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How-to: Make built-in iOS apps vanish, and force app updates on iOS 9

disappear

One of the minor irritants for those of us who have slight OCD tendencies is that there’s no way you can remove built-in iPhone apps – the best you can do is tuck them away inside a folder, which in my case is called unused.

But YouTube user Jose Rodriguez has found a couple of ways to actually render them invisible – at least for now. The main method, shown in the video below, works for iOS 9 to 9.2. Essentially you drag the app toward the right edge of a folder, then let it go. You then repeat this, but the second time keep touching it while you press the home button – the app then disappears …

Note that the apps will return if you restart your phone, and appears to rely on an iOS bug, so there’s no guarantee it will continue to work.

The same user does have a second method which survives restarts, but that one is clunkier. It requires you to have grey wallpaper, and to reduce transparency. Check it out here if you want to try it.

Finally, if you’re finding that apps don’t update promptly, or you’re experiencing glitches with the App Store, developer Zachary Drayer found a strange way to empty the cache. Simply go into the App Store and tap any of the buttons at the bottom of the screen (Featured, Top Charts, Explore, Search or Updates) ten times in quick succession. The screen will briefly go blank, and then return. Business Insider reports that it also works in iBooks and the Apple Watch app and on the Mac in iTunes.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpeP42GH0OY]

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Comments

  1. Bill K. (@MysteryMii215) - 8 years ago

    I feel like only 0.01% of iPhone users want to get rid of the built in apps.

    • Ben Lovejoy - 8 years ago

      Rather higher among our readers, I suspect, as techies tend to find better alternatives to many.

      • Vincent Conroy - 8 years ago

        I have a folder for the built-in apps I don’t use (cleverly named “CrApps”, yes, it’s hilarious) that I dragged to its own “panel” of the Home Screen that I never visit. It contains Apple’s Maps, Find Friends, Reminders, Stocks, and Tips. I’m fine using most of Apple’s built-in software as I’m not a huge tinkerer when it comes to my phone, but I just don’t see a practical use for these. Other people have replaced the Calendar and Mail apps as well and some people use Chrome or Firefox rather than Safari. Others use third-party messaging apps rather than Apple’s Messages. And the Weather app is probably the most common one I see replaced. I can see how it would be cumbersome to keep those apps floating around if you don’t intend to use them.

  2. tylerallen86 - 8 years ago

    No! What you do is open ifile, navigate to root ( / ), locate the applications folder, then locate _____.app, then delete it!
    Stocks, tips, Game Center, etc have all been gone some time now.

    It’s very simple. If Apple had any desire to let you do this without Rooting (jailbreaking) your iphone, then they would migrate said apps to the App Store and the problem would be solved.

    Apple just assumes that 95% of its users have no desire to power-use their device, and I tend to agree with that assessment. The problem is unlocking the devices true potential should be as easy as a developer license, Xcode, and a few terminal lines of code. Sadly that’s not the case. I get it, protect the ecosystem! Apple knows it’s vastly superior BSD/Darwin based OSes, and unmatched ecosystem will keep those like me from ever going to android, so the cat and mouse game will always …

  3. applenthusiast - 8 years ago

    It works until you restart your phone as you mentioned. It also appears to break Siri. Restarting the phone restored the “hidden” apps and fixed Siri.

    I have to disagree with @MysteryMii215’s assertion that “like only 0.01% of iPhone users want to get rid of the built in apps.” In fact hasn’t bloatware been a constant complaint among users across all mobile (and non-mobile) platforms?

  4. kdpickett - 8 years ago

    Isn’t this kind of pointless if the apps re-appear after a reboot? Why bother is it’s just as easy to leave them in an obscure folder?

  5. Louis Veillette - 8 years ago

    Sure this trick does work, and at least visually solves the problem. Though if it’s about that, it’s simpler to just move these apps into the “Others” folder.

    But the real reason why a user (even one without “OCD tendency”) might want to remove such apps when they don’t use them, is to save storage space on their device.

    That problem is made worse by the fact that on these device, storage space is much smaller than a desktop machine or even a portable, making each free megabytes we can keep for our own use, way more important.

    But my main overall gripe about this, is that these devices belong to us, and we should be able to do what we want with them, as long as it’s legal.

    Bundled apps are great, but I see the way that Apple includes them on their iOS devices as very pushy, and possibly even anti competitive.

    I’m sure it’s nice for Apple to include their apps on their users devices in such a manner, and almost all computer makers do it anyway.

    When the app I don’t use can be easily moved, or even removed, I see them as a minor annoyance.

    But I stop at letting computer makers force me to waste precious storage space, for apps I never use, on the devices that I own.

    I would like that Apple eventually figures on its own out that it’s no way to treat their customers.

    Maybe it would help if columnist reporting on related matters pointed out that fact, at each and every occasion they get.

    But it nobody cares except some users, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that some antitrust lawyer figures there’s maybe a business opportunity for them right here.

  6. Louis Veillette - 8 years ago

    There’s also another such trick I found to get around the limits imposed on how you can use the first page of icons and to generaly, move around icons that Apple would like you not to move.

    Simply remove one icon from the Dock. Then use it as a kind of clipboard, where you put icons from the first page, then go to another page and put them there from the dock, one by one.

    And you can also do the reverse. Put icons there from the other pages, and then go to the main page and drag them there, from the dock.

    • BFSEsq - 8 years ago

      This is a great idea! Thanks for this. One of the things I’ve always hated is the icons snapping to the grid to the point where you have to play almost a weird game of Tetris to move them individually between pages. Lol

  7. MK (@MathiasMK84) - 8 years ago

    That problem with stuck updates is so annoying. I often have it, whole App Store greyed out and no updates loading, or they do but they won’t install.
    Restart is no help, so I will try the trick mentioned here next time around.
    Sometimes the store works over 3/4G btw.

    • BFSEsq - 8 years ago

      I consistently have problems getting app updates to install. It usually looks like they’ve loaded all the way, but refuse to finish updating. They’ll just sit there, stuck. I tried that trick to clear the cache, but it didn’t seem to help.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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