Get Rid Of Those iPhone Notification Badges That Just Don’t Go Away

The iPhone shows a little badge with a number on top of any app to let you know you have pending notifications you should check out. This is both helpful and annoying.

Sure, it’s always a good thing to know you have messages or a voice mail to check, but it can get annoying seeing that you have over a thousand emails that you need to check out. 

What’s even more annoying is that, sometimes, the little notifications badge gets stuck for no reason.

You might see a number or just a red dot on top of an app even though you just checked the notifications. 

If that’s happening to you, there are a lot of ways to fix it. You can get rid of the notification badges that don’t disappear without losing your mind like this.

Try Opening the Notification Again

One of the easiest ways to solve this problem is to try again. If the notifications badge of a message you just checked is still visible, try to look at the message one more time. 

If you have a notification badge for a voice mail, you can try checking your voice mail one more time. More often than not, this will solve the problem in an instant. 

Close the App and Open It Again

If the first step doesn’t work, you can try closing the app on your iPhone and then open it again. 

If you have an iPhone 7 or a more recent model, you can try swiping up with your finger from the bottom of the screen. If you’re using an iPhone 6S or older or an iPhone SE—pretty much any device with a Home Button—quickly press the Home Button twice.

This will open the app switching, and you’ll be able to close any open app by swiping the app up in the app switcher to close it.

Afterward, all you need to do is open the app again and see if that gets rid of the badge. 

Update Your iPhone’s Software

If your iPhone’s giving you troubles of any kind, a quick way to solve it is by updating iOS to the latest version available. 

Each software update brings a ton of new features, fixes, and security improvements to your iPhone. All that just by tapping download and install.

To check for software updates on iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap on General.
3. Tap on Software Update.
4. If there’s a software update available, tap on Download and Install.

And that’s it! Your iPhone will begin to download the software update and then restart your device. Hopefully, that will get rid of any unnecessary notification badge. 

Turn Off the App’s Notifications (And Turn Them Back On)

Another way to fix this issue is by disabling notifications on the app that are giving you trouble. This will get rid of the notification badge altogether, and you won’t get any notifications while this option is turned off. 

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and find the app that’s giving you trouble.
3. Tap on Notifications,
4. Turn Notifications off.

After just a few moments, turn the notifications back on by repeating the same steps above. 

Remove the App from Home Screen

Nowadays, you can choose which apps you want on your Home Screen. Every other app you don’t care for can go to the App Library. 

In the App Library, apps don’t have a notification badge available, and they’re just there waiting for you to open them. 

1. Press and hold any part of your Home Screen until the apps start to jiggle. 
2. Tap the – icon that appears in the top left corner of the app.
3. Tap on Remove from Home Screen.

The app will now only be available in the App Library. If you want, you can leave it there, so the notification badge never bothers you again. But, you can also go to your App Library by swiping left until you see the app library. 

You then find the app you want to add to your home screen and press and hold it for a moment. Finally, drag the app to your Home Screen and release it once it’s in the place you want to use it. Hopefully, this will get rid of the issue. 

Delete the App and Install It Again

If you still have the annoying notification badge on top of your app, you can try completely deleting the app and installing it again. 

1. Press and hold the app you want to delete until a menu pops up.
2. Tap on Remove App. 
3. Tap on Delete App.
4. Finally, tap Delete to confirm.

That’s pretty much it. Now you can go back to the App Store, search for the app, and install it again. Keep in mind this will not work with all the apps on your iPhone. 

Some Apple apps, like the Phone app, can’t be deleted. You’ll be able to do this with selected Apple apps and pretty much every third-party app you have installed. 

Force Restart Your iPhone 

Force restarting your iPhone will help with any issues that make your iPhone unresponsive, and hopefully, it’ll also help to get rid of your notification badges. How to force restart your iPhone will depend on the model you have, but here’s what you need to know. 

Force Restart an iPhone With Face ID (iPhone 8 to iPhone 13 and 2nd and 3rd Generation iPhone SE)

Quickly press and release the volume up button, then quickly press and release the volume down button, and then press and hold the side button until your screen turns black and the Apple Logo appears. Then release the button.

Force Restart Your iPhone 7

Press and hold the volume down button and the Sleep/Wake button (side button) at the same time. Keep them pressed until your screen turns black and the Apple Logo appears. Afterward, release both buttons. 

Force Restart Your iPhone 6s or iPhone SE (1st Generation)

Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button (side button) and the Home button at the same time. Keep them pressed until your screen turns black and the Apple logo appears, then release both buttons. 

Reset Your iPhone Settings

You can reset all of your iPhone settings, so you can start fresh with it and with your notifications. Keep in mind that doing this will also delete other settings you have, like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and pretty much everything else. So you need to make sure you actually want to do it beforehand.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and select General.
3. Scroll down again and tap on Transfer or Reset iPhone.
4. Tap on Reset. 
5. Select Reset All Settings.
6. Enter your passcode and follow the on-screen instructions. 

Your iPhone will restart, and then you’ll have an iPhone with clean new settings to work with. And hopefully, you won’t have any annoying notification badges anymore. 

Erase Your iPhone Completely

Granted, this might be a bit of an extreme option, but it’ll surely get rid of any notification badge that’s not supposed to be there.

You can completely delete all content and settings on your iPhone and start anew. Of course, this will get rid of everything you have on your iPhone, so make sure you create a backup before even thinking of doing it.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap on General.
3. Scroll down one more time and tap on Transfer or Reset iPhone. 
4. Tap on Erase all Content and Settings.
5. Tap on Continue and follow the on-screen instructions. 

That’ll get rid of any notification badge you’re having problems with and pretty much get rid of everything else. After your iPhone is done deleting the content and restarting, you’ll need to set up your iPhone as if it was the first time. Again, if you don’t want to deal with all of this, it’s better to avoid this step altogether.