If your Phone icon is missing from your home screen on your iPhone, you can try to get it back by checking the App Library, using the Spotlight Search, restarting/updating your phone, or resetting your home screen layout.
While iPhones can do a lot for us, one of their most fundamental uses is to make phone calls. I prefer to text in most cases, but there are certainly occasions where a phone call makes a lot more sense.
Unfortunately, there may be a time when you go to make a call, only to see that your Phone app icon is missing from the home screen that it’s usually on. This can certainly be a worrisome situation, but there are thankfully ways to try to bring it back. Keep reading to learn more.
Contents
Key Takeaways
- Checking the App Library and using Spotlight Search are two quick and easy ways to try and locate your Phone app.
- Restarting refreshes system memory and gives the device a clean slate to work with, which can often correct issues like this. Updates often introduce bug and glitch fixes for problems, so make sure you are using the most recent version of iOS.
- You could also try resetting your home screen layout to see if the app returns to its rightful spot.
1. Use the App Library
One of the first places to search for your missing Phone icon is in the App Library. To reach the App Library, all you need to do is swipe left until you reach your final home page. On this last page, swipe left again and it will take you to the app library.
You can either look through the list of apps it provides until you find the Phone app, or just make a search for it.
If you find it here, simply press and hold the icon to drag and drop it back onto your home screen and move it to your preferred location.
2. Utilize Spotlight Search
Another way to search through your apps to find the Phone app is to use the Spotlight Search. To access this search, simply swipe down from the middle of any of your home screens. In the search bar, simply enter the term “Phone”.
Like with the app library, if you see the app in the provided results, you can drag it onto your home screen and put it back in its rightful place.
3. Restart or Update Your iPhone
If you have been unsuccessful so far, the next step is to try and restart or update your device. Sometimes, our devices can have some strange bugs or glitches that seemingly appear out of nowhere, and these can often be fixed with a quick reset or update.
Restarting the device can give it a clean slate to work with and refresh the system memory, which often corrects strange bugs and/or software interactions. On the other hand, updating often introduces bug and glitch fixes that repair issues like this one.
There are no guarantees that it will correct this problem, but restarting your device is a quick process so you might as well try it.
You should always update to the newest version of iOS as many updates introduce security patches and other quality-of-life upgrades, in addition to dealing with common issues/glitches.
In order to restart your iPhone, you need to press and hold the volume down and side power button for a few seconds.
Once the Power slider appears, simply slide it to turn the device off. Once the device has been off for around 30 seconds or so, hold the side power button until the Apple logo appears, and then release it.
If you want to update, the process involves going to Settings > General > Software Update. If there is an update, press Download and Install. After a few minutes, or longer depending on things like your network connection, the update will be finished.
4. Reset Home Screen Layout
In some cases, fully resetting the layout of your home screen may be what brings back your Phone app icon.
Keep in mind that doing this doesn’t reset your apps or data, but will move all the apps back to their original positions and will delete any folders you have created to organize your apps.
In order to reset your home screen layout, you need to go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Home Screen Layout. If this is successful, you will see the Phone icon back on your device.
Before resetting anything, whether it just be your settings, layout, or the entire device, it’s a good idea to have a backup just in case something goes wrong or this fix doesn’t work and you want to bring your device back to how you had it before.
If none of these solutions work to bring back the Phone icon, it’s a good idea to take the device to an expert who may be able to inspect it and help you identify/fix the problem.
Final Thoughts
A missing Phone icon can be a frustrating thing to deal with and leave you unable to make calls. I hope this guide has been able to help you learn a few of the different ways to try and get it back.
Do you make a lot of calls on your iPhone? Or do you prefer to text/iMessage? Let me know in a comment below.