Anyaa writes: Well, I screwed up and inadvertently installed iOS 8 on my iPhone and iPad. The annoying thing is that whenever I want to switch apps there is a row of “Recents”—names of people I recently called and/or texted—at the top of the screen. I absolutely don’t want to see this however briefly. Can I get rid of it?
Hi Anyaa! Yep, that row of “recents” and phone favorites along the top of the app-switching screen (which appears whenever you double-click the Home key) is a new feature in iOS 8. Whether it’s a change for the better is, of course, a matter of opinion.
Don’t like seeing the smiling (or not) faces of your recently called or messaged contacts whenever you switch between apps?
Flip the switches to hide either “Recents” or “Phone Favorites” from the app-switching screen.
Luckily, they’re easy to hide.
- Tap Settings, then “Mail, Contacts, Calendars.”
- Scroll down to the Contacts section and tap “Show in App Switcher.”
- You’ll two options for the row of contacts that appears on the app-switching screen: “Phone Favorites” (the favorites you’ve added in the Phone app) and Recents. Flip the switches to hide one or both categories.
Now, double-click the Home key. Recents and Favorites begone!
Got more iOS 8 questions? Let me know!