New
free app discovered in the App Store over the weekend can be used to manipulate
some of the built-in features of iOS without the need to jailbreak your device.
Don’t be fooled by the App Store screenshot. The aptly-named HiddenApps allows you to hide any of the built-in iOS
apps that you may not have any desire to keep around, such as Stocks, Weather,
Passbook and Newsstand.
The app
also allows you to do a few other things, such as access the hidden Field Test
app, which can be used in conjunction with a force-quit bug to display your
cellular strength numerically, rather than as a set of bars. A button to
disable iAds entirely can also be found on the app’s main menu. This button
does exactly what it says: all iAds in every app will be removed completely.
Most of
these tricks are carried out in the same way: you tap a button and HiddenApps
attempts to install a different app over-the-air. That installation intentionally
fails, and you delete the failed installation from your home screen. Deleting
this app magically triggers the intended change.
Unfortunately,
these changes aren’t foolproof. Rebooting (or respringing if you’re jailbroken)
will cause the changes to reverse themselves. iAds will show up again, hidden
apps will reappear, and the numeric signal strength indicator will go back to
being a set of five bars. If that happens, you just need to redo the changes in
HiddenApps. This isn’t ideal, but for users who refuse to jailbreak their
devices, it might just be the most effective (and only) way to accomplish some
of these tasks.
HiddenApps requires iOS 6 and is available for free on the App
Store. If you want to grab it, you should get it now since Apple will likely
pull it very soon.
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