Apple Expert Reveals Which Preinstalled Apps Are the ‘Most Useless’—Delete Them to Free Up Space: Compass & More

Pre-installed apps are the free gifts that don’t always keep giving. In fact: it’s possible you’ve never used most of the apps that come pre-loaded on your device. Most pre-installed apps are not taking up a great deal of storage space, but when you’re in a situation in which every bit of space counts, you don’t have room on your phone for apps that are useless to you.

Keep in mind: the usefulness of an app will depend on how much use you can get from it each day. But, generally speaking, these pre-installed apps are considered among the least used, but they are still taking up storage space. Feel free to delete them and gain back some space.

Measure

How often are you pulling out your phone to measure items in your home? If you already own a great measuring tape and have been used your device for this purpose, why not delete this app?

Compass

When you first purchased an iPhone, all of those years back, you may have played around with the Compass app and gotten a kick out of figuring out which locations were north, south, east, and west in your world. Chances are, you have not opened this app once since that day.

Stocks

If you’re into tracking stocks, there are myriad apps out there that have robust tracking features. The pre-installed Stocks app may not be the one for you — delete it.

Tips

Tips is pretty useful and will provide an abundance of info on how to use your phone in clever ways. Have a look at it, take as much pertinent information as you can from the app, and then delete it if it no longer serves your needs.

Books

Unless you use the Books app to read on your device, it’s just taking up precious space. If you have used this app, but haven’t in a long time, make sure you delete old files that could be snagging storage.

Podcasts

Similar to the Books app, the Podcasts app is only as useful as how much you use it (if at all). If you don’t use it to listen to podcasts, it won’t be worthwhile to keep on your phone.

Apple Watch

This app’s usefulness is the easiest to gauge. Unless you own and use an Apple Watch, this app won’t be useful to you — delete it and gain back a bit of storage space.