Someone just brought an iPhone to me which was missing an icon for the phone on the home screen! Now obviously this reduces the functionality of the device as a phone somewhat!
Turns out there’s an easy fix though:
Go into Settings, General, then “Reset Home Screen Layout”
You should now have a working phone icon again!
Update: Several reports suggest checking Settings, General, Restrictions as this may also disable the phone icon. More details on restrictions here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4213
Update 2: Another tip reported – double tap the home button and look for the icon in the tray at the bottom of the screen. You can then drag it back from there.
Hi there
Thought this was the answer to my prayers but did not work for me. Can you suggest anything further.
Many thanks
Maggie
When my phone app icon had disappeared, I just entered the move mode (wriggling mode) by tapping and holding any icon on the springboard and tada, the phone app icon reappeared! Don’t know if this helps anybody…
You are a prince! Thanks!
yeah, it worked. wish you had told me this before i reset the home screen layout, though!
It worked!!!!
This worked for me! iPhone 4s iOS 5.0.1 jb w winter board. Thanks so much! Thought I was going to have to lose my folders.
Now that was epic advise 😀 much better than having to reset my home screen, wasn’t looking forward to re organising some 60 something apps back to folders 😀 many thanks
Thanks, it worked for me
This worked like a charm. 🙂 thank you do much.
You are awesome. Thank you!!!
Such a simple fix hahaha. I did everything and nothing worked. Except your solution. So simple and works wonderfully, thank you!
The phone icon did not return. Any thoughts on what I’m doing wrong?
Awesome thanks freak out diverted!!
Thnx man! U dope!!!!
that worked!!!!!!! you’re a genius!! it just appeared!!!
YOU DA BEST!!!!
Whu eva yu are! Thx a ton mate! Worked! (:
can u tell me more detail about this solution because i don know well about ios so i don understand what is the meaning of urs above. help me please
hey i am totally zero in knowledge with IOS
what is springboard and tada??
Stuggi: Over 6 years later, and yes, it helped:) It had merged with another icon and made a folder, which didn’t show at all until I followed your suggestion… Thanks:)
Thanks, Buddy it worked!!
Ur a genius !!
Still works in February 2020. Thanks.
Thank you so much I was completely stumped by this.Enen the EE shop staff didn’t know how to fix it
Worked for me too in 2020!
Apple strikes again! Everything on iphone screwed up or missing! Sick of it!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
Please help! The phone icon disappeared from Home Screen!
????
Nothing seems to work!
Please help
This didn’t work for me. i have an iPhone 8. Phone icon mysteriously disappeared today. Any other ideas?
Cheers
Missing the phone icon on my iPhone
It really works and it is that simple!!!!!!!!
You are great!!!!
Thank a million!!!!!
If you have Winterboard intalled, delete it. After Winterboard is removed, Go to Settings>General>Reset>Reset All Settings
deleting winterboard worked for my iphone 4s on ios 5 without reset, thanks very much
did not work for me either. …both. 🙁
A big thanks this worked for me and after trying all resets and even 2 x restores which didn’t work. Thanks very much for sharing.
Thanks for telling me that reset would also delete all folders and erase months of work getting icons in folders. Crap
Thanks for being a re-tard!
Boehoehoehoe
Thank you thank you thank you. Yes, I had to put things back in folders but that only takes a short period of time. At least I can now use it as a phone now.
You can repeat the process of Resetting Home Screen Layout until you see the missing icons. This is will solve your issue
Worked great for me but then I didn’t have any folders. Thanks
Second tip worked, thanks for posting 🙂
THANK YOUOUOUOUOUOU!
Hate to “Reset Home Screen Layout” as it will cause me to lose all folders/ organization. Turned restrictions off, which didn’t restore my Phone icon to the Home Screen, & the phone icon would not drag, as per “Update 2.”
Neither tips worked for me.
Amazing write-up! This could aid plenty of people find out more about this particular issue. Are you keen to integrate video clips coupled with these? It would absolutely help out. Your conclusion was spot on and thanks to you; I probably won’t have to describe everything to my pals. I can simply direct them here!
I had to put everything back in folders… but it was worth it as it only took a mere 5 minutes to do so
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!
on my iphone 4s i had to go to settings—>general—>reset—>then reset home screen layout
of all these tips for restoring the missing telephone to the homescreen, this was the easiest and it worked. thanks for sharing.
thanks
Go into any folder that has icons… or you can create one with any apps. Go into it and your icon should be where they first were. If this doesn’t help, then you need to go to settings/general/restrictions and enable then disable. Good luck to people who take my advise.
Thank you…simple fix…thanks again
Thank you so much for this info, my little boy got hold of my phone and the phone icon had gone, thank you so much, all working fine now, this also works on iPhone 4s by the way, thanks again
Did not work for me. My daughter had removed my phone, email, safari and music badge from the bottom of my phone. I did the reset home screen and trying to drag from the tray at the bottom of my screen with no avail…. I had to reset “all settings” by going in to settings then general then choose reset all settings. I did not loose any downloaded apps but did loose folders which is no biggie as I do not have tons of apps on my phone. It does take a few minutes as you have to go through the process of entering your apple id code and accepting the terms and yada, yada, yada. But Viola, I got my phone back to normal. Whew, hope it helps.
