The last few posts in this thread ignited a burning curiosity in me. In iOS, it comes with stock apps that you cannot delete, and it's made even more apparent upon the arrival of iOS 9 late last year where they decided to include more apps that used to be optional downloads in the App Store like Find My Friends and Find My iPhone. If you're an owner of a handset with 64GB and 128GB storage you also get both iLife and iWork pre-installed, but on the bright side it's only an additional tap away from deleting any of them.
You can't delete any of these stock apps, but that doesn't mean you can't use third-party options; in fact there are myriad of alternatives in the App Store. However, using third-party provides a minor caveat to your overall experience as iOS prohibits its user from replacing the default apps. If we try to, say, press a contact link in another app it automatically opens up the stock Mail app instead of your preferred third-party email app should one be present. There's simply no way around it so if you want to use Spark, you have to open it manually and write from there.
I must say that this is pretty smart of them since it actually makes me consider using Apple's stock apps just for this minor convenience—that is, if the app in question passed my reliability tests because an undependable app is a lot worse than not being able to have your favourite app open as default under certain circumstances.
Apple Maps has finally matured enough for me to use since the last several revisions; my thirst for a more reliable mail app a la Google Maps has since disappeared. I can now sit down and watch Apple Maps open as default instead of a competitor's map without qualm. I haven't fell down a sewer, nor ended up in the middle of absolutely bloody nowhere so far anyway!
I used to download separate apps to replace the pre-installed ones because some of the stock apps used to be very basic and prone to issues, thereby making me hurl them in a random folder somewhere. Very fortunately they worked on improving Notes and Mail in iOS 9. Notes is now my go-to app for jotting down pretty much almost everything and it has completely replaced Evernote for me. The only other similar app on my phone is Notability and I'm afraid no other app can top it anytime soon; it's very useful if you're a student. Mailbox's downfall has caused me to give Mail another shot and it seems to have stabilised enough for me to use again.
On one hand, I'm hoping that they're working on Reminders and Videos for the next major release; both of these apps have been neglected for quite some time and are still desperately hanging onto a much-needed overhaul. On the other hand, I don't really have any realistic wishes for Calculator and Podcast. I'm make use of brilliant third-party alternatives with stellar features that won't ever see—realistically speaking—the light of day in those two stock apps. I also presume that Calculator and Podcast are already practical enough for the majority of the user base so it's not begging for any major change to me.
I feel like a line has to be drawn somewhere when it comes to judging pre-installed apps catered to the majority and not the power users. Calculator and Podcast are very basic apps, but despite this fact it still remains reasonably useful for the average consumer. However, Reminders has a terrible UI & UX in my opinion and it feels like Videos was the work of an intern—there's a huge stretch in terms of being plain when either of the two is compared with most of the other stock apps installed.
I'm in the dark regarding hiding or deleting apps on Android, but I'm certain that you're allowed to at least change your default apps. (e.g., set doubleTwist and Gmail as two of your default apps for music and email respectively instead of the ones that came bundled with your OS.)
If you do use a third-party app, you have to just work with this slight inconvenience; or at least that's how it looks for me because not being able to change the default app for anything isn't exactly a deal-breaker for my daily needs.
Do you think the stock apps of your phone suit your needs or do you often find yourself looking for better alternatives to replace them?
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This is a little bit off-topic, but for those who still find hiding apps inside folders lacklustre, Apple might just allow everyone to completely hide apps in the foreseeable future.
Apple has recently released iOS 9.3 for developers and public beta testers; and for users who aren't part of either two it's going to be an upcoming update which is packed with many new and useful features. Most importantly and relevant to this discussion, they appear to be hinting towards a way to hide apps, but right now it involves a tedious process that not everybody has easy access to.
The Cupertino tech giant may be simply testing the waters with plans to introduce an easier way to hide apps you don't use around June 2016 at WWDC where they're expected to unveil iOS 10. For the majority of us, this isn't really much of a problem as we already have folders that can be used as bin for unused apps; simply toss them inside and never approach them again. Apple can finally give users a way to completely hide apps from view, but it doesn't delete them and as a result there won't be any recovered (and to begin with the numbers are negligible) storage space; it's more or less a nonproblem that can already be fastened right now using folders.
