Apple might finally allow users to delete pre-installed apps from iOS

How many people do you think have actually used the Stocks app that comes pre-installed on iOS? How about the Compass app? The answer is probably only a handful, because those apps are completely useless to the vast majority of the population and aren’t even utilized by Apple’s other pre-installed apps. This is what we refer to as “bloatware,” and it’s one of the few things that’s universally hated by mobile users on every platform. But at least Android users can hide these apps so that they don’t clutter their homescreens, iOS users are forced to create a junk folder that only partially hides the apps. That may change in the near future, however, as hinted by Tim Cook in an interview with BuzzFeed.

One of the most annoying things about the iPhone is that you can’t delete or hide the apps the device comes with, like “Stocks” and “Tips.” Good news: Apple will eventually let you delete some of its preinstalled iPhone apps, according to an interview its CEO Tim Cook gave to BuzzFeed News. When asked about the iPhone’s “junk drawer” app problem by BuzzFeed’s John Paczkowski, Cook explained that letting users delete any app they want is a “complex issue.” If you accidentally deleted the Phone app for example, your iPhone wouldn’t be able to make calls. You may not use Apple’s Weather app, but if you deleted it entirely, it would break things like Siri’s ability to give you the weather forecast. But there are other Apple apps, like Stocks and Compass, that aren’t an integral part of the iPhone experience. “It’s not that we want to suck up your real estate, we’re not motivated to do that,” Cook told BuzzFeed. “We want you to be happy. So I recognize that some people want to do this, and it’s something we’re looking at.” Make sure to head on over to BuzzFeed for the full interview with Cook, which covers a lot more about Apple.