Database Users

Root Access, Can't Uninstall Bloatware

So I'm rooted on my Evo and as far as I can tell I've flashed the stock rom that should allow me to uninstall the bloatware, however, I dont see any uninstall options for that crap like facebook.
Anything I'm doing wrong?
I followed this guide to root and flash. I've tested my root using the "Terminal Emulator" and typing "su" and it returned a "#"
Thanks XDA, I love most of you

You know you need to uninstall from your computer using adb
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

I've installed Android Debug Bridge but I was under the impression that rooting my phone would allow me to do things on my phone, such as install and uninstall what I want.
Could you explain the process more or send me to a link that does?

If you want to do it in android you either need console program or a file manager. Root explorer us the best one and easiest. Looks just like a typical explorer, tap the rw/ro button for read only or read write and delete away.
You have to have completed the second part of unlocking nand. Otherwise your only option is using a computer and adb in recovery.

They dont make this easy do they? I would have figured Android to be very open for things like this, I'm starting to feel like I have to "jailbreak" again, only this time it's to remove crap.
This seems like so much work to get rid of facebook and sprint tv.

It took me 10 minutes total including the file downloads. Its a one time thing and there is a learning curve with any new platform.

Aridon, is there a free explorer you'd recommend? I dont mind buying software, just want to make sure I'm not mistaken before I buy something that is worthless to me.

You get a trial on any purchased software in android. After its installed if you go backto market and pull it up again there will be a refund option. So no risk. I think its for 24 hours.
As for a free one I'm not sure when I first started messing around with android I bought it because people said it was the best. I don't have any regrets.
Just remember to tap the top button for rw. Long press brings up options. Menu had an option for multiple file select and other goodies. its very powerful.

Aridon, thanks for everything, just 1 more question. I bought it, and the program is slick. I went to /system/app and deleted facebook, is that all I need to do?
Cause I still see it in the menu
I may have done a bad thing, my phone just reset itself.... I need a trainer to be with me at all times.

So after that restart, the files I thought I deleted are back.

Yes just go into system/app, make sure it says rw up top which means read write access, then select the file, general an .apk and .odex and delete. Not all files have both and some roms don't have any .odex files.
I'll be up for another 30 min or so and I'll keep an eye on this thread in case you have any questions.

Ok that means the second part where you unlocked nand wasn't done correctly. Make sure you go slow, download the files again because they are different and watch for errors.
The only hiccup I had was when I copied the new recovery and other files to my sd and tried to adb push it gave me some kind of can't find file error. I had to reboot and it was fine. It send after the boot I could go back in and adb the files it must have been some kind if a refresh error on the sd while in recovery.
Edit. I'm responding on my evo and in bed so excuse errors.

Go to sleep, I'll resume this thread tomorrow if I'm still having trouble. You Sir, are a life saver. This is why XDA is THE FORUM for anything mobile.

Good night then.
I know it can be a bit of a pain to do this but I promise you it will be worth it. Things have only just started and the custom roms are already awesome. Once we get the source code things are going to be insane over here.

Got it! Everything is working well. However, now my voice mail says it can not download messages.... Rebooted and it's all good.
Facebook and Twitter Free! Also, no more Sprint crap.
Life is good, again.

Another terminal substitute is Android Commander, out is naturally a file explorer that allows transfer and deletion off whatever you want. This program runs in your pc.
As Was mentioned above, root explorer is the easiest way.

Aridon said:
If you want to do it in android you either need console program or a file manager. Root explorer us the best one and easiest. Looks just like a typical explorer, tap the rw/ro button for read only or read write and delete away.
You have to have completed the second part of unlocking nand. Otherwise your only option is using a computer and adb in recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So with Android - one simply deletes the application rather than un-installing it? That doesn't cause problems with the system thinking the application still exists somewhere?

DrawnToScale said:
So with Android - one simply deletes the application rather than un-installing it? That doesn't cause problems with the system thinking the application still exists somewhere?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on where it is installed. /system/apps do not allow you to just uninstall you have to delete it. One this is done its gone. Obviously if you delete phone.apk you are going to have issues or if you delete a process that is running you may get a force close but for the most part unless you delete an app like people or dialer you are fine. After the single force close everything works properly.
Some custom roms moved programs to /data/app which allows them to be removed the other way.

[Q] what are the advantages and disadvantages of rooting and are there any risks?

