You might be finally able to get rid of those pointless default Apple apps soon

Stocks. Who on Earth uses the Stocks app?

It's a question many a frustrated Apple user has pondered as they are forced to deleted another batch of photos to free up space on their phone or tablet. Luckily, it's beginning to look like a solution as arrived to get rid of those pesky pointless applications. The folks at AppAdvice are reporting that a small quirk in iTunes metadata indicates Apple could be slowly phasing out the ever-present apps. Apple has added "isFirstParty" and "isFirstPartyHideableApp" to code for Stocks, Compass, and Voice Messages. The word Hideable suggest that it may at the users discretion of they want to rid themselves of the app. But before Apple users get giddy at freeing up all that extra space, the AppAdvice were keen to remind us a recent Tim Cook interview on the importance of having some consistency in their products. “There are some apps that are linked to something else on the iPhone. If they were to be removed they might cause issues elsewhere on the phone. There are other apps that aren’t like that", Tim told BuzzFeed last year. Could this year see the dawn of a new era in Apple product customisation? We can only hope.