Sick of looking at Apple’s Stocks app when you don’t actually own any stocks? There might finally be a way to banish it and other unwanted default apps from your Apple devices.
The beta version of Apple’s mobile operating system iOS 9.3 includes a way to hide default Apple apps from your home screen. They are not actually removed from the device and will continue to take up memory, but at least you won’t have to see them.
Reddit user bfodder first shared the change and directions last week.
The procedure is somewhat advanced, and for now only people signed up as Apple Developers can do it. (Anyone can install 9.3 as a beta tester, but this procedure requires a computer application only available to those with the $99/year developer account.)
Back up your phone and upgrade to iOS 9.3. Install Apple Configurator 2.2 beta on a computer using a developer account. Connect to the iOS device running 9.3. Then follow bfodder’s directions for hiding the individual apps you really don’t want to see. (It’s unclear if this option will be available for non-developers when 9.3 goes live.)
One of the reasons the iPhone is such a quality product is that Apple has complete control over the operating system. There are no busybody carriers installing bloat-wear or any unwanted default apps on the iPhone, unlike most Android devices. It’s clean and simple.
But Apple has long had its own core set of default apps that users cannot uninstall. Most of the 32 apps are well loved and used. Then there are the others.
No intention of ever finding your friends? Maybe you’ll change your mind! Are you a Google Maps loyalist? Please love me, cries the Apple Maps app that won’t go away. One of the most recent additions, an app for the Apple Watch you probably do not own, is especially irksome
If these apps really bother you that much, you can sign up for a developer account and banish them. Or you can just opt for the classic, low-tech solution. Create a folder for the unwanted apps, drop them all in there, and tuck it away in some far corner of the home screens.