Could somebody please tell me what the advantages and disadvantages of rooting the flipside are, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, are there any risks??
Will I be able to take of all of these ATT apps?
Will I be able to move my apps from the phones memory to the SD card?
Can the phone be unrooted?
Will all of my apps still work?
What is the best route to root? I have the z4root.
I am much indebted to anyone who will answer these questions. Thanks.

z4root will work fine, it's nice an easy to use. Rooting won't give you an easy way to move apps to the sd card, but you can remove the AT&T (and other system) apps. You can either do it by hand, or with any number of apps on the market. I prefer titanium backup, personally. All of your existing apps will work, there's no change there.
The only real disadvantage is that you'll have the power to screw up your phone. You can potentially screw up bad enough that you'll need to reflash the stock .sbf file. Generally, this takes some real screwing around, but just thought I'd point it out.

Thank u for your thourough answer. What do you mean by screw it up. How could I do that and how do i avoid it. Are you saying by virtue of the fact that i'm rooting that i'll screw it up, or it's something that i may do afterwards that may do it? Thanks.
also, are there any other advantages to rooting other than taking off the apps?

The act of rooting itself shouldn't screw anything up, but having root means you could possibly do something later that would. Generally, you'd have to be messing with stuff you have no business messing with. With root, you can remount the system directory as read/write, and then end up deleting or modifying a file that won't let the phone boot, which means you'd need to reflash. Stay away from the command line if you don't know what you're doing, and don't grant root access to apps you don't trust, and you're reasonably safe.
Other than removing system apps, like the AT&T garbage, you can also backup and restore apps and their data, which is great for if you need to reflash, if you switch phones, etc. There's not a TON of stuff that requires root, but honestly, removing the AT&T junk is definitely a good reason to root, the phone feels much faster after scrapping a lot of the blur and AT&T stuff.

I'm assuming then that any android/att/Motorola updates will not be problem either? BTW, do you if and when Motorola will bupdating the flipside to 2.2? Thanks.

There shouldn't be any problem updating with an official update if/when we get one, but you'll need to re-root and remove the AT&T stuff again. There's no word on when we'll get 2.2, but I'd assume we'll get it at some point.

Ok. I just rooted! Yeah, it worked! But i cannot figue out how to delete the att bloatware. I go into the apps manager and click on one of the att apps, and there is still no option to uninstall; only to clear the cache. Also, I downloaded the titanium and I cannot figure out how to do it from there either. Plus, I still had to sideload the titanium which i tbought that i would not have to do once i rooted.

mordechai said:
Plus, I still had to sideload the titanium which i tbought that i would not have to do once i rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to enable Unknown Sources before you can install non-Market apps
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=867637
This is also an example of how you can mess up your phone by having root access.

That is part of the problem that i do not have that option in two.one. that is why i had to sideload all of those programs. are you saying that i screwed up my phone. i tried clicking on the link but this googlw ad comes up and i cant get past it.

Ok, i got through to the link. But the guy seems pretty shaky as to whether you should follow his instructions. Is this legit or what?

Maybe one of you guys can help. I'm new to alot of this but my last droid x was rooted and it was great I used z4root worked perfectly. But now I have a new X and a z4root apk. On my laptop, now what? Last rooted X, I was fortunate enough to catch z4root on the market, like a day before they updated. HELP!!!!!
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

