iOS 10 May Let iPhone, iPad Users Hide Stock Apps

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When Apple unveils its new iOS 10, which is expected to happen at the company's World Wide Developers conference in June, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch users may finally get a long-standing pet peeve addressed.

The iconic computer and device maker is reportedly planning to give users a choice on removing some of the default apps found in iOS, according to AppAdvice.

Buried in the iTunes metadata, Apple over the past few weeks has added an "isFirstParty" and "isFirstPartyHideableApp" keys to every app in its App Store, the report noted.

It's a development that may have been in the works for at least eight months or longer. Back in September, Apple CEO Tim Cook told BuzzFeed News that Apple was "looking at" allowing users to remove unwanted default apps.

"This is a more complex issue than it first appears," Cook told the publication. "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."

In January, the Apple Configurator 2.2 beta that is made available to both the business and education markets allowed users to hide a number of apps like Stocks, Reminders, and Tips if they were using iOS 9.3 or later versions, according to AppAdvice.

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While having the ability to remove unwanted native iOS apps is expected to be appreciated by a number of users, others of them have found a manageable workaround by creating a folder to hide all the undesired default apps.

Another workaround is featured on a YouTube channel by videosdebarraquito, which shows how to hide iOS apps in invisible folders.

So, for folks who can't wait for the Apple iOS 10 announcement to roll around, the YouTube demo may work out just fine.