Settings App disappeared

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Level 1

4 points

Settings App disappeared

My settings app disappeared - I checked every screen and every folder, but it was not there.

I also found one folder had been renamed from Parking to Sea, which was quite bizarre.

I got settings back via app search, but wonder how this could possibly happen.

I’ve noticed some other strange things too. I cleared all my active apps, restarted the phone (hard restart/reboot) and have since found apps appearing active that I have not opened. Nobody else has access to my phone. Is it possible there is some kind of malware on it? Or is it an IOS bug?

iPhone SE, iOS 15

Posted on May 14, 2022 2:30 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Community User

May 14, 2022 3:58 AM in response to OldBeardie

It sounds like you've moved the Settings app to the App Library. On your home screen, swipe left until you reach the App Library. Find the Settings app, hold down and drag it back to your home screen.

You can read more about the App Library here:

Organize the Home Screen and App Library on your iPhone - Apple Support

As for the folders, iOS automatically assigns names to your folders when you drag your apps together into a folder. You can rename them yourself if you want a different name. As for the latter, it's normal behavior in iOS, you do not have to worry about Malware.

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Answer 2

OldBeardie Author

Level 1

4 points

May 16, 2022 4:35 AM in response to Community User

I hadn’t moved the settings app - it just happened without my help.

The folder had previously been labelled Parking which is what I had named it because it contains a number of apps to pay for parking my car by credit card instead of using coins in the machine. I had moved the folder a few days before to a more convenient screen after which it was still called Parking.

As I also said I found a number of other apps had been opened despite my not having used them since I had closed all running apps prior to carrying out a hard reset.

I’m concerned that something is remotely accessing my phone. How can I check what is accessing my phone or prevent this from happening?

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Answer 3

May 16, 2022 5:41 AM in response to OldBeardie

Have you added more apps to the Parking folder - this may also be the reason even though folders usually keep their names even if you add more apps.

Has anyone else physically accessed your iPhone?

I think it's unthinkable that others have remote access to your iPhone unless it's a business phone you have that is managed by your workplace, or I can not see how it should be possible.

You can check if there is a confirmation profile installed on your iPhone, it is often there on company phones. Look here:

Settings -> General -> VPN and Device Administration.

In addition to VPN settings (if you use it) the list should be empty. If it is not empty, you can tap the profile and delete it if it is not something you recognize.

Now that you're in the General menu, just check for software updates to see if there is an update you have not installed.

Regardless, I would recommend closing ALL apps in the App Switcher also restart your phone so that it can just clear some cache and clean up the file system a bit, and see if the error does not go in itself.

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Answer 4

OldBeardie Author

Level 1

4 points

May 19, 2022 2:08 AM in response to Community User

Thanks.

My phone is personal, and is not accessible to anyone else, not even my wife. I checked Settings -> General -> VPN and Device Administration and there were no profiles to delete.

As I said in my original post I had closed all apps via the app switcher, which is something I do every few days. I had also rebooted and carried out a hard reset to ensure the phone was as clean as possible. It was sometime after this that I had noticed that my “Parking” folder had been renamed to “Sea”.

I hadn’t added any new apps to the folder. In fact the most recent thing I had done was delete an app which I discovered only covered parking in parts of Belgium and Netherlands - not something I’m planning on doing in the near future.

IOS 15.5 has just appeared, so I will install tonight.

As there is no ongoing problem visible - I’ve recovered my settings app and have renamed my folder back to “Parking” - there is probably no way of knowing whether anything has been fixed or not. If it happens again, I’ll know, but otherwise …..

So I’m concluding that it is a bug, but can’t offer Apple any diagnostics.

The only other possibilities would be Pegasus or GCHQ, but as I am retired and have never had any high profile connections, that is incredibly unlikely.

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Settings App disappeared

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