There are instructions in another post in this forum on how to enable Non-Market Apps, also known as Unknown Sources. With Titanium Backup, make sure that you grant it root permissions when it asks, and that it says something like this on the overview:
Root access: OK (BusyBox 1.17.2 from system)
HyperShell (FAST!): YES
Fast/Auto app install: Yes (using HyperShell)
SQLite: YES (SQLite 3.7.2 included)
Then just click on Backup/Restore at the top, and you'll get a list of all your apps. If you don't have backup/restore at the top, your sd card isn't mounted on the phone, unplug your usb cable and hit Menu > More > Reload application.
From Backup/Restore, you get a huge list of all the apps on your phone. Just scroll down to the AT&T stuff, tap them, and click uninstall in the top-right corner. If you're not sure if you want to uninstall something, because it might belong to something important, click Freeze instead. Freezing will stop the app from running, and stop it from showing up in your tray, but you can easily unfreeze it to restore it if it turns out it was important.
Here's the list of stuff I have frozen/uninstalled:
AdService 1.0
all of the "AT&T" apps
all of the "com.motorola" apps
Data Manager and Data Manager Service
Help Center
Home (I use ADWLauncher, don't remove this if you don't already have an alternative launcher installed)
MediaSync
Mobile Video
all of the "MotoBlur" apps
My Uploads
Phone Portal
Quick Contact
Social Messaging, Social Messaging Service, Social Networking, and Social Status
Sticky Note
Video Editor Lite
Vlingo Voice
Weather 2.1
WHERE
Work Contacts
Mobile Banking
Magic Smoke Wallpapers
Kodak Perfect Touch
AT&T Address Book
Quickoffice
YPmobile
As for enabling unknown sources, it's a bit of a pain, you'll need to be comfortable with a command line to do replace the files, and comfortable with a hex editor if you want to edit your own instead of reusing someone else's files. I managed to screw up my phone in the process and had to completely reflash and start over, it wasn't fun.
His instructions do work, but his .sh file doesn't work, you'll need to paste the commands one by one into your command prompt. I preferred to edit my own files, so I wouldn't have the same market ID, and that's just slightly more complex. I can help you through it either way though, just make a post over in that thread if you're having problems.
bubba90744 said:
Maybe one of you guys can help. I'm new to alot of this but my last droid x was rooted and it was great I used z4root worked perfectly. But now I have a new X and a z4root apk. On my laptop, now what? Last rooted X, I was fortunate enough to catch z4root on the market, like a day before they updated. HELP!!!!!
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just need to get z4root installed on your phone, it should be pretty straightforward. The Droid X shouldn't be blocking non-market apps, so just download it from your phone and run the .apk to install.

So do I hook my phone up to my laptop, and put the apk. on my sd?
Or download the apk. directly to my phone from the site?
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

I found the link, but the directions are too complicated for my novice understanding of technology. It looks like I am stuck. I don't want to try what he's saying and take any chances. Are there any other alternatives? Or do you have any other suggestions as to how to make the most of the space that I do have with the att bloatware, because I am constantly running out of room. It is a strange phenomenon that I don't understand, that when I turn on the phone it will have around 40mb to play with, and after a few hours it is down to 16 and then 10, and then before I know it, the phone is telling me that my memory is full. So then I reset and it's back to ~40 again. Do you have an explanation? Thanks.

[Q] Deleting phone, camera, etc apps?

I just purchased a NC yesterday and I've had a great time playing around with it. I am running the Nook 1.4.1 OS internally and using my SD card to boot MIUI 1.11.4.
I've searched all over the web and I've not been able to find any straight answers one way or another -- is there a way to delete the apps that are obviously meant for a phone? The camera, phone, dialer, messaging, etc apps are pointless on the NC and I'd like to get rid of them. Especially since I can't just delete them off of the desktop in MIUI.
Has anyone been able to do this before?
Thanks a ton!
Erica

AFAIK, there is no way to do this without titanium backup. TiB is available in the market for root users

If you are rooted and have superuser installed, you can use root explorer or es file explorer (with allow root explorer and mount file system as writable Checked in settings) to delete system apps in system/apps. Removing system apps may render apps incompatible with device. Use TitaniumBackup for insurance.

Yeah, I tried all of that but I couldn't get system rw permissions on anything.
Finally found a few tutorials on editing custom roms, and I did that to delete the pointless apps. Getting ready to flash it back onto the NC, so we'll see if it works.
Luckily, I haven't put anything on the nook at all that I would need to save/back up. All I've done the past 48 hours since getting the NC is try out different custom roms to see which one I want to stick with. LOL. And I'm doing it all on the SD card so I can keep the native nook functionality.
Thanks for the replies though. <3

Let us know which ROM you choose. Just curious...
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

hwong96 said:
Removing system apps may render apps incompatible with device. Use TitaniumBackup for insurance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seconded! I deleted Gtalk one time (it was constantly FCing even when it was running in the background) and the android market stopped working until I put it back on.

There is no real good reason for doing this and a lot of bad ones. They do not use up much if any resources and some apps may make calls to them even though they are not technically used. I would leave well enough alone....

I agree with leaving most stuff alone, but the problesm I'm running into is that the new market fc's. I can uninstall the updates to market and it works fine, but market updater updates it again shortly thereafter. I need to freeze or uninstall market updater, but anything I've tried to use can't mount /system. Any ideas?