Thank you so much! I can now use my app store icon.
Thanks – I was going nuts trying to figure that out…….thought I was going to have to do a restore.
My phone icon has disappeared from my iPhone 4. Any suggestions? I am not near an apple store since I am in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you for the tip!!! This fixed the missing phone icon on my iPhone.
this didnt work for a jailbroken iphone. :S
THANK YOU!
It won’t drag. I just tried it. It’s there, but won’t move.
I can get to contacts thru the “phone”, but the contacts icon is not on the main screen. Any other ideas?
Thanks.
After jail breaking my iPhone 4 I downloaded springtomize and realized my phone icon disappeared and I was not able to search for it. To make your phone icon reappear after downloading springtomize, enter the app, click capabilities, active “telephony” and reload. It will reappear.
Hope this helps someone because I was freaking out until I realized the issue.
Nothing else worked but this! Thanks 🙂
Thanks so much, this worked like a charm for me on a 4S! 🙂
thank you soooooo much!!!!!!!! o/
i’ve been freaking out for 3 days and the solutin was sooo simple…. 😀 thanks!!
Just long Prees on any icon you will get your I con back within a min…
This worked for me. I held an icon to make it wiggle and kept holding it for about 60 seconds, then released it, then hit the home button to stop the wiggling. The phone icon snapped back into place on the shelf. No damage to folders or need to reset. Great tip!!!!
thanks you
Hi, since it was a while ago this was written. Is this still the way to go for getting the phone icon back?
Do I loose my other apps if reset like this advice? Great if anyone will reply in swedish as well… ;o)
Awesome tip! Thanks so much!!
thanks
This worked perfectly. Thank you so much! I had a “no text icon” panic attack!!!!
Thanks!
All the icons on my iPhone has disappeare how do i get back the only icon i hav on my phone is YouTube
I have completely removed my phone icon. it is no longer at the bottom of my screen. Any ideas where it might be. I was trying this suggestion. When the icon came up on the bottom of the screen, I tapped it and idisappeared.
vermind, I found my phone icon and all is well. Thx
thank you so much for your help
Bless you
Thanks for the tips. Found missing app after double tap trick. Sweet!
thanks for your kind information
Recent post: FIND LOST ANDROID PHONE : http://trickzcafe.blogspot.com/2013/08/find-my-lost-phone-using-android-device-manager.html
VIvek
I managed to delete my phone icon on my iPhone and the “reset home screen layout” saved me!! Thank you!!
what if my settings is gone
Thanks for the tip I was about to go back to the apple store . The icon is there now
What of the settings is one of the missing icons?
Worked for me … Thank You!
I removed my uber icon because it was not working. Then I tried to download uber and it wouldn’t except my email stating I was already registered. How do I get the icon to use uber?
Worked. Thanks!!!
Worked Perfectly! Thank you!
It worked on my phone… many thanks 🙂
POWER OFF/POWER ON. WALA!
This worked. So obvious once you’re told it
Voila! Why do I always forget that off/on reset? That worked for me when other suggestions did not. Thanks.
I had been without this icon for about two weeks and made the phone almost useless. This was an easy fix for me…Thanks!!!
I just got a new iPad and the phone icon is missing. I tried everything suggested here and nothing worked. Help!,
Hi Deborah, the iPad doesn’t have a phone icon? It can be used as a cell phone – if you want to make calls using it, you’ll need to use an app like Skype.
My last iPad had the phone icon. When someone would call my iPhone I could answer it on my IPad.
missing phone icon & import contact sim card to phone missing in my ipad after installing new software for my ipad 5.1.1
Have lost all icons on my Nokia Lumia 630 just got a blank screen can’t go into setting or anything else please help
Worked great Thanks
Worked for me. Thank you
Worked perfect, thank you!
My sim application just disappeared. Someone with an idea on how to fix it?
This worked perfectly for me.
Thank you so much for posting this
Thank you!
This happened to me yesterday. I’m running IOS 14. I searched and searched for an answer. I was about to reset my Home Screen when I tried one more thing. I pressed and held on the dock to enter “wiggle mode”. I then swiped all the way to the left to the “App Library” while in “wiggle mode”. I tapped the search bar and typed “phone”. There I was able to press and hold and move it back to the dock. All fixed! Hope this helps someone.
its 2022-06-22 and this worked for me on IOS 15.5
On iOS 15.3.1, the following works:
Settings
General
Transfer or Reset iPhone
Reset
Reset Home Screen Layout
Rest Home Screen
Press the < General arrow at the top left corner
Press the < Settings arrow at the top left corner
Press the HOME button
I specifically typed in XS Max & there is no option for this: “Reset Home Screen Layout”
I know this might seem a bit late, but I had that problem on my iphone se, first edition. Tried everything suggested, nothing worked. But … if you open your home screen, and swipe left, you will see a couple ( or more) pages of apps. Swipe left after the last one, and you will find App library. Your missing app/icon should be there, mine was, just set it to wiggle, and moved it back to where it belongs !! Worked for me about an hour ago, after a week of searching for solution.