Soon you might no longer need to put unwanted stock apps inside a junk folder on your Home screen like an animal because Apple is “looking at” letting consumers delete stock apps that come with the iPhone.
In an interview with John Paczkowski of BuzzFeed News, CEO Tim Cook has confirmed that Apple might allow customers to get rid of some stock apps like Compass, Stocks, Podcasts, Tips and more, but in the same breath cautioned that core iOS apps critical to the user experience—such as Messages, Safari or Mail—will remain irreplaceable for the time being.
“This is a more complex issue than it first appears,” he said. “There are some apps that are linked to something else on the iPhone. If they were to be removed they might cause issues elsewhere on the phone.”
He also acknowledged that some apps might be safe to remove.
“There are other apps that aren’t like that,” Cook continued. “So over time, I think with the ones that aren’t like that, we’ll figure out a way [for you to remove them].”
As a reminder, iOS 9 will bring even more apps you won’t be able to delete from your iOS device, including Find My iPhone, Find My Friends and News. iOS 8 has similarly added new stock apps such as Health, Podcasts and Tips.
Underscoring that Apple has no desire “to suck up your real estate” on your iPhone, Cook recognizes that some people want to do this, and added that “it’s something we’re looking at.”
In other tidbits, Cook said iOS’s opt-in ‘Hey Siri’ feature stores encrypted data on the device itself rather than beam it to iCloud.
“Apple doesn’t have access to it. So there’s not privacy concerns I think, for most people, when the information is held on their device and they can encrypt it with their passcode.”
He also likened the new Live Photos feature to “a medium that hasn’t existed before,” explained that 3D Touch increases productivity because “it really does cut out a number of navigational steps to get where you’re going” and opined that we’re at the point where the iPad “does what some people want to do with their PCs.”
I’d give that interview a quick read, or save it for later, if I were you because Cook also touches on other interesting topics, including the Mac’s future and more.
The Apple CEO is also scheduled to appear on The Late Show tonight at 11:35pm Easter Time.
Source: BuzzFeed News