iOS 11 brings so many advancements to iPhone (and iPad and of course iPod Touch). Unfortunately not all those advancements Apple manage to tell us during their WWDC events. Most of them we have to discover ourselves. I, as technology enthusiast, like and love to explore and help to share the findings to the world. This time is how you can offload an app to regain your iPhone (or other iOS device) space without losing your saved data.
What is Offload?
Offload is a new feature introduced by Apple on iOS 11. It’s basically a way to remove the app from your iPhone or iOS device but without removing the app saved data, so next time you need to use the app, you just need to reinstall the app and your saved data will be restored, so you don’t need to start brand new. Although Offload is available for all apps (including games), however Offload makes more sense and more applicable for apps and games that do not support iCloud sync or cloud savings. For apps with iCloud sync or cloud savings capability or even cloud syncing, well you don’t actually really need this Offload feature as everything is saved and/or sync to the cloud.
A bit of background about Offload
While Offload is marketed as a new feature on iOS 11, actually it’s not really a new feature. Since iOS 9, Apple has introduced a seamless way for people with space constraint on their iPhone or iOS device, to install a new iOS updates/patches without the need to delete/remove their apps to make space to install the iOS updates/patches. Today with iOS 11, Apple made the similar feature “public” and called it Offload.
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Here are the steps how you can use Offload to make and save storage space on your iPhone and iOS device with iOS 11:
1. Open Settings.
2. Navigate to General > iPhone Storage. Wait until the loading finish to show all your installed apps and games.
iOS 11 Offload: Settings > General > iPhone Storage
3. Once loading finished, choose apps you would like to Offload, one by one.
iOS 11 Offload: Choose app/game to Offload
4. Tap on the app to open the app details, how much space the app taken
5. Tap on Offload App to uninstall the app and retain the save data.
iOS 11 Offload: Tap on Offload App to remove the app and retain its data
6. When prompted, tap on Offload App to confirm offloading the app. App/game will be offloaded in an instant.
7. Once app/game has been successfully offloaded, you’ll still see both the app entries on Settings > General > iPhone Storage as well as the icon on your home screen. For Offloaded app, the app icon in the home screen is tagged with cloud download icon.
iOS 11 Offload: Although removed, but Offloaded app/game icon is still exist in Home Screen
Next time you reinstall the app, your data is still there.
How to re-install and re-use the Offloaded App
Same steps like how you Offload the app/games, but this time tap on Reinstall App instead of Offload App. Here’s how to do it:
1. Open Settings.
2. Navigate to General > iPhone Storage. Wait until the loading finish to show all your installed apps and games.
iOS 11 Offload: Settings > General > iPhone Storage
3. Once loading finished, choose app you would like to reinstall.
4. Tap on the app to open the app details, tap on Reinstall App.
iOS 11 Offload: Reinstall offload app
5. iOS will then re-installing the app/game by first downloading the latest app/game. Once installed successfully, you can start using the Offloaded app like normal.
How to get yourself iOS 11
To get yourself iOS 11 preview edition, do check this link.
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