iOS 18.2 Lets EU Users Delete App Store, Safari, Messages, Camera and Photos

[bellnen]

While I am generally positive towards what the EU is trying to achieve, the crippling of iOS and ChatGPT is a Orwellian overstep that needs to be rectified. As soon as possible. You cannot win this by hiding your head in the sand.

And being able to uninstall basic OS functionality and deeply integrated application like Photos and Camera will lead to all kinds of problems for laypersons and annoy all those who have to fix those mess-ups.

Have you even read the AI ACT once?

 

[mectojic]

Without the camera app, how will people living in dystopian Europe scan their QR codes to order pizza?

 

[Skyscraperfan]

Why can't the phone app be deleted? That is an app I never use at a smartphone, because for phone calls I use a dumbphone, which has a lot of advantages.

 

[H_D]

Have you even read the AI ACT once?

You mean this… https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/the-act/?
No one reads this. And it is, which part of the absurd life we’re in, translated with AI. As with all laws, this wasn’t written to be read, it is the usual over-long kafkaesque legalese that will keep judges and lawyers busy in upcoming years. Sorry if Ido not have the time to read this verbatim, as most people never read their Eulas, even as we maybe should.

While working on a campaign mobilizing young voters from 16 up to vote last July I read a whole lot of pro and con articles about the law enacted. As with all of these laws there are good aspects and bad and generally I am very much for regulating the techsphere. But as with the DMA the bureaucracy and the balance of interests in the large democratic mobilé the meta government the EU has given itself endured in problematic situations that sometimes burnout always are for the common good. The eerie thing about AI is that a) the judicial system is too slow to engage the phenomenon and b) the lawmakers think along very narrow, political pathways. There is this aspect in every law, the good intention turned into a leaden compromise-laden word cloud, from copyright laws to the GDPR, DMA the the AI act. We need regulation, urgently, but we also need to allow progress and face the inevitable change it will bring to society. You cannot stop the steam engine, the assembly line, the fully integrated robotic engineering, the computer or generative transformers from changing, productively and destructively, our society. The intention and aim is more than laudable, but in reality Europe will be isolated and antiquated, missing out on the most important technological advance of this century even more than it already has.

In the end European users will get a very very derivative of iOS that allows them to uninstall the App Store for whatever reason but gives them Siri 1.0. I am positive that will it happen as Apple will find a way of communicating with the lawmakers, but it is not what aims the responsible advance of this technology, especially as all of this doesn’t stop Replika or CharacterAI, Flux or DeepL etc from advancing, as these aren’t large tentpole companies.

And, say, if in the process OpenAI waits with advanced voice options in the EU region or other new technologies are not coming to the EU zone, it will have a palpable negative economic effect. Just imagine British law makers outlawing the steam engine to protect manual labor. It would on paper be a nice idea, a real change in the course of history, but enacting that would have put the UK on a very different course and probably encapsulated in a second-world-handcraft bubble. Which of course would make them a world-leading market on Etsy today ;-)

 

[Ipadonly1]

I’m pro-EU, but they don’t half come out with some stupid hills to die on every now and then 🙄

 

[happosai]

Phone and Settings can’t be deleted.

^^ Let them delete everything including the phone app and call it "iPod Touch"

 

[cgs1xx]

If you're going to delete all these apps, just buy a different phone... no?

 

[cgs1xx]

^^ Let them delete everything including the phone app and call it "iPod Touch"

I would LOVE a new iPod Touch with a 6.7/6.9 screen! 😀😍

 

[Stiksi]

Lots of people in the EU are actually complaining about the EU itself.

I am in the EU. I'd never consider ditching my App Store app and I don't care at all about alternative app stores, nor do I care about apps which can or cannot be deleted. I hate being babied by the EU as if I'm some over-sensitive, highly vulnerable snowflake. The EU regulations are damaging for the EU itself, yes, I do acknowledge these regulations certainly have several benefits but at what price?

I think you have it backwards. The EU is not babying you, they gave you choice. Apple is babying you, telling you it’s dangerous for you to have choices.

 

[Gromov]

The article misses the best part though, Apple Intelligence comes pre-deleted so you don't have to delete it yourself.

 

[Stiksi]

All the butthurtery in the comments by presumably US readers is really funny considering the US is supposed to be the country of “freedom”

Since when has choice against a multi trillion dollar oligarchy ever been such a negative thing?

