The last time I looked something up in the Yellow Pages was back in the pre-Google era as part of a youthful prank calling spree, although I’m sure I used it to keep a door open at some point in the last eight years. And now I’m stuck with an unwanted Yellow Pages app that came on my Android phone. It can’t be deleted, along with a stupid Blockbuster app and other useless things I do not want.

I’m not the only one complaining about this — I stand in solidarity with Matt Buchanan over at Buzzfeed, who also has the unwanted app rage because there are Apple apps on his iPhone that he can’t delete or even hide.

Sure, you wouldn’t want to accidentally delete something like your phone’s ability to make actual phone calls, but there are plenty of hoops to go through when you’re uninstalling something to make sure you really really want that app to go away. But try to get to the final deleting point with certain apps that come on your smartphone and you hit a roadblock where it just can’t be done.

Shouldn’t we be able to control what’s on our own personal electronics? Just because Android, or HTC, who makes my phone, has some kind of deal with the video dinosaurs over at basically defunct Blockbuster, why should I be punished, eternally locked together with that app and have to give up memory on my phone for it to taunt me forever?

Hear our cry, smartphone makers, and let us have control over our personal property. I am never going to use Yellow Pages, whether physical or in app form, to look something up. Ever.

Die Apps, Die [Buzzfeed]

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