How Removing Apple’s ‘Junk’ Apps in iOS 10 Really Works

There have been a few misconceptions about ‘deleting’ Apple’s apps. This is what actually happens when you remove the Stocks1 app…

Apple’s apps aren’t really deleted; they’re part of iOS and are just hidden from view;

their hooks into iOS, configuration files, and various user data is removed, so that the user isn’t mistakenly taken to a ‘deleted’ app;

they can be ‘redownloaded’ from the App Store; one of the reasons for this is to give the user a consistent experience — the App Store is where you download your apps, even if they’re not truly deleted;

Apple’s apps, eg. Mail, Stocks, Tips, etc. cannot be updated via the App Store, and they will continue to require an iOS update to push changes, new features, etc.

At this point in time (first developer beta, right after WWDC 2016 week) the following apps can be ‘deleted’:

Calculator

Calendar

Compass

Contacts

FaceTime

Find My Friends

Home

iBooks

iCloud Drive

iTunes Store

Mail

Maps

Music

News

Notes

Podcasts

Reminders

Stocks

Tips

Videos

Voice Memos

Watch app

Weather

This one seems to be a popular example, but I am, of course, referring to all the apps which can be removed. ↩