Slashdot Mirror
Apple's Stock iOS Apps Land On App Store, Hints That It Could Allow People To Get Rid Of Them (techcrunch.com)
For years, people have expressed their desire to be able to remove apps such as Mail, Stocks, Compass, Calculator, Watch, and Weather among others that come preinstalled on their iPhone and iPad. Apple is finally making it possible, it appears. TechCrunch reports: Apple quietly published these apps to its iTunes website today (some are live now), but has not yet officially announced the change on stage at WWDC. Product Hunt spotted the Mail app in iTunes thanks to a tweet from Owen Williams, leading to speculation that Apple's other apps will be made available through the App Store, as well. As it turned out, they were.This was a big issue especially for those users who go for the 16GB variant of the iPhone or iPad, as it has limited storage capacity, and these apps would eat up a significant part of it. The company had previously commented on the issue, noting that these apps work in conjunction with the core of the operating system, so uncoupling them wasn't so easy. Update: 06/14 04:56 GMT by M : It is certainly happening.
This is something I've wanted since I got my 2nd gen iPod Touch.
However, with the addition of folders, this is no longer that necessary.
I'd happily trade the ability to remove stock Apple apps to be able to open addresses directly in Google Maps...
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
iOS is dying.
Facts say otherwise.
Did netcraft confirm it or something?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It's very, very explicit.
https://support.apple.com/en-g...
There's now an Apple support document on the subject: https://support.apple.com/en-g...
Of note: Removing these built-in apps only frees up ~160mb, which isn't a lot.
Personally, I'm just happy to free up the home screen clutter.
Unlike porn, which yada yada rimshot hey-ooh!
The company had previously commented on the issue, noting that these apps work in conjunction with the core of the operating system, so uncoupling them wasn't so easy.
Sounds like what Microsoft said about Internet Explorer. Turns out, gosh, you can survive with them.
150MB out of 16GB, yeah, significant part..., less than 1%
Perl Programmer for hire
No! Really! There's this macOS thing and everything! Or is that just for the desktop. My magic 8-ball remains murky. It's OS X only it's not! it's the really old MacOS only we're spelling it with a lowercase m so now it's new and trendy and something, something... There really is nothing new under the sun, but how you get from there to "Serve God" the ecclesiastician doesn't really reveal.
If any of the listed apps takes up a significant part of 16GB then Apple is doing something wrong.
I happen to have a freshly reformatted phone, all preinstalled files account for less than 700K.
That said, deleting non-critical apps is a good thing, but yeah, lets not pretend it is some great difference even on a 16GB device.
The #$%^ing calculator should come AS STOCK on the bloody ipad!
Is this a big deal? Not really!
Is it stupid, annoying and a complete waste of my time? YES
For goodness sakes they are obstinate, it kills me.
Aside from that, most phone operating systems have a partition for the system and a user partition. If an iPhone follows this kind of layout then I don't see how removing apps will help unless the device can be re-partitioned during an upgrade to reclaim the space. It's actually more likely to waste space because if Apple update these apps then the phone will hold the stock version in the system partition and a more recent one in the user partition. It's now wasted 2x the space. The same crap happens on Android phones where the firmware will often have burnt-in copies of Facebook, Gmail, Twitter etc which are immediately superseded.
Facts actually say you're wrong. Android is on the upward slope; iOS is slowly dropping.
Is there a particular reason why you posted data a year old? That doesn't even show what you claim?
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Apple has a great calculator on the iPhone and yet in their infinite stupidity they don't have the same app on the iPad forcing users to download one of the crappy ones. WTF !?
--
redditard, noun, someone who downvotes you simply because their infantile mind disagrees with you instead of posting a reply to start a discussion so both sides may learn something.
"Apple's Stock iOS Apps Land On App Store, Hints That It Could Allow People To Get Rid Of Them"
You mean they'll let you delete apps on your own phone, the one that you paid for? SMELL THE FREEDOM!!!
Thank you Apple! Thank you for letting me delete stuff off my own phone!
(Yes, I know Android phones have similar issues, but I just couldn't resist.)
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
If they're that tightly coupled to the OS then they're doing something else wrong.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Do you have more current data? Other current articles are just for the current time, don't show the data history but do confirm that iOS is losing market share. Macrumors confirms the numbers as well. So - where's data that says otherwise?
As far as not showing what's claimed, do a fit to the data presented. You'll find that iOS is on a slow downward slope, and Android is on an upward slope. That's what the data says. Absent any counter data presented...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Macrumors has it dropping from 20.4% to 17.7% - not really miniscule (a 13% drop is quite a lot). And the market share is what we're discussing, not number of devices sold. Thanks for confirming my statements though - and again, not providing an ounce of data to the contrary.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
If any of the listed apps takes up a significant part of 16GB then Apple is doing something wrong.
I happen to have a freshly reformatted phone, all preinstalled files account for less than 700K.
Typo, 700M not K.
I'm modded troll, yet this clown is modded insightful?
Fuck you, Shitdot. As LynnwoodRooster pointed out, I'm correct. iOS is dying and Android is consuming everything in sight. (And no, I don't particularly like Android or the direction it's going in.)
No! Really! There's this macOS thing and everything! Or is that just for the desktop. My magic 8-ball remains murky. It's OS X only it's not! it's the really old MacOS only we're spelling it with a lowercase m so now it's new and trendy and something, something... There really is nothing new under the sun, but how you get from there to "Serve God" the ecclesiastician doesn't really reveal.
Calling the OS "OS X" was logical, since it was the next major version from the then current MacOS 9.2.
But then, the name "OS X" started to be more and more of an Albatross, marketing-wise, so they went back to the more "Version-Agnostic" original name of "MacOS". The capitalization (or lack thereof) simply being kept in-line with their other OSes.
It IS going to be confusing to do searches for awhile, though.
...but Google won't allow it because Android is just a vehicle to get you to use their services
Sadly even MS is going this way with Windows 10. OSs have stopped being tools for the user, they're now tools for the OS maker to get your data and make money off you
you have to get shot in an Orlando gay bar for that.
Really? You would invoke THAT just to make some sort of snarky comment?
DIE MOTHERFUCKER DIE!!!
I'm seeing people jawing over how much/little space is saved on your iphone or ipad by being able to delete the apps, but I'm happy for a different reason:
More control of my home screen.
When I got my iPhone, I had to create a folder called "Useless crap" and drag all these icons into it because that was my only option. Being able to get rid of these applications will free a little bit of storage, but more importantly it allows me to unclutter my home screen. When you have a limited amount of visual space to work with, this is a big usability improvement.
Come on, put your money where your mouth is.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Perhaps a minor blip up on the overall long-term slide in marketshare?
Seriously - do you have ANY data, any data at all, that points to iOS maintaining or growing marketshare? Any at all? If not - then I am right and you are wrong. End of discussion.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Perhaps a minor blip up on the overall long-term slide in marketshare?
Seriously - do you have ANY data, any data at all, that points to iOS maintaining or growing marketshare? Any at all? If not - then I am right and you are wrong. End of discussion.
Well, if you have any data that doesn't ignore the larger picture, feel free to post it.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.