Apple iOS 6 beta limits number of apps per device

The beta versions of Apple's iOS 6 limit the number of apps that you can have installed on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch – a limitation that didn't exist on iOS 4 or iOS 5.

The limit, however, is high enough that only the most app-happy Apple-kit owners would hit the wall, according to a post by "macjeff" on the Mid Atlantic Consulting Blog.

According to macjeff, who says that his discovery was confirmed by Apple, once your iOS 6–equipped iDevice has over 500 apps installed on it, you will begin to experience "slow booting, auto-rebooting, and other issues."

Exceed 1,000 apps and your beloved shiny-shiny won't even boot at all. You'll be forced to restore it to factory settings.

Now, 500 to 1,000 apps may at first blush seem to be far more than any rational human being might keep on their iOS device. But as macjeff rightly points out, if Apple expects your iPhone, for example, to eventually replace "your phone, your pocket gaming system, your smart-home remotes, your TV remotes, your day-timer, etc.," it might want to reconsider the limitation.

Which, apparently, it will, macjeff says. He says Apple reps told him that the company will address the issue, although they didn't promise to get to it in time for the next beta release.

That fix will come as welcome news to devotees of iOS fart apps, which as of Thursday numbered 739 for the iPhone alone – which, by the way, is down from the 856 gassy goodies we found in the iTunes App Store when we last checked in May 2011. ®