10 Popular iPhone Apps You Should Delete

First, a disclaimer: This list of apps to delete isn’t for everyone. You might not think you have a problem. You might prefer life in the digital world rather than the real one. Others, though, are getting a little tired of how the phone has highjacked society. More than a few have made a New Year’s resolution to wean themselves off of their iPhone addiction. If you’re ready to take a stand, this list is for you.

Everyone loves Facebook. It’s one of the apps most often checked on the iPhone. When a Facebook alert shows up next to the app, people begin to salivate just like Pavlov’s dogs. That’s why the Facebook app should be the first to go. Of course, cutting cold turkey is too much to ask, so it’ll have to be a slow process. You can still check Facebook over Safari, but this will take an extra step or two. You also won’t be held hostage to the dreaded alert.

Admittedly, messaging is a good tool and an important one. The iPhone is supposed to be a communication device. Messaging, texting and email have replaced traditional phone calls. But Facebook’s Pavlovian alerts (see previous slide) and draconian practices, such as forcing Messenger on users, only feeds the iPhone addiction. Banish Facebook apps, including Messenger, from your iPhone.

It’s time to take a moral stand. Let’s be honest, Uber has shown to have unseemly business practices, such as submitting fake ride requests to competitor Lyft. Most recently, an Uber executive suggested spending a million dollars on a smear campaign to intimidate a critic. Sure, the Uber app and service is pretty cool but firmness of conviction should always trump convenience. Time to go, Uber.

You have 962 unread tweets on your timeline. Better start checking them, right? Wrong. Phone apps should be essential-yet-seldom-used tools, such as Maps, Clock, Camera, FlightTrack, Notes, Calendar, Mail, banking apps, news alert apps and others. Twitter is not a tool. It’s a social mess and a terrible waste of time, known mainly for getting Hollywood prima donnas and professional athletes in hot water over their stupid tweets. Stop the madness!

If you paid a few hundred dollars for your iPhone, chances are you’re in a fairly affluent demographic. Yet it never ceases to surprise us what iPhone owners will do to save a buck or two. We’re talking, of course, about the Groupon app. Do you really need that discount on a cup of coffee? Is your privacy so cheaply bought? Meanwhile, small businesses pressured into playing the Groupon game say they lose money on the deal.

Addicts know they’re in trouble when they open Office or iWork apps on their iPhones. Are you really going to read or work on Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides? Or are you just trying to find something to do on your iPhone? If you really need to open these productivity apps, fire up the laptop or pull out the iPad. But a productivity app on the phone is fakery.

This is the height of nonsense, or maybe narcism. You want everyone to know where you’re at all the time, so you tap on the Foursquare app and log in. But the sad truth is that nobody cares. If someone really wants to know where you are, they will call or text you. One more thing: Just because you regularly grab a beer at a certain bar doesn’t make you the goddamn mayor. Rant over.

Brand retailer apps represent the places that you like to shop. These apps often tie into discounts and loyalty programs. But you don’t really use them. It’s a good bet the last time you opened one of these app was also the first time. So why are they on your iPhone? Maybe you associate the brands with your identity. Maybe your identity is wrapped up in your iPhone. Maybe you should just delete the apps.

Third-party cloud storage apps were a neat invention. They served a need in the early days of the iPhone. But now that Apple got into the game with its iCloud service, you don’t really need them anymore. It’s become just another app to clutter your screen and tempt you to open it. When was the last time you opened the Dropbox app on your iPhone? Exactly.

Now we’ve come to the truth of the matter: gaming apps. It’s big business with lots of great new apps for people to waste hours at a time, assuming that the iPhone battery can hold out. Sure, the app graphics and functions keep getting better, but the addiction is as old as the game of solitaire. And just like solitaire, once you delete the app, you won’t miss it after a few days. You might even regret having wasted so much of your life playing a stupid game.