Tired of Safari? How to Change the Default Apps on Your iPhone and iPad

Apple open parts of its operating systems to comply with the EU Digital Markets Act, but populations in other parts of the world also benefit from these changes. Of the iOS 18.2anyone can change the default apps on their iPhone to categories like email, messaging, calls, call screening, contactless app, web browser, password managerand keyboards.

You can change the default Mail and browser apps since iOS 14, but the list of included apps has expanded and how you manage them has changed. All changes to default apps also apply to iPads running iPadOS 18.2, except for the contactless apps category, which generally applies to payments using the iPhone’s NFC chip.

How to Change Default Apps on iPhone

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Once you’re using iOS 18.2+ (or iPadOS 18.2+), open the Settings app, scroll down, and select the Apps button. The next screen displays an alphabetical list of applications installed on the phone. At the top of the screen is a button for default apps, where you can manage which ones open automatically in the available categories.

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Tap the different categories, such as email, messaging, or calls, to see which apps can be used as your primary option. If no apps are listed, you can search the App Store for supported third-party apps. Adding a call screening app, for example, will allow phone numbers to be compared against a database to try to determine whether an incoming call is a scam or not.

Which apps can be used as default apps

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If you don’t see a third-party app in a specific category, it means there is no compatible app installed on the phone. Compatible apps will automatically appear as available choices, making it easier to replace Safari with Chrome as your default browser or Gmail with the Mail app. I saw the app choices immediately after downloading them from the App Store, before I even opened them.

What happens when you change the default iPhone apps

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Once you change the default app, the new one will launch automatically when prompted. In the case of selecting a new email client, if you tap an email address on a website, Gmail will open instead of Apple Mail. In the case of passwords and codes, multiple applications can be enabled or disabled to be used at the same time to store and populate passwords. Likewise, multiple keyboards can be added and rearranged according to your preferences.