You Could Be Able to Delete Stock iPhone Apps Soon

If you hate that you can’t delete stock iPhone apps from your device, Apple hears you loud and clear and might just let you do that in the future at some point.

Apple’s new iOS 9 update will arrive tomorrow for all iPhone and iPad users and will include some brand new features. However, one feature that users could really benefit from is the ability to delete stock iPhone apps in order to free up space. Luckily, that feature could arrive in the future at some point.

iOS comes with a handful of apps that are included by default. Apps like Weather, Notes, Reminders, Mail, and Stocks are all apps that come pre-installed on your iPhone, and some of them are useful to a lot of users, but if you don’t use the stock apps, then you’re stuck with them since you can’t delete them off of your iPhone.

This isn’t a humungous deal by any means, as you can just put all of these apps into a folder and place the folder on a different home screen page, but these apps still take up storage space and the folder still takes up an app slot on the home screen, so being able to just delete stock iPhone apps is something that many iPhone users have been begging for.

Luckily, that ability could actually arrive in the future, as Apple CEO Tim Cook says that it’s “something [Apple is] looking at.”

During a BuzzFeed interview with Cook on his way to the flagship 5th Avenue Apple Store in New York City, the CEO was asked about the inability to delete stock iPhone apps and whether or not Apple would ever allow users to do that in the future on iOS.

Cook says that “this is a more complex issue than it first appears” and it really comes down to how some of the stock apps work closely with other stock apps, so deleting one would affect other aspects of the iOS experience.

“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. There are other apps that aren’t like that. So over time, I think with the ones that aren’t like that, we’ll figure out a way [for you to remove them]. … It’s not that we want to suck up your real estate, we’re not motivated to do that. We want you to be happy. So I recognize that some people want to do this, and it’s something we’re looking at.”

There you have it. Apple CEO Tim Cook feels your pain and the company is looking at that possibility as we speak. Whether or not deleting stock apps will become a reality is another question entirely, but at least Apple isn’t completely against the idea.

Then again, Apple isn’t the only one not allowing its users to delete stock apps. Android is guilty of this as well, but the benefit with Android is that you can remove stock apps from the home screen in order to free up home screen real estate for other apps. The stock apps still remain in the app drawer, but they don’t need to stay on the home screen if you don’t want them there.

During the interview, Cook also talked about the new iPad Pro and whether or not it could replace a user’s PC, and for some users, it certainly can and already has.

He says, “I think that some people will never buy a computer because I think now we’re at the point where the iPad does what some people want to do with their PCs.” However, Cook also says that the Mac is here to stay for those folks who still want a computer.