Recently I lost YouTube on my iPad. I was like, ‘where is my YouTube app?’ I then went to check my iPhone and realized that YouTube disappeared on the iPhone as well.
It’s strange that the YouTube icon just goes missing but I went through a bit of troubleshooting and figured out what had happened. Here’s everything that I did.
Look Carefully
The first thing that I did was check all of my home screens. I did this to ensure that I did not accidentally move the YouTube app to a folder or another screen.
I then checked the app store to see if, by chance, I had deleted the app. However, the app store showed that I had the app installed on both the iPhone and iPad.
This was not my problem. And, if it’s not yours, here’s what I did next to find my missing YouTube icon.
Check App Restrictions
- Open “Settings”.
- Tap “General”.
- Tap “Restrictions”.
- Select “Apps”.
- Be sure to check “Allow All Apps”.
A-Ha! On my iPad, I had restricted access to YouTube. Why? I had lent my cousin the iPad. However, I have the kid safe version for him.
Hence, I restricted access to the main YouTube app which then hid the icon on the home screen.
But, what about my iPhone, I did not restrict the app there. Yet, it still did not show up. Here’s what I did next.
Reset Home Screen
On my iPhone, I had to go into settings and reset my home screen layout. And, once I did that, the YouTube icon appeared on my main home screen again.
- Open “Settings”.
- Select “General”.
- Choose “Reset”.
- Choose “Reset Home Screen Layout”.
The last two options helped my find my YouTube app. However, if you still cannot see the icon on your iPhone or iPad, you can always restore your iDevices.
Restore
- Connect your device to your computer and launch iTunes.
- Select your device under “Devices“.
- Select “Summary” > “Restore“.