You Can Safely Remove All These Pre-Installed Apps From Your IPhone
Unbox and turn on your new iPhone and you’ll find that it already has a ton of apps installed, which is generally a good thing! You can start browsing the web, checking email, playing music, taking notes, and more without visiting the App Store.
However, you won’t necessarily use all of these apps often. Removing the ones you don’t really need means they won’t take up space on your phone and won’t eat up bandwidth during app updates.
Apple has been making more and more apps optional in recent years, and now you can get rid of more apps than you ever imagined. If you find that you need them again, you can easily download them from the App Store.
To remove an app from your iPhone, touch and hold its icon on the Home screen, then choose Remove App > Remove App > Remove . You can also remove apps from the App Library: Touch and hold the icon, then choose Remove App > Remove .
Here are the pre-installed iOS apps that you can get rid of (that’s almost all of them, actually):
Books Apple’s eBook storage can be removed from your iPhone if you’re not interested in digital reading. It has been included in iOS since iOS 8 in 2014.
Calculator . If you prefer an alternative calculator app or are just good at math, you can say goodbye to the Calculator app. It has been around since the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007.
Calendar : Apple’s built-in Calendar app may seem like a big deal on iOS, but it’s not, and you can get rid of it. It has come pre-installed on iPhones since the 2007 original.
Watch . The Clock app has been around on the iPhone since day one, back in 2007, but iOS can work fine without it. However, you may have to find an alternative alarm clock app.
Compass : One of the lesser-known apps, Compass, is safe to uninstall if you’re sure you won’t need it. The application was introduced in iPhone OS 3 in 2009.
Contacts : Surprisingly, you can remove Contacts, an app that debuted in 2008, from iOS. However, your contacts will still appear in the Phone app, which cannot be deleted.
FaceTime : FaceTime, available on iPhones since iOS 4 in 2010, can be safely removed from your iPhone—you’ll still be able to make calls through the Phone or Contacts apps.
Files . The File app may seem pretty fundamental to a phone, but you may want to remove the iPhone’s built-in option. This app was introduced with the launch of iOS 11 in 2017.
Find My : A basic app that you assume can’t be uninstalled, but in fact it can. Find My has been pre-installed since iOS 13 in 2019 and combines Find My iPhone and Find My Friends.
Freeform : The virtual brainstorming app developed by Apple debuted on iOS in late 2022, and you can safely remove it from your iPhone without breaking anything.
Health . If you don’t need the Health app introduced in 2014, you can uninstall it. However, your existing health data will remain on your phone in the Health section of iOS settings.
Home : Apple’s smart home platform hasn’t been a big success, and you can get rid of this app without any problems. The Home app was first added to the iPhone back in 2016.
iTunes Store : Have you forgotten about the iTunes Store? It predates the iPhone and came to iOS in 2008. If you don’t want to buy any digital goods, you can delete it.
Journal : Since 2023, our iPhones have a journal that allows you to record memories from day to day. If journaling isn’t for you or you’ve found a better option, you can uninstall this app.
Magnifier . You may have never noticed the Magnifier app on iOS, but as of 2020, it is a separate app that comes pre-installed on the iPhone, and you can uninstall it without any problem.
Mail . There are plenty of good email clients for iOS, and if you’re not using the default client that’s come pre-installed with every version of iOS since 2007, you may want to uninstall Mail.
Maps : Apple Maps has been around since 2012, and while it has improved greatly over that time, you may decide you prefer an alternative option—in which case, you may want to uninstall it.
Measure : One of the minor utilities that comes free with every iPhone starting in 2018 and iOS 12. If you don’t need to take any measurements on your iPhone, you can remove it.
Music . This is a category of applications for which there are many alternatives. If you are using one of these, you can remove it. The app first appeared in 2011, replacing the previous iPod app.
News . If you don’t receive news corrections through Apple’s own News app, you can uninstall it without any problems. It first appeared in 2015.
Notes . For many of us, Notes is an essential app, but if it’s not for you, you may want to remove it from iOS. It’s been around since the first iPhone came out in 2007.
Playground : If you enabled Apple Intelligence when you set up your iPhone, you’ll have the Playground AI image-making app released in 2024, but you can uninstall it.
Passwords : This is one of the new Apple apps released in 2024. If you don’t need it to manage logins and other data on your iPhone, you can safely delete it.
Podcasts : There are a lot of great podcast players out there, so if Apple Podcasts doesn’t work for you, get rid of it. Podcasts launched as an app in 2012 with iOS 6.
Reminders . If you use another app for this job (or are just great at remembering everything), you can remove Reminders, which have been included in the iOS software since 2011.
Shortcuts : Some people find Shortcuts essential, but if you’re not one of them, this app can be safely removed from your iPhone. In 2019, it became a pre-installed application.
Stocks : The Stocks app has been on the iPhone since the very beginning, on the first iPhone in 2007. If you don’t need it to keep track of current stock prices, you can safely remove it.
Adviсe . Since iOS 8 in 2014, the Tips app has been around to provide you with tips and tricks for using your iPhone. If you feel that you don’t need the application, you can delete it.
Translation : Apple Translate has been present on the iPhone since 2020, and it has definitely improved since then, but it can also be safely removed.
TV : The Apple TV app gives you all your movies and shows from Apple. Since 2016 it has been a separate application. If you receive content from another source, you can remove it.
Voice Memos : This is undoubtedly a useful app, but it’s not for everyone and can be uninstalled. The voice memos feature debuted on the iPhone back in 2009.
Wallet : You can remove the Wallet app from iOS, which is a surprise. The application for payments, cards and tickets appeared on iOS under its current name in 2012.
Watch : If you are not an Apple Watch user, feel free to delete the Watch app, available since 2015. If you have a connected Apple Watch, you’ll be prompted to unplug it first.
Weather . Finally, the trusty Weather app, which has been on the iPhone since the very first one in 2007, can also be removed from your iPhone if you get your forecasts from another source.