How to Hide Default Apps on iOS 9 Using Limited Trick

[MacRumors]

While Tim Cook has promised Apple will "figure out a way" for iPhone and iPad users to remove certain default apps, a new limited trick allows for stock icons to be temporarily hidden on devices running iOS 9.0 to iOS 9.2 without jailbreaking.

YouTube channel videosdebarraquito shared a video of his trick over the weekend, and we have confirmed the method works as shown. Follow these step-by-step instructions and watch the video below for a demonstration.

How to Hide App Icons on iOS 9
Hold down on the app icon you want to hide until it starts to wiggle.
Drag the app icon over any other app to create a folder.
Take your finger off the icon once in the folder. Do not press the Home button.
Drag the app icon to the second page of the folder. Take your finger off the icon.
Drag the app icon to the third page of the folder and keep your finger on it.
Drag the app icon to the edge of the folder and press the Home button simultaneously.As long as the device remains powered on, including when the display is locked, the app icons removed with this trick will remain hidden.

Keep in mind that the hidden app icons will reappear when the iPhone and iPad is restarted, so this trick only serves as a temporarily solution.

As a boilerplate disclaimer, this is an unofficial trick and we cannot guarantee it will not cause any unforeseen problems on your iPhone or iPad.

(Thanks, Jose!)

Article Link: How to Hide Default Apps on iOS 9 Using Limited Trick

 

[Adithya007]

Why can't Apple just make a way to hide apps of the user's choice?

And why do I need an Apple Watch app when I don't have one? Can't the Apple Watch owners just go to the App Store and download the app? :/

 

[BrodieApple]

I can see why people want apps to be hidden, but I don't see whats so annoying about having it just on the last page of a folder. Or a seperate page on your home screen.

 

[sunapple]

Also, moving the app to any folder's second page will make them invisible when browsing the home screen.

 

[mdridwan47]

I don't want to just hide it. I want to remove it. And if necessary redownload it from the app store.

 

[cloudness]

Also, moving the app to any folder's second page will make them invisible when browsing the home screen.

Agreed. Technique shown here is way too long to hide the dozen of stock apps I don't use. Resets include mostly involuntary resets from battery dying (dropping to 0% or outside below freezing temperatures) and random iOS resets I haven't figured out. Would rage if I had to reapply every time it would happen.

 

[2457282]

I don't want to just hide it. I want to remove it. And if necessary redownload it from the app store.

Totally Agree. I hide unwanted Apple Apps in a junk folder on the last home screen that I never visit. Hiding is not the issue, its having it there taking space that is the issue. I need a way to remove --

• Find my Friends
• Stocks
• Podcasts
• Tips

 

[2headedgeek]

Fantastic so chuffed with this. I now don't need a folder called 'Crap'

 

[Jsameds]

I don't want to just hide it. I want to remove it. And if necessary redownload it from the app store.

It's a lot of work for iOS devs to do in order to save the rather paltry amount of ~100MB per device. I'd rather that time spent on new features/fixing bugs rather than the IMO pointless ability to remove built in apps.

 

[Ballis]

1st world problems

 

[shareef777]

And why do I need an Apple Watch app when I don't have one? Can't the Apple Watch owners just go to the App Store and download the app? :/

I have an Apple Watch, but found this to be very underhanded advertising. Apple has such a large and faithful fan base and then to force this onto everyone is really pathetic.

 

[H2SO4]

LOL, I can see it now on Apple Patch Tuesday.

Apple releases 9.2.1 for iPhone, iPad, iWatch, iPod, iRate…...iOS 9.2.1 fixes several bugs in the operating system and it includes other under-the-hood removals and road blocks.

It's a lot of work for iOS devs to do in order to save the rather paltry amount of ~100MB per device. I'd rather that time spent on new features/fixing bugs rather than the IMO pointless ability to remove built in apps.

I thought Apple was all about the customer experience and not hitting them with needless crappy advertising?

 

[Jsameds]

I thought Apple was all about the customer experience and not hitting them with needless crappy advertising?

Hold on a sec, this is becoming one very slippery slope... One minute it's about clutter, the next it's about space used and now it's about advertising?

What exactly is your problem with default iOS apps? Make your mind up!

 

[skylerolson]

Hold on a sec, this is becoming one very slippery slope... One minute it's about clutter, the next it's about space used and now it's about advertising?

What exactly is your problem with default iOS apps? Make your mind up!

