In today’s digital communication, stickers have become a vibrant and expressive way to personalize our conversations. Whether you’re using fun emoji-based stickers, custom creations from your photos, animated Live Photo stickers, or even AI-generated Genmoji, iPhones, iPads, and Macs offer a rich sticker experience. However, as your sticker collection grows, you might find the need to declutter and remove stickers that no longer spark joy or fit your current style. Knowing how to efficiently delete stickers on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac is essential for managing your digital expression.
Creating stickers is incredibly versatile. You can transform almost anything into a sticker: from standard emojis and still images to dynamic animated objects from Live Photos. With advancements like Apple Intelligence in newer operating systems, generating personalized Genmoji stickers using generative AI has become possible. Beyond your own creations, you can also accumulate stickers sent by friends or download third-party sticker packs and Memoji Stickers to broaden your options.
Managing this diverse sticker collection involves several aspects, including hiding or removing entire sticker packs. While Memoji and third-party packs can be hidden or removed by deleting associated apps, emoji stickers and custom stickers require different approaches. Although emoji stickers themselves cannot be deleted, you can clear them from your recently used list. For custom stickers—those crafted from your photos, Live Photos, or Genmoji, or even saved stickers from others—you have direct control over their deletion.
The beauty of Apple’s ecosystem is that changes you make to your sticker collection sync seamlessly across all your devices linked with iCloud. This means you only need to delete a sticker once on any device, and it’s removed everywhere. This guide will walk you through the simple steps to keep your sticker collection organized and clutter-free across your Apple devices. Let’s dive into how to delete those custom stickers and maintain a fresh, relevant sticker library.
Deleting Custom Stickers from the Stickers App on iPhone and iPad
The Stickers app within Messages serves as the central hub for all your custom stickers, whether they are based on emojis, still images, animations, or Genmoji creations. This is the most direct place to manage and delete your personalized stickers on both iPhone and iPad.
To begin, open the Messages app on your iOS or iPadOS device and enter any conversation thread. Tap on the Apps button, which is represented by a plus (⊕) icon, usually located to the left of the text input field. From the list of available apps, select Stickers.
Upon opening the Stickers app, you will likely land on the Recent tab by default. It’s important to note that you cannot delete stickers directly from the Recent tab; this tab only displays your recently used stickers. To access your full sticker library for deletion, navigate to the Live tab. This tab is recognizable by its icon, which resembles a peeling sticker.
Once you are in the Live tab, locate the custom sticker you wish to delete. To delete a single sticker, lightly press and hold the sticker. This action will bring up a contextual menu. From this menu, select Delete. Upon tapping delete, the sticker will visually disappear, often accompanied by a subtle animation like a puff of smoke, indicating its permanent removal.
For users looking to remove multiple stickers at once, the Stickers app offers a convenient batch deletion feature. Again, in the Live tab, press and hold any sticker to bring up the contextual menu, and this time, choose Rearrange. This action opens the sticker editor interface. In this editor, you can drag and drop stickers to reorder them within your collection. More importantly for deletion purposes, each sticker will now have a Delete button, indicated by a minus (⊖) icon, appearing on it. Tap this Delete button for each sticker you intend to remove. Note that there will be no additional confirmation prompt after tapping the delete button; the stickers will be immediately removed. After you have deleted all desired stickers, simply tap on any sticker or any empty background area within the app to close the editor and return to the standard sticker view.
Deleting Custom Stickers from the Emoji Keyboard on iPhone and iPad
Beyond the Messages app, you can also manage and delete your custom stickers directly from the Emoji keyboard on your iPhone or iPad. This method is particularly useful if you are using stickers in other apps or prefer managing them directly from the keyboard interface.
To start, open your keyboard in any app where you can access the emoji keyboard. Tap the Emoji icon, typically found on the bottom left of the keyboard. Similar to the Stickers app, the Emoji keyboard will likely default to the Recent tab, which doesn’t allow for deletion. Navigate to the Live tab within the emoji keyboard, identified by the peeling sticker icon, the same as in the Stickers app.
Once you are viewing the Live tab in the emoji keyboard, find the sticker you wish to delete. Press and hold the sticker briefly. This action will bring up the familiar contextual menu. From the menu options, select Delete. Tapping Delete will remove the sticker immediately.
Alternatively, for deleting multiple stickers at once, you can choose Rearrange from the contextual menu. This will activate the sticker editor within the emoji keyboard, mirroring the functionality in the Stickers app. In the editor, each sticker will display a Delete (⊖) button. Tap this button for every sticker you want to remove. Again, there will be no confirmation prompt. Once you have finished deleting stickers, tap any sticker or background area to exit the editor.
Deleting Custom Stickers from the Stickers App on macOS
Managing your sticker collection isn’t limited to mobile devices. If you use Messages on your Mac, you can also delete custom stickers directly from the macOS Stickers app, mirroring the process on iOS and iPadOS.
Begin by opening the Messages app on your macOS system and select any conversation. Click on the Apps button, represented by the plus (⊕) icon, located in the app bar. From the dropdown menu, choose Stickers.
This action will open the Stickers app on macOS. As with the mobile versions, you cannot delete stickers from the Recent tab. Ensure you are in the Live tab, indicated by the peeling sticker icon. To delete a sticker, right-click, Control-click, or use a two-finger click on the sticker you wish to remove. This will open the contextual menu. From this menu, select Delete. The sticker will then be removed from your collection.
Deleting Custom Stickers from the Emoji Keyboard on macOS
Similar to iOS and iPadOS, macOS also allows you to delete custom stickers via the Emoji keyboard. This provides another convenient way to manage your stickers, even when you are not directly using the Messages app.
Accessing the Emoji keyboard on macOS can be done in several ways:
- Press the
Globe(🌐) key on your keyboard, if enabled in your keyboard settings. - Access it from the menu bar of any application. For example, in the Notes app, click
Editin the menu bar, then selectEmoji & Symbols. - Click the
Emoji & Symbolsicon in the menu bar, provided you have enabled the “Show Input menu in menu bar” option in your keyboard settings.
If the Character Viewer opens instead of the Emoji & Symbols view, click the Custom View button, which looks like a window icon, to switch to the more compact Emoji & Symbols view.
Once the Emoji keyboard is open, navigate to the Live tab, identifiable by the peeling sticker icon, to avoid the Recent tab which does not support deletion. Right-click, Control-click, or two-finger click on the sticker you intend to delete to bring up the contextual menu. Finally, select Delete from the menu to remove the sticker.
Managing your custom stickers on iPhone, iPad, and Mac is straightforward, ensuring your sticker library remains a curated collection of your favorite expressions. By using either the Stickers app or the Emoji keyboard, you can easily delete unwanted stickers and keep your digital communication space clean and personalized.
