How to uninstall an uninstallable application on your Android
Ways to remove uninstallable apps in Android
Ilya. editor in chief of the softdroid site.net. Authored several hundred manuals and articles on configuring Android. Has been repairing electronics and solving technical problems for iOS and Android for about 15 years. Dealt with almost all more or less popular brands of mobile smartphones and tablets Samsung, HTC, Xiaomi, etc. Using iPhone 12 and Samsung Galaxy S21 with the latest firmware version for testing.
During the running time of the mobile gadget a lot of different applications are installed. Some of them are system, others are downloaded by the user, and some spread like viruses and embed into the OS: they become uninstallable, doing harm, not good.
This guide will tell you how to uninstall applications that are theoretically unrecoverable. In practice, many of them are easy to uninstall.
How to get rid of unnecessary preinstalled programs (even “unremovable”) on your Android smartphone
Producers of cell phones have long lost the sense of proportion (and sometimes fear), so they stuff each new phone with more and more software. Not all of the imposed applications are useful, and some of them are even harmful for the performance of the phone. Today we will tell you how to get rid of useless preinstalled applications in your smartphone.
The set of things that are always needed in a smartphone is not so great: calls, SMS, camera, app store (although geeks do without it). Everything! The rest of the “joys” you can install from the store, or never use, if you do not need them.
But in this form no one has produced smartphones for a long time. Cheap cell phone manufacturers earn on “herbalife”, that is, they get money for pre-installed applications in the firmware. Those who have gained a foothold in the more expensive segment are developing branded “whistles” to justify the high cost and have something to mention in advertising.
So feel free to remove from your smartphone everything that you consider unnecessary. a modern smartphone cannot be rendered unusable by removing applications in the standard way. And if you happen to delete some new “Pokemon Go!” that the world will soon go crazy over, no worries. you will be buzzed in the ears of friends and show you how to install the application or game again.
How to remove “uninstallable” apps from your smartphone
To increase the attractiveness of smartphones, manufacturers put on them as many different programs as possible. It’s understandable. Just take it and delete what you don’t need Stop.
It turns out that some programs cannot be uninstalled. For example, on some Samsung models it is impossible to uninstall (there is only an option to ‘disable’). They say that Microsoft “uninstallable” apps are pre-installed on Samsung S9.
These smartphones are for example. The same problem with other models. Many have uninstallable programs from the manufacturer itself.
All of this needs to be cleaned up. There are very rare examples of models that have no unnecessary programs. For example, when the first iPhone was released, Apple firmly fixed a package of installed applications, so the ATT operator could not add his usual garbage there.
There are more examples of smartphones from Google starting with Google Phone G1 in 2008, then the Nexus line and up to the current Pixel (Pixel 1, 2 and 3). Not on them either almost No garbage, unless you count too many Google apps, which are also considered to be system too and are not deleted completely. And a small number of third-party uninstallable apps. For example, HP Cloud Print is hardwired into Nexus5. But more on that later.
In principle, according to this logic, the numerous applications from Apple on the iPhone can also be considered as unnecessary garbage. To be precise, there are 42 pre-installed apps on the iPhone, not all of which are easy to remove: App Store, Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Clock, Compass, Contacts, FaceTime, Files, Find My Friends, Find My iPhone, Game Center, Health, Home, iBooks, iCloud Drive, iMovie, iTunes Store, iTunes U, Keynote, Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, News, Notes, Numbers, Pages, Passbook, Phone, Photos, Podcasts, Reminders, Safari, Settings, Stocks, Tips, TV, Videos, Voice Memos, Wallet, Watch, Weather.
There are 29 pre-installed apps on Android, and some of them are not removable by standard means: Android Pay, Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Chrome, Clock, Contacts, Docs, Downloads, Drive, Duo, Gmail, Google, Google, Keep, Maps, Messages, News Weather, Phone, Photos, Play Books, Play Games, Play Movies TV, Play Music, Play Store, Settings, Sheets, Slides, YouTube.
Note: the method described below allows you to uninstall any of these applications.