Something is broken in society where a large portion of the populace feel an innate need to defend a company that is to all intents and purposes anti-consumer and goes out of their way to maximize their profits at the expense of their customers’ experience and sometimes safety and ability to repair / replace broken parts on their own terms.

Freedom only applies to big corporations. Even their anti government regulation party only deregulates companies, normal people get more and more regulated.

But governments can? Be careful what you wish for.

The EU regulates corporations, not people. In the US it’s the other way around. Which do you prefer?

 

[Scubaman]

You wanted it, you got it! Enjoy!

Why do you think the UK decided to depart from the dumbass EU!!

 

[Stiksi]

The anti-Apple nerds who user iPhones and their newbie social circle asking their opinion on this will do this.

Great guess, another group would be government employees and those who work in highly sensitive roles that have strict rules about what is allowed on their phones. Before, they could not have iPhones and now they can.

 

[jonas.boetsch]

I'd love to get rid of the Photos-App.
I use a Synology Server and the Photos App - that is not that great, i know but at least my photos are in my place.

At the moment it needs to be synced and i have to manually trigger the process to delete the duplicates still stored in the photos app. I hope that photos will be stored directly in the synology-photos app in the near future.

I don't mind having some apps i don't use on my phone but my example shows that opening up is a good thing ...

 

[sdz]

Whats the big deal. One has not to delete anything... I like that they provide the freedom to do so.

 

[svish]

Don't see any advantage in having this. But regulations are forcing Apple to make many changes.

 

[Chlloret]

I would much rather have Apple Intelligence and not this nonsense.

Do you? Really? I´ve put it on and, well, needs work.

 

[rumagent]

Thank you, EU. Now do the rest.

 

[rumagent]

Why do you think the UK decided to depart from the dumbass EU!!

I believe that the great entertainer B. Johnson said something about eating you cake and having it too. How did that turn out?

 

[Chlloret]

You can always buy an iPad Mini (new one released today), that doesn't have the Phone app. And it's only marginally larger than a large iPhone.

Oh how I wish I could make phone calls, all 5 of them per year, with my mini cellular.But Apple is prohibiting this because they could not sell there 1800 Euro pro max anymore. Instead of deleting essential apps, how about allowing to install them. And yes, the phone is in the cellular iPads, it´s just blocked. Last mini it worked was a jailbroken mini 4 with an app from cydia. So technically it works but Apple said no.
Only for phone calls I use an Android phone. Everything else goes with my mini. I refuse to pay Apple just for a phone function that kind of money.

 

[iPadified]

I fail to see the issue?

In reality there is no issue but many are using anti EU one liners to get likes.

I am surprised that so many do not have a critical view on companies practices. Private sector 101: customers are to be maximally exploited to maximise profit. Apple is an expert on this and some people accept this exploitation without critical thinking but complain when EU takes a stand. I agree, hard to get.

Would be better to discuss what good protection from exploitation is and how it should be implemented.

 

[JanoschR]

Do you? Really? I´ve put it on and, well, needs work.

Yes, 100%. I don't want to delete my camera app or something. I like how all the Apple stuff integrates and I think the EU regulation has gone too far in that regard. Giving me options I don't need and withhold the stuff I want.

 

[iPadified]

Watch the EU son and daughter family tech support go crazy when their parents accidentally delete the whole phone 😁

Why do you think parents are less competent with IT hardware? At at technical university we are currently surprised on young students lack of understanding of what operating systems, hardware and apps are and how they are connected. We see it in this thread as well.

 

[AbSoluTc]

Why do you think parents are less competent with IT hardware? At at technical university we are currently surprised on young students lack of understanding of what operating systems, hardware and apps are and how they are connected. We see it in this thread as well.

Agreed. The older generation seems to be much better with tech than the newer gen. Newer gen we've seen as the problem users. Not knowing how to do something basic as restarting. I asked a student to restart their Mac and what did they do? They closes the display and opened it back up. Logged back in. I said that's not a restart. They had no clue how to. I've seen student machines up for 346 days total without restarting.

 

[jake.au]

Why do you think parents are less competent with IT hardware? At at technical university we are currently surprised on young students lack of understanding of what operating systems, hardware and apps are and how they are connected. We see it in this thread as well.

For my parents they simply refuse to believe that they can learn more about tech. They also have no interest in improvements in the tech as long as they can watch YouTube.. for young uni students that’s pretty depressing. Maybe the tech uni shouldn’t have admitted them?