iOS 18.4 update preventing users from uninstalling Apple Maps outside EU

iPhone users who have installed the iOS 18.4 update have noticed a weird bug that prevents them from uninstalling Apple Maps. Reports about the problem have been popping up on platforms like Reddit over the past couple of weeks. 

The problem here seems to be that when users try uninstalling Apple Maps from their iPhone, they get a pop-up to “Set Another Default Navigation App”. However, when users click the “Go to Settings” button and head to the default apps page, they notice there’s no option to set a default app for navigation.

Based on discussions online, it seems this bug is affecting users outside the EU. For those unaware, last month Apple was forced to allow users in the EU to set Google Maps or other navigation apps as the default. So it seems like Apple might have introduced the option to set another navigation app as the default before users uninstall Apple Maps. The only problem here is that this pop-up seems to have mistakenly been carried over to everyone outside the EU as well, but without providing any setting for the same.

Matter of fact, the same bug has been carried over to the iOS 18.5 beta build too. I was able to reproduce the problem on an iPhone 16 running on iOS 18.5 beta. There’s no way to uninstall the app, since you simply can’t set a default navigation app outside the EU.

For reference, here’s a comparison of the default apps page users see in the EU (h/t ContactTime6810) and outside the EU:

As you can see in the screenshots, people outside the EU don’t have the option to pick a default navigation app. This prevents them from uninstalling Apple Maps.

While you could simply ignore Apple Maps and continue using third-party apps like Google Maps, some users have pointed out an actual problem with this current situation.

One user on Reddit, hellaconfused313, noted that Apple Maps was taking up 6GB of their storage space. This is a huge deal for anyone who is running out of storage space on their iPhone. Unlike Android devices, where you can simply clear the storage and cache of apps, iPhone users only have the option to uninstall the app completely or offload it.

Apple is yet to acknowledge the issue, so it’s unclear how long it’ll take for a fix to arrive. In the meantime, let me know if you can uninstall Apple Maps on your iPhone running iOS 18.4 along with the country you are in.