iOS 18.2 will let folks in the European Union (EU) delete the App Store from their iPhone, plus the built-in Camera, Photos and Safari apps.
Apple has made this change to appease EU regulators. iPhone and iPad owners can already delete many built-in apps the same way they can delete apps downloaded from the App Store regardless of their whereabouts.
As for crucial system apps, like Camera, Photos, App Store, and Safari, you can only remove them from your Home Screen (which tucks them away in the App Library), not delete them from the device. However, deleting these apps will be possible for all EU residents running iOS 18.2 or iPadOS 18.2.
Phone and Settings are the only remaining undeletable stock apps in the EU. We’ll see if that changes in future betas. Apple is currently testing these updates, so install the iOS 18.2 beta or wait for the final release to try this feature (if you live in one of the 27 EU member states).
iOS 18.2 lets EU folks delete the App Store, Camera, Photos, and Safari apps from their iPhone
I know that Apple wants to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act and allow people to use alternative apps. However, this could bring next-level headaches to novice users who mistakenly delete a crucial stock app. Deleting an iPhone app is a multi-step process, but I’ve once deleted an app by mistake due to spray input to the touchscreen (it happens to the best of us).
But this underscores my point… Any deletable stock app can be easily re-installed via the App Store, but what if someone deletes the App Store? How are they supposed to re-install the App Store without the App Store storefront installed?
There’s a new App Installation section in Settings for that, but will inexperienced users figure this out on their own? And with the Photos app being so tightly integrated into the iPhone experience, what happens when it’s gone? Will third-party alternatives be able to access my library without the Photos app present? And what about Apple’s fancy image formats like burst shots and spatial videos?
Deleting stock iPhone and iPad apps has been possible since iOS and iPadOS 14. You can also delete built-in apps on your Apple Watch as long as the device runs watchOS 9.4 or later. Apple’s support page lists all delectable stock apps.
iOS 18.2 brings a new menu for app defaults
Apple has also made another change in iOS 18.2 that seems related to this but is available worldwide, setting default apps for email, messaging, calling, call filtering, web browsing, password keeping and typing.
There’s a new Default Apps menu in Settings > Apps to manage your default apps, including ones you prefer to use for opening web links, sending emails, making contactless payments and more. The following entries are currently available:
- Messaging
- Calling
- Call Filtering
- Browser App
- Passwords & Codes
- Keyboards
You don’t need to be physically located in the EU to change default apps; its feature is available worldwide. Apple now allows third-party apps to access the iPhone’s NFC chip for contactless payments and other use cases, but there’s currently no menu to change the default app for making contactless payments.