Several stock iOS apps turned up in the App Store this morning, inciting speculation that you will soon be allowed to delete them. Earlier today, Apple officially announced iOS 10, but didn’t make any mention of removing built-in apps. But it turns out you can do it.
These apps include Calendar, Weather, Maps, Videos, Notes, Reminders, Stocks, iTunes Store, Home, FaceTime and others that currently come pre-installed on iOS devices, and are not eligible to be deleted or even hidden. We’re guessing important apps like Phone and Messages are still mandatory.
This is a big deal for a few reasons. For one, it will allow users to clear up extra space on their devices if their storage becomes full. And two, those who don’t like the stock apps can now delete them and use third-party options. The inability to remove stock apps has long been a pain point for iOS users.
Again Apple hasn’t said anything publicly about this yet, so there’s a few things we don’t know. Perhaps the biggest issue concerns default customization. So for instance, if I were to delete the Mail app, what happens when I open email links? In the iOS 10 beta, the option to send via Mail just disappears.
So, while we can remove built-in apps, it doesn’t look like we can replace them with third-part options just yet. But perhaps this is a step in the right direction.