Android: How To Delete The Pre-installed Applications On Your Smartphone?

As on many Windows PCs, Android smartphones nowadays have more and more pre-installed applications. While some are perfectly legitimate and an integral part of Android, others are slightly less useful and far from essential to the proper functioning of your smartphone.

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While some of these applications are an integral part of a commercial agreement between the publisher and the device manufacturer, others can be developed directly by the manufacturer to personalize the Android ROM that powers their devices. This can also be the case for certain devices sold under a white label by certain operators who like to install these applications for self-promotion purposes.

Fortunately, it’s often possible to uninstall most of them manually from the Applications menu in Android’s settings. However, it is not uncommon for some applications to have the uninstall option unavailable or even absent. In fact, some manufacturers do not hesitate to disable this possibility to force you to keep their applications, under the pretext that they are essential to get the most out of your smartphone.

Still, there’s a chance you’ll never use them and take up disk space unnecessarily. Bottom line, you probably created a folder where you put all those unused apps that you can’t uninstall. However, there is a solution to get rid of this bloatware in few clicks. The less complex handling can still prove to be tedious for laypeople. It requires enabling developer mode on your smartphone as well as installing Android Debug Bridge (ADB) on your Windows PC. You’ll also need Universal Android Debloater, an open-source utility that, when run, presents a graphical interface that allows you to easily uninstall unused apps from your device.

Also, uninstalling this bloatware will not affect the future installation of system updates on your smartphone. On the other hand, if you need to factory reset your device, the uninstalled apps will be available again. Because by resetting your smartphone, Android restores the contents of the recovery partition where the original operating system is located and therefore the pre-installed applications. You need to start the process again to get rid of these unwanted applications again. Make sure you only remove applications that you are sure will not affect the use of your smartphone if removed. Therefore, avoid deleting applications that the system requires as much as possible.

1. Download the package manager

start with Download the package manager on your Android smartphone. This free utility allows you to view the list of all installed applications (and services). It is thanks to him that you can accurately identify the name of packages of unwanted applications.

2. Identify apps to remove

Open the package manager and press I agree accept the terms of use of the application. The package manager will then list all the applications present on your device. Write down somewhere the package names of the apps you want to get rid of, you’ll need them a bit later.

3. Download universal android debloater

After preparing your smartphone and connecting it to your PC with ADB, download the utility Universal Android debloater. This free, open-source tool gives you access to a user-friendly graphical interface to browse and uninstall the applications installed on your smartphone.

Download Universal Android debloatergo to this page, select the latest version of the tool and click financial assets to view all downloadable files. Then click uad_gui_windows.exe to download the file.

4. Enable developer options on your smartphone

Before you can start manipulation, you need to prepare certain elements in advance. And the first thing you have to do is activate the developer options on your smartphone if you haven’t already done so. In this article you will find the procedure to follow.

5. Connect your smartphone to ADB

You now need to connect your smartphone to your Windows PC using ADB. The relatively simple procedure is described in this article.

6. Move universal android debloater

Now that your smartphone is connected to your PC via ADB, you need to move the file uad_gui_windows.exe previously downloaded to the root of the directory platform tools (cf. article mentioned in previous step).

7. Open Universal Android Debloater

You can now open Universal Android debloater by double-clicking on the file uad_gui_windows.exe you just moved to the platform tools directory. The Universal Android Debloater window will then open and automatically detect the smartphone connected to your PC.

8. Uninstall bloatware

Go to the list of application packages to delete that you created earlier. In the Universal Android Debloater search box, type the name of a package to remove, and then select it by checking its checkbox.

Be sure to keep the setting Recommendedto show only applications that can be deleted and that pose little or no risk to the proper functioning of your smartphone. You can also filter the list of packages by clicking all list. You can then choose to only show bloatware from the manufacturer, Google, or your carrier.

Once all applications are selected, click on the button Uninstall selection bottom right of the window. You will then see the number of selected apps decrease, a sign that Universal Android Debloater is removing them from your device.