The good news is that if you wanted to do the same with the Apple Watch, it seems that the upcoming watchOS 6 update will finally let users delete apps from the device. Of course, whether or not you want to is up to you, but at the very least you will have the freedom to do so, which in turn also gives the Apple Watch greater independence from the iPhone.
Prior to this, the Apple Watch and iPhone were quite intertwined with each other. It made sense from a device perspective and a business perspective, but it’s starting to look like with each watchOS update, Apple is making it easier for Apple Watch owners to rely less on their devices. One of the changes that they will be making in addition to this is to allow the Apple Watch to support direct software updates.
Previously, users had to have their iPhones nearby to download the update and install it, but this will now provide Apple Watch users with greater freedom.