Dear Apple,
In recent years, you've been adding more applications I can't delete from my phone.
It started with just a few apps — Notes, Calculator, Calendar, small apps to be sure — but now you're forcing me to keep your Apple Watch app, regardless if I own that device, and soon I won't be able to delete Find My Friends, either.
C'mon Apple: Let me delete your apps.
I know you care deeply about offering "the whole widget," as your old co-founder Steve Jobs used to say. I know you want to control the complete end-to-end experience, and you don't want people to meddle or modify your apps. But please, at least let me delete the apps I don't want.
Before the App Store came along, the iPhone was barren. Apple understandably needed to fill its first "smartphone" with enough carefully curated content to fulfill people's needs and make them happy. But times have changed; we have an App Store now, which offers tons of options for every single application.
I never needed your Stocks app. I don't care about stocks at all. So let me delete that app, and free up some space for an app, or maybe a song, that I actually do want on my phone.
But let's say I actually did care about stocks. Maybe I'm really into the stock market. If that were the case, maybe I would want a third-party app from the App Store that's better tailored to my needs, something that offers more data and analysis than your app.
Why should I keep two apps if I'm going to only use one?
FaceTime, Contacts, iBooks, Newsstand, Compass, Voice Memos... why are you forcing me to own apps I don't want or use?
I think it's great that every new iPhone owner has a slew of apps they can use right away, with no need to visit the App Store. But if those apps are just taking up valuable space — especially for those 16 GB iPhone owners — so what's the use of forcing me to keep them? Why not let people choose how they use their storage?
I get it, some of your apps are "required" for certain experiences. For example, I can't use Apple Pay without the Passbook app, and I can't access the iBooks Store without the iBooks app. There's not much wrong with the Clocks app, either. I get it. But at least give me the option. A notification saying, "Warning: You will be unable to use Apple Pay if you delete the Passbook app," is a totally acceptable solution.
Even if I choose to re-download those apps later and you make me re-enter all my information into those apps, I'm totally fine with that. What I'm not fine with is the current situation.
There are nearly 30 apps of yours I can't delete. That means roughly one out of every 6 apps I own, I didn't choose to own. That's a problem!
Apple, please reconsider your stance on this policy. You're the biggest company in the world, and there's no reason you need to listen to a single person's opinion. But I'm sure I'm not the only person who feels this way. Please let me delete some, if not all, of your first-party apps, to allow more space for stuff (apps, videos, and songs) I actually want.
Sincerely,
Dave
