Remove built-in apps from the Home screen on your iOS device with iOS 10 beta | Hacker News Reader

Remove built-in apps from the Home screen on your iOS device with iOS 10 beta

support.apple.com

35 pointse1ven16 comments

This is an honest question from a lifetime Android user. Can someone give me some thoughts behind the requirement that every installed app on an iDevice needs to be on the home screens somewhere? I keep expecting this to change in iOS, especially as devices often pile up dozens of apps, but it seems to be the one constant in the design. I am genuinely curious on thoughts about this being a good UI experience from iOS users. Thanks in advance.

Where else do you propose to put the app(s)? i.e. what does Android do with this same situation?

The apps can be 'grouped' - giving you the equivalent of sub-folders.

Android has 2 'home screens': they have the menu with all the apps like the iOS home screen, and a customizable home screen with limited space and it is always a mess. I like the iOS homescreen.

Android puts them in an "App Drawer" (launcher, list, whatever you wish to call it) separate from your home screens. Home screens in Android tend to be things that you use frequently with the ability to create sub-folders or place icons at will on any page.

All installed apps are contained in the app drawer which is where I go for things I don't care to see often. Likewise pre-installed apps can be disabled entirely through the App settings area (which it's nice to see iOS offering now as well)

You only have a home screen on iOS. It makes a lot of things simple. When you remove an app, you remove it, since it only exist in one place. On Android you can remove an app and then it still exist.

This might seem obvious to HN users, since you only removed the shortcut from the home screen, but it is not obvious to a lot of users.

I installed a different environment and hid all the apps I never use. I can get to them but they're absent from my day to day. I went through a number of iphones and loved the simplicity that iOS provided. Then I got an Android and put a lot of work into my UI via settings menus and drag and drop, which resulted in something far more minimal than what iOS was (at the cost of setting it up).

iOS paradigm is a 1 screen launcher. The home page and app list is the same thing.

Android paradigm is a 2 screen launcher. The home page and the app list are separate.

In Android, you go to your app list to see a full list, and then move the ones you want onto your home screens, with added widgets if you so desire.

In iOS, your home page is your app list so all apps must appear on it, you can just organize the order and put them in folders.

Thanks, as always I guess it comes down to what you're familiar with. To me the home screen requirement feels restrictive and cluttered, but to an iOS user perhaps the two screen concept feels needlessly inconsistent.

Lately this is one feature of iOS that I have come to dislike the most, but the fact is it is quite entrenched into the product. I don't see it changing anytime soon, unfortunately.

It doesn't bother me at all. I have all my common apps on my home screen and use swipe-down Spotlight search for everything else.

As others have mentioned, it's all about simplicity. Apple decided to stick with the simplest model, and I think they made the right decision, as it has no significant drawbacks.

The only complaint I commonly hear is that you have to deal with the non-removable Apple apps, but I think that's one of those 'abstract problems'; everyone grumbles but it isn't actually an issue.

See, every time I get a new non-removable app, I just drag it to my 'crap' folder on the last page, and from then on it's not an issue.

I've used an Android for quite a while, and while I like the widget functionality it offers, I think the app drawer approach needlessly complicates things. First, I ended up with tons of apps I never used that on iOS I would've simply removed. Second, I never quite seemed to be able to memorize where to find my apps in both 'locations', so if I wanted to move apps to and fro (because I stopped or started using one), I'd get frustrated trying to find them.

On iOS, on the other hand, I'd generally know where to find even the apps that I only use once in blue moon. They'd be on page five or so, but they'd be there, predictably. And while my OCD side dislikes the idea rigid pages of apps right there on my 'desktop', the fact that I've moved them a screen and the simplicity of it all kind of makes that acceptable.

That said, I only barely feel strongly enough about this to write a comment while having a coffee. I was happy with Android too. But at least I think I understand why Apple made this decision.

Great, now I can get rid of that page 2 folder called 'Junk'.

Well maybe not. Game Center and Health seem to be too core to be removed.

Edit: I wonder what happens if you ask Siri for directions, but remove the Maps app. I have my doubts that it'll fall back to Google Maps.

Game Center is now removed.

>The GameKit framework (GameKit.framework) includes the following changes and enhancements:

>- The Game Center app has been removed. If your game implements GameKit features, it must also implement the interface behavior necessary for the user to see these features.

https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/content/relea...

Does that mean I can set Gmail app to be the default email client if I remove Mail?

I wonder if the fact that you can restore a removed app (via the App Store) means that Apple will be able to update built-in apps independent of iOS updates.

Can we please not post every little apple announcement in a thread of its own?

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