Beginning with the iOS 10, users will be able to do something that they have clamored for Apple to allow, and that is to delete stock apps from the home screen of iPhones and iPads.
Apple's new version for its mobile operating system will be released later this year. Once it lands on devices, users will no longer be forced to have Apple's stock apps such as Maps, Weather and Notes on their home screens.
The stock apps will all become optional and can be deleted from mobile devices. If users change their minds, they can re-download the apps through Apple's App Store.
Some of the stock apps, however, will remain as mandatory apps that users will not be able to delete. Some of these apps include Messages, Phone, Camera, Photos, Clock, the App Store and Safari.
The change was not formally announced by Apple in its keynote speech for its ongoing Worldwide Developers Conference. However, ahead of the keynote, Apple quietly inserted some of its apps into the App Store.
Users who have been able to download the developer beta for iOS 10 have confirmed that some of the stock apps can indeed be deleted after the operating system update.
Apple has also published a help page on deleting stock apps, which includes a complete list of the apps that users can remove from their home screens.
There is a catch, however, to the addition of the option of deleting these built-in apps. Apple stated that when such a stock app is deleted, related user data and configuration files pertaining to the app could also be removed. As such, there could be some system functions that would be affected. For example, users who delete the Weather app would no longer see weather alerts on the Notification Center of their mobile devices, and for those who delete Music, the app will also be removed from CarPlay.
One other example is the iOS version of Yelp, which is powered by Apple Maps. There is currently no option to use Google Maps for Yelp, so if users delete Apple Maps, opening Yelp would launch an error message looking for Apple Maps. Mashable reached out to Yelp for comment, but a spokesperson said that it is too early to discuss iOS 10.
For apps that would be affected by the deletion of certain Apple stock apps, users can only hope that their developers would be able to implement a solution or an alternative once iOS 10 rolls out.
To check out Apple's announcements for WWDC 2016, here is how to watch the event.