However, we’re not primarily talking about garbage in the default operating system, but other situations where a third-party manufacturer like Samsung fills their smartphone with a huge pile of uninstallable programs, from their own proprietary apps, to programs and Microsoft. That’s what other manufacturers do.
Why would they do that?? Well obviously because of the money. With affiliate agreements, it costs money to install affiliate software. And installing those same programs in the form of unremovable. already completely different money. This is just a guess.
It’s amazing though. We pay hundreds of dollars for a Samsung phone! And they want to make a few bucks on affiliate agreements!
There is no way to remove the application
has always stated that “disabling” an application is the same as removing. Although it (the application) then takes up some memory space, it should not show any activity or collect any data. But lately people have lost so much confidence in. That they don’t even believe in it. Why isn’t it completely removed from the system??
and Microsoft has been making agreements with phone makers and carriers around the world for years. The financial terms have not been made public. also refuses to say what specific partners it has deals with on uninstallable apps.
However, they are “unrecoverable” only in theory. In practice it is enough to open ADB (Android Debug Bridge) and run a couple of commands.
The phone must have USB debugging enabled and the USB device driver must be installed on the computer.
pm list packages | grep ‘oneplus’ package:com.oneplus.calculator package:net.oneplus.weather package:com.oneplus.skin package:com.oneplus.soundrecorder package:com.oneplus.opsocialnetworkhub package:cn.oneplus.photos package:com.oneplus.screenshot package:com.oneplus.deskclock package:com.oneplus.setupwizard package:com.oneplus.sdcardservice package:com.oneplus.security package:cn.oneplus.nvbackup package:com.oneplus.wifiapsettings
As an option, you can install a free application Inspector on your phone. It will show detailed information about all installed applications, their permissions. In addition, it can extract (download) APK files for any installed application.
To remove a specific package, run this command
For the “uninstallable” programs mentioned at the beginning of this article, it looks like this
By the way, it is really better to uninstall these packages, because they collect and send to the company enormous amount of personal data about all aspects of your activities. To estimate the amount of data collected, take a look at this chart. It compares what data different messengers collect about you: Signal, iMessage, WhatsApp and Messenger.
Messenger sucks up literally everything it can. Signal, on the other hand, treats users much more respectfully. That’s understandable: this is a privacy-oriented cryptomessenger.
It’s clear why you can’t uninstall system apps in Android using the regular means. But the list of “system” applications is also ambiguous. For example, these packages can hardly be called system packages. You can’t uninstall them using built-in tools but you have to disable them:
over, this method can be used with any system component at all.
and we do away with the built in Launcher forever.
Note from the xda-developers forum. As for the system apps, they will reappear after a reset. This means that they are not really removed from the device after all, but just deleted for the current user (user 0). That’s why without ‘user 0’ the adb command doesn’t work and this part of the command just tells to do the deletion for the current user only, but the cache/data of the system application will still remain in the system. And it’s good, because even after uninstalling the system app, your phone can still receive the official OTA updates.
How to uninstall embedded apps with Android Debug Bridge
This is a good choice for command line lovers. The principle is the same.
Install ADB
We need the ADB (Android Debug Bridge) utility. The installation procedure is similar for different operating systems. Select the ADB version for your OS and then do the following:
- Download the ZIP archive with ADB.
- Extract its content to a folder without russian letters in the name. On Windows this is best done at the root of the system drive. C:platform-tools. On macOS and Linux you can simply remove everything to the desktop. The platform-tools folder will appear.
- Open “Command Prompt” in Windows or “Terminal” in macOS/Linux. In Windows you have to run the command line as administrator. to do this, right-click on the “Command Prompt” icon and select “Advanced” → “Run as administrator”.
- Now open the platform-tools folder in the terminal. Type the command cd /path/to/your/folder/ and press Enter.
If you don’t know which path leads to your folder, do this:
- On Windows right click on the folder with Shift-click and click “Copy as Path. Then paste the line you copied into the terminal.
- On macOS, hold down Alt and right-click on the folder, then select “Copy path to”.
- Or on macOS or Linux, simply drag and drop the platform-tools folder into your terminal window.
