OEMs don’t usually allow people to delete native applications found on their mobile devices. For example, even if you have no use for the native stocks app on iPhone, you can’t delete it. Same is true for other platforms as well. However a glitch has been discovered in Windows Phone which lets users delete any and all native applications.
The procedure to do this is actually very simple. First the year on the Windows Phone needs to be set to 2115. Once that is done simply change the timezone to Amsterdam. When these two seemingly random things fall into place users gain the ability to delete native apps on Windows Phone.
When users try to delete an app they’re shown a pop which gives them the option to uninstall or “buy” the app that’s being delete. Obviously the latter is of now use when you’re trying to get rid of an app. Do keep in mind though that the buy link can not be accessed once the app is deleted. So in order to get it back an entire software refresh of the device will be required, which is time consuming.
The glitch is found to be working on Windows Phone 8 devices as well as devices that are running Windows Phone 8.1 developer preview. It is unclear if Microsoft will patch this glitch in the public release of Windows Phone 8.1, which is destined for this summer.
Filed in . Read more about Windows Phone and Windows Phone 8.1.