Sep 20, 2010 10:32 GMT  ·  By

Apple has heavily advertised iOS 4.1 mentioning Game Center, the company’s new gaming network that provides wireless multiplayer capabilities, leader-boards, achievements and more. The app also can’t be deleted, since it that comes pre-installed with iOS 4.1.

Yet some are sick of having it on their home screens, according to a recently-emerged Apple Discussions thread.

User Wxolf wants to get rid of the Game Center app / icon (he doesn’t specify what bothers him most) from his iPhone 3GS, and asks fellow Discussion users for advice on how to do this.

Little does Wxolf know that the stuff Apple pre-installs iOS with cannot be deleted by the user.

At most, customers can put the home screen in “jiggle” mode and move an app’s icon far away from sight, to the last page (which most users generally fill with unused applications).

This is exactly what fellow forum poster roaminggnome advises Wxolf to do.

“You cannot,” he replies, bluntly answering his question. “You can move it to another page or put it in a folder, but you cannot delete it,” roaminggnome explains.

Another user who’d just upgraded to iOS 4.1 also found it frustrating to see the unremovable GameCenter icon on his screen.

“I just updated and got this game center loaded on my iPhone,” GardenWitch writes. “I don't want this. I don't do games! Now, I can't get rid of it. Apple should have provided an opt-in for this instead of just loading it. I no likey. Thumbs down!”, his post ends.

Of course, while the app itself doesn’t affect iOS in any way, as long as it just resides on the phone’s flash memory, we can understand why some would want to at least get rid of the app’s icon.

There are several other applications that many iPhone users have specifically highlighted as unnecessary, one of them being the Stocks app.

“I don't use the ‘stocks app’ either but it does't bother me being on the phone,” RevGilliam notes, as he joins the conversation on Apple Discussions.

“Some people don't play games. Some don't trade stocks. Iphone is still great. I can live with added features being on my phone,” the more mature-thinking RevGilliam concludes.

Forum user boltondc agrees with Wxolf in that “There is no reason why Apple should permanently install an unknown app on a device without giving the user the option of deleting it later.”

However, Game Center was all but unknown prior to its inclusion in the iOS 4.1 software update.

“I may have wanted it when I installed the update but now that I see how absolutely lame, stupid and pointless it is, I want it gone,” boltondc stresses.

RevGilliam returns with another post in which he tries to calm everybody down.

Frustrated to see the thread in question grow into a “ridiculous fuss over nothing”, user AKRBTN puts the argument to rest, saying: “Some people seriously need to get a life.”

What’s your take on this?

Would you like Apple to allow you to remove pre-installed applications, or at least their icons, so that you don’t have to come across them every time we slide to unlock our iPhones?