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iOS 6 limits the number of your apps, but a fix is on the way

Now in beta, the upcoming mobile OS imposes a virtual limit on the number of apps you can install. Apple is promising a fix.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
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Lance Whitney
2 min read

The current developer's edition of iOS 6 restricts the number of apps you can run on your device. But the threshold is high, and a fix is on the horizon.

As revealed in a blog by a developer called Mid Atlantic Consulting, iOS 6 users who install more than 500 apps on their device will start to run into slow boots, auto-reboots, and other problems. Install as many as 1,000 apps, and the device won't boot at all.

How many people actually install more than 500 apps on their iPhone or iPad? That was apparently Apple's reaction, since the company initially showed little concern about this limitation.

But Mid Atlantic Consulting argued that if the iPhone is expected to replace your phone, portable gaming console, TV remote, and countless other devices, then Apple needs to make sure iOS can handle an unlimited number of apps. The developer even cited a quote by the late Steve Jobs in which he said that the only limit was the number of folders and apps per folder.

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CNET contacted Apple for comment and will update the story if we get more information.

But apparently the company saw the light and has promised a fix in an upcoming beta, according to Mid Atlantic Consulting.

So, how many of you have more than 500 apps on your iPhone or iPad? How many have close to 1,000? I have around 100 on my iPhone, and even that seems like a lot to juggle. Still, it's usually a bad idea to impose these types of limits since you never know what the future has in store.