All of the above!

 

[bushido]

And why do I need an Apple Watch app when I don't have one? Can't the Apple Watch owners just go to the App Store and download the app? :/

and lets not forget how lazy that icon is

 

[Jsameds]

All of the above!

So a simple 'hide' option would solve two of them, so the third is storage space.

Are you really quibbling over 100MB?

 

[Smultie]

Lol, you iPhone users still can't do that

So a simple 'hide' option would solve two of them, so the third is storage space.

Are you really quibbling over 100MB?

Is Apple still selling phones with 16GB? Then yes, people will still be b*tching about 100MB.

 

[shareef777]

So a simple 'hide' option would solve two of them, so the third is storage space.

Are you really quibbling over 100MB?

Exactly, a simple Hide option is all they need to add. And we have to wait till iOS 10 to get it (if we're lucky)!?

 

[H2SO4]

Hold on a sec, this is becoming one very slippery slope... One minute it's about clutter, the next it's about space used and now it's about advertising?

What exactly is your problem with default iOS apps? Make your mind up!

WTH??? Are you blind?

If something is there that you don’t like/need it’s not too much of a stretch that it be described as clutter.
Personally, I’ve never gone down the space used line. But waste is waste and at the premium Apple charge for space I’d rather it was used for something I actually want or that it be free space.
The default apps that I don’t want are crap, (to me), in fact they’re not even that good. At least with the 3rd party ones I can remove them.

 

[tranceking26]

It's not a big deal for me, I have an Apple folder and forget all about them, they don't take up much space on my 128GB 6S so I can just leave them there and carry on with my life.

 

[Jsameds]

Is Apple still selling phones with 16GB? Then yes, people will still be b*tching about 100MB.

It's clear from your other post that you don't have an iPhone, but let me put 16GB devices into perspective for you. 100MB is less than 1% of available storage on a 16GB iPhone. Besides, those people bought a 16GB device.

WTH??? Are you blind?

If something is there that you don’t like/need it’s not too much of a stretch that it be described as clutter.
Personally, I’ve never gone down the space used line. But waste is waste and at the premium Apple charge for space I’d rather it was used for something I actually want or that it be free space.
The default apps that I don’t want are crap, (to me), in fact they’re not even that good. At least with the 3rd party ones I can remove them.

Like I said, a simple 'hide' option would solve two of them but as it's not an option yet, just stick them in a folder and done. This really is a non-issue.

And in terms of "premium" Apple storage, 100MB is 20 cents.

 

[teslo]

Like I said, a simple 'hide' option would solve two of them but as it's not an option yet, just stick them in a folder and done. This really is a non-issue.

And in terms of "premium" Apple storage, 100MB is 20 cents.

in the graphic you posted there's 3.4gb being used. where is this 100MB figure coming from? is that the non-essential app total (stocks, apple watch, etc)..? it's so subjective what a user finds necessary but to an apple dev, something like Game center (an app i've purposely opened a total of Zero times) is so integrated i can see why they'd have problems. what makes the cut as reasonably disposable? curious..

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Why can't Apple just make a way to hide apps of the user's choice?

I don't have the quote on me, but a few months ago Tim Cook said that anywhere in the OS it does anything based on weather (IE, when Siri tells you the weather, or on the notification screen), it's pulled from the iOS weather app. He said there's a lot of surprising ways throughout the OS that they're dependent on those default apps.

Which, as a software engineer, sounds like it means iOS has been very poorly designed. Functions which should be defined in the core library for the OS, or within shared libraries (a notion which iOS doesn't support) are instead defined within apps. Which means the OS cannot function without the presence of those apps.

Although really, it seems like Apple could easily band-aid over this by just removing the icon from the home screen when you "delete" it, and then allowing them to be "installed" via the App Store app, which would just tell the home screen to unhide the icon.

Also... I have a folder in iOS with no name. I don't know how - it happened over a year ago. I'm able to edit the contents of it without problem... it just has a name with a length of 0. If someone found a way of intentionally making these nameless folders, you could combine it with this trick to really hide them away.

Also, unlike this trick, my unnamed folder has stayed unnamed throughout OS updates and reboots.

 

[John Mcgregor]

Apple has been sleeping past few years. For the love of god just implement features that god damn common sense dictates. Why make all the apps system apps? Why no switch to enable power saving mode automatically? So on and so forth.

 

[freepomme]

This is dumb.