Find out package names
Now figure out what you want to delete. To do this, install the App Inspector on your smartphone. Open it and look for the preinstalled programs that you don’t need.
Click on the name of the program in the list and you will see the information about it. We are interested in the Package name section. you can find there the name of the package you don’t need. It will look something like this: com.Android.browser.
Make a note of the names of the packages you wish to remove. The App Inspector makes it easy to copy the name by just clicking on it. You can collect this data in a text file or in a document in the cloud, so that you can operate it later on your computer easily.
Connect to your computer
Now connect your smartphone to your computer via USB cable. Then run the following commands in the terminal line that we opened in the previous paragraph:
At the command line, you will see the serial number of your smartphone or tablet. It means that the device is properly connected.
Uninstall unnecessary applications
Now uninstall unwanted programs. To do this, enter the following commands:
- Windows: adb shell pm uninstall.k.-user 0 package_name
- macOS:.adb shell pm uninstall.k.-user 0 package name
- Linux:./adb shell pm uninstall.k.-user 0 package_name
For example, if you want to uninstall the Google Play Music app, the command would be like this:
adb shell pm uninstall.k.-user 0 com.google.Android.music
Press Enter. A Success message should appear, saying that uninstallation was successfully completed.
When you’re done, just close the terminal window and disconnect your smartphone from the computer. If the apps do not disappear from your gadget immediately, try to reboot it.
How to uninstall Android system apps
Be sure to stop and disable apps, because the first action prohibits its further functioning, including communicating with the server and requesting updates, while the second action hides its icon. This way you can free up not only the memory, but also clean the desktop from unnecessary junk. The main thing. remember that some applications, like Google Play, it is better not to uninstall. Otherwise you risk disrupting Android and losing access to important functions of the operating system.
Subscribe to our channel on Yandex.Zen. It’s great there, I checked it out.
Application: CCleaner: Cleaning and optimizing
Developer: Piriform Category: Tools Price: Free Download: Google Play Already interested in the application: 957 people
The smarter our gadgets become, the more problems they cause. This also applies to watches, and smartphones, and even televisions: TV sets without an operating system have only one problem. loss of signal or a bad image. Any OS in the TV at some point begins to create certain difficulties: many users are faced with the fact that even a new TV with Android TV begins to hang “out of the box”. It’s especially frustrating when it can’t be considered bad a priori and costs a lot of money. Are there ways to solve this problem? Absolutely. We tell you what to do if your Android TV video lags.
Remembering the brands that were once good and then faded into oblivion. It’s like breaking up with your girlfriend and reminiscing about those beautiful days, which will never happen again. True, no one takes into account the microscopic possibility of reconnecting, but the “new way” can certainly be just as good. So many people are sure that now Nokia or Motorola. It sucks, but it absolutely does not. The other day my colleague, a journalist AndroidInsider.Ivan Kuznetsov angrily at Nokia: smartphones are wrong, the flagship has not been updated, do not take it in any case. I was not offended by Ivan’s opinion, unlike the readers of our Telegram-chat, in some respects I even agree with him, but it is definitely not worth complaining about the famous brand.
WhatsApp calls have long replaced my usual phone calls. It’s much more convenient to make calls here: no need to worry about the deducted minutes, and the amount of traffic consumption is so low that you can talk for at least three hours. Just yesterday I encountered a problem: the call in WhatsApp does not appear on the locked screen. The call goes, the ringtone plays as it should, but I can’t receive the call. I started figuring it out and got stuck in the settings for hours. Today I suggest to get to the bottom of all the reasons for this mishap and discuss the details.
How to uninstall an app from android if it won’t uninstall?
A user of a new Android device, regardless of the manufacturer, finds preinstalled programs that they will never use, but cannot remove. In this material, we will tell you how to remove unnecessary applications on Android to rid the system of useless “garbage”.
Kinds of applications
The Android OS, as you get it on your new device, contains applications that can be divided into several large groups
- Custom. Everything is clear with this category. It includes programs that are installed and used by the user of the device. Can be uninstalled, upgraded, re-installed at any time.
- Manufacturer-installed or factory-installed. Present at the time of purchase of the device. The user can update them, but cannot uninstall them without root access.