You can't delete any of these stock apps, but that doesn't mean you can't use third-party options; in fact there are myriad of alternatives in the App Store. However, using third-party provides a minor caveat to your overall experience as iOS prohibits its user from replacing the default apps. If we try to, say, press a contact link in another app it automatically opens up the stock Mail app instead of your preferred third-party email app should one be present. There's simply no way around it so if you want to use Spark, you have to open it manually and write from there.
I must say that this is pretty smart of them since it actually makes me consider using Apple's stock apps just for this minor convenience—that is, if the app in question passed my reliability tests because an undependable app is a lot worse than not being able to have your favourite app open as default under certain circumstances.
Apple Maps has finally matured enough for me to use since the last several revisions; my thirst for a more reliable mail app a la Google Maps has since disappeared. I can now sit down and watch Apple Maps open as default instead of a competitor's map without qualm. I haven't fell down a sewer, nor ended up in the middle of absolutely bloody nowhere so far anyway!
I used to download separate apps to replace the pre-installed ones because some of the stock apps used to be very basic and prone to issues, thereby making me hurl them in a random folder somewhere. Very fortunately they worked on improving Notes and Mail in iOS 9. Notes is now my go-to app for jotting down pretty much almost everything and it has completely replaced Evernote for me. The only other similar app on my phone is Notability and I'm afraid no other app can top it anytime soon; it's very useful if you're a student. Mailbox's downfall has caused me to give Mail another shot and it seems to have stabilised enough for me to use again.
On one hand, I'm hoping that they're working on Reminders and Videos for the next major release; both of these apps have been neglected for quite some time and are still desperately hanging onto a much-needed overhaul. On the other hand, I don't really have any realistic wishes for Calculator and Podcast. I'm make use of brilliant third-party alternatives with stellar features that won't ever see—realistically speaking—the light of day in those two stock apps. I also presume that Calculator and Podcast are already practical enough for the majority of the user base so it's not begging for any major change to me.
I feel like a line has to be drawn somewhere when it comes to judging pre-installed apps catered to the majority and not the power users. Calculator and Podcast are very basic apps, but despite this fact it still remains reasonably useful for the average consumer. However, Reminders has a terrible UI & UX in my opinion and it feels like Videos was the work of an intern—there's a huge stretch in terms of being plain when either of the two is compared with most of the other stock apps installed.
I'm in the dark regarding hiding or deleting apps on Android, but I'm certain that you're allowed to at least change your default apps. (e.g., set doubleTwist and Gmail as two of your default apps for music and email respectively instead of the ones that came bundled with your OS.)
If you do use a third-party app, you have to just work with this slight inconvenience; or at least that's how it looks for me because not being able to change the default app for anything isn't exactly a deal-breaker for my daily needs.
Do you think the stock apps of your phone suit your needs or do you often find yourself looking for better alternatives to replace them?
—————————————————
This is a little bit off-topic, but for those who still find hiding apps inside folders lacklustre, Apple might just allow everyone to completely hide apps in the foreseeable future.
Apple has recently released iOS 9.3 for developers and public beta testers; and for users who aren't part of either two it's going to be an upcoming update which is packed with many new and useful features. Most importantly and relevant to this discussion, they appear to be hinting towards a way to hide apps, but right now it involves a tedious process that not everybody has easy access to.
The Cupertino tech giant may be simply testing the waters with plans to introduce an easier way to hide apps you don't use around June 2016 at WWDC where they're expected to unveil iOS 10. For the majority of us, this isn't really much of a problem as we already have folders that can be used as bin for unused apps; simply toss them inside and never approach them again. Apple can finally give users a way to completely hide apps from view, but it doesn't delete them and as a result there won't be any recovered (and to begin with the numbers are negligible) storage space; it's more or less a nonproblem that can already be fastened right now using folders.
