Find My iPhone, Friends become built-in apps in Apple's first iOS 9 beta, cannot be uninstalled
Both Apple's "Find My iPhone" and "Find My Friends" applications are built in to the first beta of iOS 9, hinting that they could be added to the growing list of native iPhone apps when the software update launches this fall.
Currently in iOS 8, both Find My iPhone and Find My Friends are optional installs from the App Store. But in the first beta of iOS 9 provided to developers this week, they come preinstalled and cannot be removed.
Apple made a similar move last year, baking iBooks and Podcasts into iOS 8 as native applications. It proved to be a successful move for iBooks, as Apple gained millions of new users to its e-book platform.
In addition to being built in to the first iOS 9 beta, Find My Friends is also accompanied by a new Notification Center widget. The widget shows nearby friends, and tapping to open the app will offer a more detailed view of all friends' locations shared through the application.
With iOS 9, Passbook has also been rebranded as Wallet, while Newsstand will be replaced by a new Flipbook-like application simply dubbed News. However, News is not found in the first beta release of the software, while former Newsstand publications on upgraded devices will see their individual apps placed into a folder still named Newsstand.
Currently in iOS 8, both Find My iPhone and Find My Friends are optional installs from the App Store. But in the first beta of iOS 9 provided to developers this week, they come preinstalled and cannot be removed.
Apple made a similar move last year, baking iBooks and Podcasts into iOS 8 as native applications. It proved to be a successful move for iBooks, as Apple gained millions of new users to its e-book platform.
In addition to being built in to the first iOS 9 beta, Find My Friends is also accompanied by a new Notification Center widget. The widget shows nearby friends, and tapping to open the app will offer a more detailed view of all friends' locations shared through the application.
With iOS 9, Passbook has also been rebranded as Wallet, while Newsstand will be replaced by a new Flipbook-like application simply dubbed News. However, News is not found in the first beta release of the software, while former Newsstand publications on upgraded devices will see their individual apps placed into a folder still named Newsstand.
Comments
Step 1: Create an app group called Apple.
Step 2: Move these new apps to that group.
Step 3: Move on with your life.
True
If you have No Friends or Family, why would you ever need to find them ??
And by deductive reasoning, since you have no friends or family,
Who would ever ask you to use your iPhone's, 'Finf My IPhone' app, to help them locate their lost phone. ...sheesh
Sometimes Apple really doesn't 'Think Differently". ...enough.
Your solution is brilliant by the way
Go Apple !!!!
True
If you have No Friends or Family, why would you ever need to find them ??
And by deductive reasoning, since you have no friends or family,
Who would ever ask you to use your iPhone's, 'Finf My IPhone' app, to help them locate their lost phone. ...sheesh
Sometimes Apple really doesn't 'Think Differently". ...enough.
Your solution is brilliant by the way
Go Apple !!!!
Even you have family and friends but they don't want to be tracked. My own two college kids whose uses iphones bought by me and monthly plan paid by me still refuse to be tracked by find my iphone app.. So, Apple needs to let such app not installed natively or best let it be removed if installed by default with new iphone and any ios update to not reinstalled if already removed.
Why do I get this feeling if we were talking about Android or Samsung people would be making fun of the 'bloatware'? But with Apple it's shove them in a folder and shut up. It seems every new iOS release we get another new app or two that aren't removable. I'd call that bloatware.
Is it possible that adding more native apps and such possible increase size of ios 9 taking more default storage space, Apple will offer the starting storage of iphone 6S with 32GB ?
Don't be such a drama queen. These ain't "bloatware". You just have no friends.
The apps take up a few megabytes at most. Android's apps take up much more, they're usually third party stuff that's had paid placement like Zinio, Kindle, etc.
That's because on android and Samsung that bloatware mostly serves the purpose of carriers to try and charge you for extra "services", or it's there to benefit Google or Samsung rather than being useful for the user. My friend told me that it happened to him all the time that his 2 years old son accidentally opened those uninstallable apps by AT&T on his Samsung, for example, and he'd be charged for "features". On iOS, on the other hand, those default apps mostly are useful for the user or at least not invasive.
My app group is called useless shit. Maps is in it as well.
I like this find my friends. My girlfriend and I use it all the time with each other. When she's out with friends downtown on campus it let's me have that extra safety measure.
Even you have family and friends but they don't want to be tracked. My own two college kids whose uses iphones bought by me and monthly plan paid by me still refuse to be tracked by find my iphone app.. So, Apple needs to let such app not installed natively or best let it be removed if installed by default with new iphone and any ios update to not reinstalled if already removed.
I sure don't want to be tracked by anyone, family or friends, and I'm sure none of them do either, I mean why? Seems over bearing to me. That might be something a Parent would do with their 12 year old maybe, but really, who wants this?