- System. These include Google services and standard Android programs. Applications in this category cannot be uninstalled without risk of damaging the operating system of your device.
The term root or root user comes to Android from Linux. In this operating system, it is the account whose owner has rights to perform any operations, including those on the system partitions. There are more than 30 ways to get administrative rights on Android.
They differ depending on the device manufacturer, installed processor and even OS version. On smartphones of the same brand, for Android 5.0 and Android 6.These can be completely different procedures. For example, for the Meizu MX 4Pro, which runs on Android 4.4.
2, everything comes down to the banal registration at the manufacturer’s website, during which you accept the agreement of responsibility for your actions.
For this reason, we will not dwell on getting root rights, implying that for your device the way you find. We have a separate article for this.
Necessary programs
Painless removal of built-in applications, it is more reliable with the use of third-party programs. You can download them from the Google Play store after getting administrative access to your device.
ES Explorer
The program can be considered universal, for the reason that it is a file manager and opens the possibility of deleting applications.
After installation in order to provide full access to the file system of the smartphone it is necessary to enable root in the settings.
The next step is to directly uninstall any interfering applications. Let’s use the file manager with administrative rights to navigate to the system partition /system/app. It stores all installed programs in the form of APK files.
A long press will bring up an additional menu at the bottom of the screen and a selection position of the application icons. At this step, using the administrative rights, you can remove previously uninstalled programs, including those related to Google services.
CCleaner
This program can not only clean your system, but also uninstall default apps on your Android after you give it the appropriate access. CCleaner was chosen due to the fact that it has versions for all popular operating systems, and is familiar to users. The program implements software cache cleaning and batch uninstallation capabilities.
Using the built-in app manager, you can disable or uninstall them at your own discretion.
When working with system services, you will get a warning. Every program that uses root access when working with Android related files will warn you to be careful.
The warnings from the system give you the time you need to convince yourself that the action you are taking is correct. Having the possibility to uninstall applications that cannot be removed in another way, the user must be careful and cautious not to cause critical changes.
Jumobile
Another free manager, specifically designed to work with the system after obtaining root rights. Its main purpose, unlike the previous programs in our review is to remove the applications built into the device by the manufacturers.
As you can see, Jumobile functionality allows you to perform all kinds of operations. By moving the embedded applications to the memory card, you can free up space on your device without uninstalling them.
Attempting to remove Lite preinstalled in the system brings a familiar warning about a possible violation of the system’s integrity and stability.
A useful feature implemented by the developers of Jumobile, is the ability to batch work with deleted files. The choice can be made alphabetically or by date of installation in the system, as is more convenient for the user. Tick the checkboxes of the program to be uninstalled, confirm that you understand the consequences of your actions and free your device from the existing “garbage” in one click.
The ability to clear your smartphone from the bonuses that manufacturers impose is always present, in every version of Android, on a device of any brand. The main concern of the owner will be to gain root access and to select the program with which these operations will be carried out.
Recall that obtaining root access is considered by the manufacturers as an action that removes the device from warranty service.
No one will refuse to repair the rooted phone, if the protective glass is broken, but if the malfunction will be a consequence of the fact that the device has been removed from the native applications or services. the case will not be recognized as a warranty.
Therefore, before performing any actions with the software of the smartphone, associated with the change or modification, make sure that this does not damage the operating system.
What Android system apps can be uninstalled without consequences
So, we have prepared for you a more or less complete list of system programs, the removal of which from your Android phone will not cause malfunction. It is possible that you will need some of them in the future, but rest assured that you don’t know when it will happen.
