How to Fix iPhone Blank White/Grey Icons with Cross & Circles
Some iPhone and iPad users may occasionally notice that their iPhone app icons show up as blank white or grey icons with a grid like appearance on them of a cross and circles. If you’ve never seen this before, it can be confusing, especially since there is no clear indication on what the blank icon with a grid of a cross and circles means or indicates. Some users describe the mysterious app icons as looking like a schematic, or a grid, a bullseye, a schematic, or a sketch paper type of appearance, and it can be just one single app, or sometimes it can be many apps that show this icon instead of what you might expect of the apps on your iPhone. These icons can appear as white if the iPhone is set to Light mode, or grey if the iPhone is set to Dark mode.
Let’s dive into this issue, discuss what the grey/white grid icon means if you see it on your iPhone Home Screen, and how to fix it.
What is the app icon with a grid of cross and circles on the iPhone Home Screen? Why is it there?
If you see an app icon that looks like a grid or schematic with lines through it with a cross and circles, and it looks like the images of these icons shown here on this article, then you are seeing the app loading icon.
The app loading icon appears when an app is in the process of downloading, installing, or updating.
This icon serves as a placeholder on the iPhone Home Screen that shows temporarily until the process of downloading or installing the app is finished.
You might also see the placeholder app loading icons on iPhone if you have connectivity issues or your internet connection was disrupted during an app update, an iPhone restore process, the transfer of your data from one iPhone to another, setting up a new iPhone, after an iOS update, if you use the Offload Apps feature, and during automatic app updates.
Sometimes you might see the grid looking app loading icon on the iPhone Home Screen and the name of the app has a cloud with an arrow pointing out of it too, which means the app is offloaded and needs to be downloaded again to be used.
How to Fix the App Loading Icon on iPhone Home Screen
While the app loading icon appears as a placeholder temporarily on iPhone, sometimes apps can be stuck with the grid/cross icon and it never goes away. If you see an app with the app loading icon appearing instead of the app icon you expected, here’s how you can fix it:
- Make sure the iPhone is connected to the internet by joining wi-fi and cellular is enabled, with a strong signal
- Next you want to restart the app download/update process, do this by tapping on the grid looking app icon to start the loading process again
- If you have a lot of apps with the loading icon showing, long press on the loading app icon of the app you are trying to use and choose “Prioritize Download” or “Resume Download” from the contextual menu
That should cause the app(s) stuck with the loading icon to download or update, and then be usable again.
In the example screenshot above, the Amazon Prime app was successfully downloaded again, restoring the app and the icon to its expected state. Because there are multiple other icons appearing that way, the process will need to be repeated for them as well.
Another approach is to delete the stuck app and then redownload it from the App Store. Do this by tapping and holding onto the app with the loading white/grey grid icon until the icons start jiggling, and then tap the (X) button and confirm that you want to delete the app. Now go to the App Store on iPhone, search for the app, and choose to download it again.
If the above steps alone do not fix the issue, the next thing you’ll want to do is make sure your iPhone (or iPad) is up to date with the latest iOS system software. Do this by going to Settings app > General > Software Update > and choosing to download and install any available software updates. This will typically resolve the problem if the loading icon is showing due to some kind of app installation error.
You can also try restarting your iPhone by turning it off and on again.
Note: All iPhone Icons Showing White/Grey Grid Loading Icon? Here’s why & an easy fix
If you recently got a new iPhone and have transferred data from another iPhone, or you are in the process of restoring an iPhone from a backup, you might notice that nearly all of the iPhone app icons show as the white or grey grid circles icon instead of the app icons as expected. This is normal, as the apps are in the process of being restored. The best solution to this is to simply leave the iPhone plugged in and connected to wi-fi, and it should take care of itself.
There are dozens and dozens of users who have experienced this particular issue and describe it confusingly in various ways all over the Apple support forums, so if you are encountering this problem you are certainly not alone. Fortunately, it’s an easy resolution.
