How to Delete Stickers on iPhone (Individually, in Bulk, or by Pack)

If you want to know how to delete stickers on iPhone, the fastest way is through Messages: tap the sticker icon in a conversation, press and hold the sticker, then tap Delete.

Not every sticker behaves the same way after that, which is where people usually get stuck.

How to Delete Stickers on iPhone Individually

Open Messages and tap into any conversation.
Tap the plus button next to the text field, or the sticker icon if it's already visible.
Tap "Stickers" to open your sticker drawer.
Touch and hold the sticker you want to remove.
Tap Delete from the menu that appears.

This only removes the one sticker selected. Everything else in your drawer stays put.

How to Delete a Sticker You Created from a Photo

This is a different situation from deleting a downloaded sticker, and it trips people up because the sticker doesn't always live in an obvious place.

Finding It in Your Sticker Library

If you made a sticker by tapping and holding on a subject in a photo, it gets saved into your personal sticker library, not a third-party pack.

You'll find it in Messages under Stickers, usually labeled "My Stickers." The same press-and-hold-then-delete method applies from there.

Removing a Sticker Layered Onto a Photo

If you added the sticker directly onto a photo using Markup instead, open the photo in Photos, tap Edit, then Markup, and delete the sticker layer without affecting the underlying photo.

How to Delete Multiple Stickers at Once

One at a time works fine for a handful of stickers. It gets tedious fast if you've got dozens sitting in your drawer.

Using Rearrange to Bulk Delete

Open your sticker drawer, then touch and hold any sticker until the options appear. Tap Rearrange instead of Delete.

Your stickers will jiggle, similar to home screen apps in edit mode, and each one gets a small minus icon. Tap that icon on every sticker you want gone, then tap Done.

In practice, this is the method most people end up using once they realize how many stickers they've quietly accumulated.

How This Syncs Across iCloud Devices

If iCloud sync is on for Messages, deleting stickers this way applies across your other Apple devices too, so there's no need to repeat it on an iPad or Mac.

How to Remove a Sticker Pack

Sometimes the goal isn't deleting individual stickers. It's getting rid of an entire pack.

How to Delete Stickers on iPhone Added as an iMessage App

Open Messages, tap the plus button, then look for "More" or "More Apps." Tap Edit, and you'll see toggles for every sticker app you've added. Turning one off removes it from your drawer.

According to Wikipedia, Apple introduced this App Store style system for iMessage in 2016, which is what allows publishers to create standalone sticker apps that plug directly into the Messages drawer.

Deleting a Sticker Pack Installed as a Separate App

If the pack came from a standalone App Store download, toggling it off in Messages won't fully remove it.

Press and hold its icon on your home screen, tap Remove App, then Delete App. The stickers tied to it usually disappear from Messages shortly after.

Why Some Stickers Can't Be Fully Deleted

This is where most of the confusion comes from. Not every sticker on your iPhone can be permanently removed.

Built-In Apple Stickers, Memoji, and Emoji

Stickers that ship with iOS, along with Memoji and emoji-based stickers, are part of the system itself.

You can hide them from your main drawer or remove them from Favorites, but they aren't deleted from the device the way a downloaded pack is.

Stickers from Apps Like WhatsApp or Telegram

Stickers added through a third-party messaging app stay contained to that app. There's no system-wide delete option inside iPhone Messages for these.

If you want them gone, you'll need to manage them from within WhatsApp, Telegram, or whichever app added them.

Sticker Type	Fully Deletable?	What You Can Do
Created from a photo	Yes	Delete from sticker library or Markup
Downloaded sticker pack (separate app)	Yes	Delete the app
Added as iMessage app	Yes	Toggle off in Messages "Edit" screen
Built-in Apple / Memoji / emoji	No	Hide or remove from Favorites only
WhatsApp / Telegram stickers	No, not from iOS	Manage inside the originating app

How to Hide Stickers Instead of Deleting Them

If deleting feels too permanent, or you're dealing with a built-in sticker that can't be removed anyway, hiding is the practical alternative.

Disabling Stickers from Keyboard Settings

Go to Settings, then General, then Keyboard. Scroll to Emoji and turn off the sticker toggle. This keeps stickers out of your keyboard without deleting anything, so you can turn it back on later.

Removing a Sticker from Favorites

In the Messages "More Apps" screen, tap Edit and remove any pack from Favorites. It stops showing up in your main drawer but stays installed in the background.

Troubleshooting: Sticker Won't Delete or Keeps Reappearing

Sync delays are a common cause of a sticker seeming to come back after deletion. If a sticker won't delete or reappears, try these in order:

Force close Messages and reopen it.
Confirm you're deleting it from the sticker library, not just removing it from one message.
Give iCloud sync a minute if it's turned on.
Restart your iPhone if it still won't clear.
If it's a built-in Apple sticker, remember it can only be hidden, not deleted.

How to Restore a Deleted Sticker

Deleted a sticker you actually wanted to keep? It's usually recoverable.

Reinstalling from the App Store

Open the App Store, tap your profile icon, then Purchased. Tap "Not on this iPhone" to see packs you've previously downloaded, including free ones, and reinstall what you need.

Restoring from an iCloud Backup

If a pack isn't available through Purchased, restore from an iCloud backup dated before the deletion.

Go to Settings, your name, iCloud, then iCloud Backup, and choose one from before you deleted it. Use a complete backup, since a partial one may not include the sticker data.

Conclusion

Deleting stickers on iPhone is straightforward for anything you added yourself, whether individually, in bulk, or as a full pack.

Built-in Apple stickers can only be hidden, not removed, which explains most of the confusion people run into.

FAQs

Can I delete one sticker without removing the whole pack?

Yes. Touch and hold the individual sticker in your drawer and tap Delete. This won't affect any other sticker in the same pack.

Do deleted stickers get removed from all my devices?

If iCloud sync is enabled for Messages, yes. The deletion applies across any other Apple devices signed into the same Apple Account.

Why do stickers keep coming back after an update?

This is usually a sync delay rather than the sticker actually returning. Built-in Apple stickers also reappear in Favorites unless manually hidden again.

Can I delete Memoji stickers permanently?

No. Memoji stickers are part of the system and can only be hidden from your drawer, not deleted from the device.

Does deleting a sticker delete the original photo?

No. Deleting a sticker made from a photo only removes the sticker version. The original photo in your library is unaffected.