iPhone 'nested folders' glitch lets users hide useless apps

Apple still won’t let you delete apps like Stocks and Watch from your phone — but until then, you can at least hide them away

Andrew Griffin
Wednesday 07 October 2015 17:24 BST
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Apple’s iOS 9 has a secret glitch that allows users to hide away the unused apps that can’t otherwise be deleted from the phone.

iPhones still come with a set of pre-installed apps — such as Stocks, Watch and Weather — that can’t be removed from the phone. But many people complain that they’d like to, since they take up space on the home screen.

When Apple introduced folders, it was one way of getting rid of the apps, by putting them in their own “Extras” folder. But exploiting that same tool can be a way of hiding the pesky apps entirely.

Using nested folders allows a folder to be put in another folder, hiding it almost entirely.

To use the nested folders glitch, you must first turn off the “Reduce motion” toggle in Settings. Then create the folder that you want to hide the nest folder in. Then keep tapping on that folder so that it opens and closes and opens — while it’s doing so, it will slow down and you can grab the folder you want to hide and drop it in there.

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