lost all my motor skills, including speaking and walking. I cannot focus properly so find it hard to read.
    So here is y problem, I cannot or do not remember my screen time password and have somehow lost my App Store App so have no messaging etc and cannot download audio books.
    Please can you help?

  7. How do I fix this if I can’t remember my old password? The passcode on my screen time must be my old password and I’ve been trying for weeks to figure it out and can’t remember. I can recall odd stuff like my childhood phone number, but not this password….

  8. Hi Mitch,
    I tried fix1 & fix2, and au had turned off the Content & Privacy Restrictions, but couldn’t find my App Store icon on my iPad mini still …..

  9. Uhhhhh, I reset Home Screen layout but didn’t work so I tried the second fix but I have screen time controlled by my father so yeah the second tip doesn’t help, I also check every folder 5 times :( anymore ways?

  11. Hi all!
    Most probably you’ve turned on “Content & Privacy Restriction” Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Orivacy Restrictions and disable it if it is enabled.

  12. Well, this article is really beneficial as the App store icon suddenly disappears from my iPhone and I used the tips here, finally getting back it. Besides, I also saw some article introducing other ways like updating iOS, resetting all settings, using professional iOS system repair tools such as TunesKit iOS System Repair. I don’t know whether they are effective like the methods mentioned in this post.

  13. My phone does not have AppStore. I am not able to download. Safari shows shows as “Safari cannot open the page because the address is invalid.”
    How do I fix this?

  14. i was deleting some apps and i deleted the itunes store app. The next day i found out my app store was gone from my ipad and now i cannot download anything anymore. Can anyone help?

  15. For folks who had no luck, make sure your setting Settings -> Screen Time -> iTunes & App Purchases -> Installing Apps is set to Allow.

  16. I tried a lot of these things… none worked really. I also don’t want to reset my apps all over again. It feel sad to do so. Oh well. Maybe I should try to reset everything. My iPad is a little behind date, and so I don’t know what update the iPad is on anyway. Does anybody watch anime? Anyway, this kinda helps. Ok. It helps. But it’s risky if you don’t want to lose your apps. Thanks anyway Mitch. You did a nice job writing this down. :) I’ll be happy to try this again. This web is good. Merci Lily/Mercury Mars Chambers :). PS. Thanks again Mitch. And also I’m writing this with my snow headed twin. (Pretend Lily didn’t say that). Lily has a big white head to! Ummm…. Merci! Love, Lily/Mercury Chambers. Mitch thank you again! Sorry for all the unimportant info my sister put in :(.

  18. None of this helped on an iPad Air 2. I tried all suggestions, none worked. What am I supposed to do now? Can anyone help me with this bug?

  20. Nope!! we tried all of the suggestions on my husband a iPad and still no missing apps appear on home screen

  23. I did the whole restrictions part and fortunately I could remember my passcode and it worked.

  25. I’ve tried everything I could
    Reset home screen layout,
    Disable restrictions

    But my App Store won’t show up
    This is an iPad Air 2

  27. I did all the things up there and nothing worked, then I reset all settings but it went away later idk what to do

  28. My App Store disappeared last night and now there is a screen time passcode that I don’t know?

  30. App Store was deleted. Can’t get it back. Tried downloading from Apple and says something about not valid site or something.

  31. Thank you. It worked on mine when I searched “restrictions” in my old ipad. I disabled restrictions then voila all the missing apps reappeared on my screen. Thank you very much for posting the possible solutions here.

  32. “Screen time” does not exist- iphone 7 with IOS 12. My first iphone given to me by work for business uses… and I can’t install anything I need for work! Another reason I’m a droid person…

  33. Solution!!!

    Tried Parental Screen Time Allowances… Didn’t work.
    Tried Updating iPad… Didn’t work.
    Tried Resetting just Home Screen… Didn’t work.
    Tried Resetting Everything… WORKED!!! YEAH!!!

    used advice from Aw’s comment :)

    “settings, general, reset, reset all settings”

  34. Worked for me!!! My “App Store purchase” was turned off. Thank you sooo much for helping me locate the problem!!!

  35. I tried everything but it still the App Store wasn’t appearing on any of my home screens.
    I did turn my restrictions off but still nothing. I reset my iPad home layout but still back were I started from!!!! Very frustrating!!!!!! sorry you couldn’t help.

  36. I thought I had tried everything….
    The ReSet home screen (Fix 3) worked!!!!
    Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  38. I did not put restrictions on my ipad, i did reset my homescreen layout and nothing happened. It is very frustrating. Could u give me any advice other than reseting my device to factory setting?

  39. I have tried the above method under screen time as well and my App store and Itunes are both still missing after the update and I can’t update any apps or buy any in app purchases or new apps for my kids. Super frustrating. Any advice?

  40. Thank you thank you thank you!!! I had tried everything and was tearing my hair out!! The Screen Time method worked, something in there was checked as Don’t Allow…I switched it to Allow and the icon is back!

  41. i cant find the app for app store cant put any new apps on my sons ipad and i have tried all things on the net nothings works said for the safari one all gone help

  43. Hey Mitch!…Thanks for this Info!
    I try to keep a pretty tight rein on the apps the kiddos have on their ipods. I *FREAKED* out when I couldn’t find the restrictions…since I disable them during app updates and re-enable them after the updates are finished. Your concise info did the trick!

    Thanks!

  44. Thank you so much. my problem solved with “Screen Time “ metod. I have iPhone 8plus and update iOS 11.4.1 to 12.0.1 but App Store missing from home screen now it’s back ??
    thanks for helpful.

  45. Had the App Store app disappear on two different iPhone/iPads. Only way I’ve found after trying all the stuff and NOTHING worked I went to settings, general, reset, reset all settings…. brought back my App Store app. On both devices.

  46. The app store did disappear after last update, so did the general |restrictions tab. I went under screentime and that will bring back iTunes but not the app store.

  47. This did get my Wallet app back, but the App Store is still missing! This is very frustrating. Seems like it must’ve happened at the last update. Argh.

  49. Same thing happened to me, my app icon is gone. Usually When I go to general then restriction and App Store opens up, but there’s no restriction to go on, its completely gone after I updated the iPad.

  50. Hi, I have tried every instruction as per above. I still cannot reinstate the App Icon. What else can I do – this is a very important icon for my oPad Pro.

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