System applications are highlighted in red, user applications are highlighted in white and system components that cannot be deleted are highlighted in green
| Name of executable file with APK extension | System application function |
| AccuweatherDaemon | Weather component.com (weather forecast) |
| AccuweatherWidget | The weather client for Samsung |
| AccuweatherWidget_Main | |
| AllShareCastWidget | “Sharing” applications and multimedia files/data on AllShare servers |
| AllShareMediaServers | |
| AllSharePlay | |
| AllShareServise | |
| AnalogClock | Analog clock |
| AnalogClockSimple | |
| AngryGPS | GPS component, is present on some Samsung models, is “responsible” for the fast battery drain |
| Aurora | Dynamically changing desktop background |
| CalendarProvider | Calendar backup client on Google servers |
| SecCalendarProvider | |
| ChatOn_Market | Chat client with Samsung representatives |
| Chrome | Browser |
| ChromeBookmarkSync | Browser Tab Synchronization |
| ClipboardSaveService | Clipboard (text) |
| CloudAgent | Cloud service |
| Days | Calendar/Task Scheduler |
| DeepSea | Dynamic wallpaper |
| DownloadProviderUi | Import client to import data from the system browser |
| DropBox | Cloud storage service client |
| DropBoxOOBE | |
| DSMForwarding | Notification if you need to change your SIM card |
| DSMLawmo | Remote control of the phone, wipe personal data in case of loss |
| DualClock | “Dual watch |
| Encrypt | Encryption client for the contents of memory cards |
| Exchange | MS Exchange Client |
| FaceLock | Face Recognition Feature |
| FotaClient | Updating Android “by air” |
| GameHub | Game client (including network games) |
| GenieWidget | News/Weather Widget |
| GlobalSearch | Search for lost gadgets |
| Gmail | Mail Client |
| GmailProvider | Mail client components |
| GmsCore | Play Market supporting services |
| GoogleBackupTransporte | Backup client settings |
| GoogleCalendarSync | Back up your calendar events |
| GoogleContactsSync | Backing up contacts |
| GoogleFeedBack | Google Improvement Program for smartphone owners |
| GooglePartnerSetup | Google Affiliate Network |
| GoogleDiskSearchBox | Quick Search from Google |
| GoogleSearch | |
| GoogleTTS | Google Voice Search Client |
| InfoAlarm | “Scheduled event reminder |
| Kobo | Event logging client |
| LGSetupWizard | Auto Internet settings for LG phones |
| LiveWallPapers | Another kind of dynamic backgrounds |
| LiveWallPapersPicker | Client switching dynamic backgrounds |
| MagicSmokWallPaper | Dynamic wallpapers |
| MarketUpdater | Play Market automatic update client |
| MiniDiary | Tweets counterpart. Android mini-notes |
| OEMInstallFlashPlayer | Media player for flash animation |
| PlusOne | Social network from Google |
| PressReader | Newsgathering |
| Protips | Assistant (how to use the phone) |
| SnsAccount | Backup for |
| SnsProvider | Widgets for popular social networks |
| SnsDisclaimer | |
| SnsImageCash | |
| SocialHub | |
| SocialHubeWidget | |
| SyncMLDM | Gadget software update |
| UNAService | Social network from Samsung |
| VideoEditor | System video editor |
| VideoPlayer | System video player (may not have some codecs) |
| VoiceRecorder | System recorder |
| VoiceSearch | Voice Search |
| WapService | WAP client (not relevant today) |
| WSSyncMLNPS | Client for cellular operator (remote Internet connection setup) |
| Zinio | Web activity logger |
As a conclusion
When we buy a device, we want to be able to control it and we definitely do not want to see software forced on us, especially when they do it without alternative and do not give us the opportunity to remove it. This is wrong and is repulsive to literally all people. It’s rare to find that kind of unanimity, people don’t like that approach, and that’s understandable.
Of course, we will try to ensure that the rules of the game become more transparent and that officials put them on paper, making such “pranks” as in the case of the Yandex apps impossible. The user of the device should have the right to uninstall any third party software, those applications that are not part of the system. I am happy that there is a discussion in the community about this issue, and it is so meaningful that all the officials as one, as well as the managing director of Yandex, disassociate themselves from non-removable apps. It’s just a matter of time, officials need to explain to manufacturers how they see the installation of Russian software on devices. Until this is done, all manufacturers will be violators in one way or another, as the law contradicts itself in many ways, it has been rewritten and reinterpreted so that it ends up looking like a patchwork quilt. Circus Chapito, there’s no other way to call it.
Share what you deleted and why. Also, tell us how you feel about those apps that put in device memory and make them unremovable.
