It looks like Apple is finally going to do something to address all of the complaints about their unremovable stock apps clogging up people’s home screens. While bloatware is a bigger problem on Android where you have to deal with apps from Google and carriers, an iPhone can still get pretty cluttered with all those stock Apple apps. I mean, just look at all this crap…
AppAdvice noticed two new keys in the iTunes metadata that strongly suggest that you’ll be able to get rid of stock apps on your iPhone.
The keys—”isFirstParty” and “isFirstPartyHideableApp”—have true/false values, which seems like a good enough indication that you’ll be able to get rid of bloatware, like our old whipping boy, the Apple Watch app, once and for all.
The drawback? The feature probably won’t be available until iOS 10 is released this fall. Apple will probably announce the feature in June at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), though.
Fortunately, you don’t have to wait until then to clear up all of that clutter on your iPad or iPhone’s home screen. There are already a few tricks to hiding stock Apple apps—none of which require you to jailbreak your device—and you can check out those options below.
- The Absolute Easiest Way to Hide Any App on Your iPhone
- How to Create Invisible Folders for All Your Secret iPhone Apps
- How to Hide Stock Apple Apps & Features on Your iPhone
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Just updated your iPhone? You’ll find new emoji, enhanced security, podcast transcripts, Apple Cash virtual numbers, and other useful features. There are even new additions hidden within Safari. Find out what’s new and changed on your iPhone with the iOS 17.4 update.
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