Hide default iOS apps on supervised iPadsSolved

Hi @arthur,

For supervised iOS/iPadOS devices, you can use a Blocklist policy in Hexnode to hide selected apps from the device.

Apple does not allow MDM solutions to fully uninstall certain built-in iOS system apps from device storage in the same way managed apps can be removed. However, on supervised devices, Hexnode can blocklist those apps so they are hidden from the Home Screen and App Library and cannot be accessed by the user.

For your use case, a blocklist is more suitable than an allowlist if you only want to remove access to specific default apps while keeping the rest of the device experience flexible.

The typical approach would be:

1. Make sure the iPads are supervised.
2. Create or edit an iOS policy in Hexnode.
3. Add the unwanted apps, such as Apple Books or Apple News, to the app blocklist.
4. Associate the policy with the required devices.

Once the policy is applied, the selected apps will be hidden from the device.

Regards,
Sienna Carter
Hexnode UEM

if I apply this blocklist policy through a device group, but later remove that policy from one specific iPad, will the policy come back because the iPad is still in the group?

Hi @arthur,

If a policy is associated with a device group, Hexnode enforces that policy on all devices that are members of the group. Removing the policy from a single device will not persist if the device still receives the policy through the group association.

For device-specific exceptions, associate policies directly with individual devices or adjust the group membership/policy assignment structure accordingly. If you frequently need different policy combinations per iPad, direct device-level policy assignment can help avoid unintended changes across the entire group.

Regards,
Sienna Carter
Hexnode UEM