Embodiments of the present invention provide an application association processing method and apparatus. The method includes: detecting a first operation instruction entered by a user; and when it is determined that the first operation instruction is to perform, by the user, a first preset operation on first content displayed on a display interface, displaying prompt information of second content associated with the first content, where the first preset operation is an operation gesture preset by the user, and the prompt information is used to inform the user that an association relationship exists between the first content and the second content, where when the first content is an application icon, the second content is an icon of at least one control included in an application corresponding to the application icon; or when the first content is an icon of a control, the second content is an icon of an application to which the control belongs. User operation complexity can be reduced.