iOS 10 lets you hide, not delete built-in apps

One of the most exciting announcements from Apple’s WWDC conference was that iOS 10 would finally let you delete apps that come preinstalled on your iPhone or iPad. However, Apple senior vice-president of software engineering Craig Federighi clarified on a podcast recently that you’ll be able to hide the apps, but not delete them.

You’ll be able to ‘delete’ preinstalled apps the same way you delete other apps (hold down an app icon until it jiggles and tap the ‘X’) but the apps will remain on the phone. Apple’s preinstalled apps only take up 150MB of space on the phone, but that’s quite a lot for iPhone users who only have 16GB of space. While you can hide the preinstalled apps, you should be aware than uninstalling some may break some features.

For example, if you delete the Calendar app, Siri won’t be able to add an event to the Calendar since it’s been hidden. However, iOS 10 will warn you that the app is uninstalled and gives you the option to restore it. The option to delete Apple’s own apps is great news for updates too.

Since its apps are now separate from the core operating system, they can be updated more frequently via the App Store. Google does the same thing by allowing core applications like the dialer, keyboard and Google Now to be updated independently from the Android operating system.