The amount of storage space on an iPhone is pretty limited, and almost every user will eventually reach a point where they need to delete an app.
So you will find an article like this that tells you how to delete an app, only to discover that the “x” that is supposed to be at the top-left corner of the icon is not there.
This can happen for one of several different reasons, so you first need to identify whether the “x” is not visible on only a few apps, or if it is not visible on all of them.
If the “x” isn’t there on any of your apps…
Then you (or someone else with access to your iPhone) has decided to enable restrictions on your iPhone and block you from performing certain functions. One of the options that they elected to block was the deletion of apps.
The only way to bypass this is to either turn that option back on, or to disable restrictions. Either option will require you to know the Restrictions passcode that is set on the device, however, so you will need to identify the person that enabled this setting and get the passcode from them.
You can find the Restrictions menu at Settings > General > Restrictions
If there is only an “x” on some of your apps…
Then you are trying to delete one of the default apps and, unfortunately, you cannot do this. You can view a full list of the default iPhone apps that cannot be deleted here.
Now that you know why there may not be an X on some of the apps on your iPhone, you won’t need to waste any more time trying to uninstall those default apps from the device.
One option that you can utilize to circumvent these stubborn default apps is to put all of them into a folder. That way only one app spot is being taken up on your Home screen, allowing you to make room for the apps that you actually do want.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.