Removing default apps on iOSSolved

Hey, @casper! When you say “remove,” do you want them gone completely, or would it work to just hide them from the home screen?

Well, what’s the difference? Users can’t access them both ways, right?

Not quite! If you just hide the apps, users can still find them in the App Library and open them from there. iOS doesn’t actually let you delete most built-in apps completely, but there’s a way around it with Hexnode! You can blocklist apps to fully restrict access, preventing users from using them. That’s what we did with some of our devices.

Hello @casper and welcome to Hexnode Connect! @emersyn is correct with their explanation. Here are a few ways to manage access to default apps:

1. Set up a policy for blocklisting apps: If you want to restrict users from accessing certain default apps, you can try blocklisting them from the Hexnode portal. Navigate to Policies > iOS > App Management > Blocklist/Allowlist. Add the default apps you want to block, like Translate or Shortcuts, to the blocklist.
2. Use Kiosk mode: You can always use Kiosk mode to restrict your devices to run either a single application (Single App Kiosk mode) or a set of selected applications (Multi App Kiosk mode). This ensures that only the specified apps are accessible on the device. Navigate to Policies > Kiosk Lockdown > Single App/Multi App to enable kiosk mode. Choose the apps to run in Kiosk mode and apply the policy to the devices.
3. Using advanced restrictions: You can enable Remove system apps under ‘Allow App Settings’ in the Advanced Restrictions on iOS. This will enable users to delete the system apps from the devices, but they can reinstall these apps from the App Store if needed. This feature is available only on supervised devices running iOS 11.0+.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

Best Regards,
Sienna Carter
Hexnode UEM