GrStead123 said:
I agree with leaving most stuff alone, but the problesm I'm running into is that the new market fc's. I can uninstall the updates to market and it works fine, but market updater updates it again shortly thereafter. I need to freeze or uninstall market updater, but anything I've tried to use can't mount /system. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can uninstall the market updater with Titanium Backup.

mounting /system is quite easy with root explorer. I've experimented a lot with removing system apps. I move them into a new sub folder within /system, so I can put them back if something becomes unstable, but for the most part I run a really light /system folder that boots even quicker than without.
root explorer needs to have the "browse as root" option checked in its settings, and then, when you are in the system folder, you need to press "mount r/w" at the top of the screen.
If you just want to optimize battery, removing phone.apk and telephonyprovider.apk get the best net benefit. After that, I recommend creating a shortcut to Settings/Accounts & Sync so that you can turn off background data and Automatic Syncing when you are not actively using them. They draw a lot of power over the course of a day. I find that with them off during screen off and wifi off, the battery will not diminish for many days.

[Q] Can I remove useless APKs from Amazon update.zip?

Hello,
I was wondering if it was possible to remove useless APKs like Facebook and Quickoffice before flashing the Amazon update.zip so that the apps wouldn't be there. If I did that, would I have to resign the zip file or should it still work? Thanks!

Why bother, just install it, and with root, remove what you don't want.

Or, freeze them with Titanium backup. That way they're not gone for good, in case you ever really want them back. What's useless now may not be useless forever.

Rather than delete them or have another app running to freeze them just rename the .apk to .bak. That way you still have them if you need them but they will not run at all, I've seen quite a few times where TiBu supposedly freezes an app but it will still end up running.

other than freezing apps (they're still there) if you delete them you can just reflash the ROM with everything else.
If your looking to use amazon stuff..careful what you delete. About 15 of those apps are tied together in a signature form...one missing and you can't use amazon video. There's a thread around here..best one I have seen is by paulobrien.

All I wanted to remove was quickoffice and facebook, nothing else would be touched

daweedk1991 said:
All I wanted to remove was quickoffice and facebook, nothing else would be touched
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be fine with those, I would still rename them and once you see that things are still working fine after a reboot go ahead and delete them.

[Q] "Crap" Everywhere - From Uninstalled Apps

In trying to free up some space on my KF today, I noticed that apps that I had uninstalled, both before and after I rooted my KF, still left the entire app on my KF.
What's up with this?
For example, one of the first things I installed, kinda jokingly, was the Nook app. This was days after I got my KF and I had also downloaded a few free books for it. I uninstalled that app 6 months ago, yet all the Nook files were still there, including the .apk. I was able to delete them all and not cause any noticeable problem with my KF, but I have d/l'd a lot of apps and deleted them since I got my KF on the first day it was released. So if it had an easy name to remember, not too big of an issue, but app names in the directory aren't always straightforward to what they are... they may be listed by their developer's name or such.
I'm not opposed to completely wiping it and re-installing everything, but there are a number of games that I would lose my progress in if I did that. Plus, I am not in desperate need of space... yet. Granted, the TWRP backup doesn't help much when it comes to space, but it is a nice thing to have.
[BTW, my KF has been rooted for several months now, and was just updated with the latest KFU v9.6, running GoLauncher. It's a pretty straight forward rooted device that I haven't tweaked much because I really do read a lot on it.]
So I was wondering if there was an app that works better than the free version of SD Maid to clean up all this left over garbage? Even SD Maid didn't detect the Nook app still being there (the free version doesn't do all the paid version does, but, for the most part, it still shows ya what it found). Or if someone has a detailed guide of walking you through how to clean up useless files... that would be cool too.
Like I said, there is definitely a lot of crap taking up space that can be deleted. But I don't know Android (I'm really a Windows/Cisco guy), so I don't know to what extent I can delete stuff without causing problems.
Any help would be appreciated.
BTW, could the Image Verification images be any harder? LOL

PBFred said:
In trying to free up some space on my KF today, I noticed that apps that I had uninstalled, both before and after I rooted my KF, still left the entire app on my KF.
What's up with this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe this is an issue in older Android versions. I noticed my phone doing the same thing while it was in Eclair, then in Froyo and then in GingerBread.
It looks to me like ICS will automatically remove any orphan data it finds - I've tried deleting just an application's apk and, after rebooting the system, its data was gone as well (tried on both my phone and KF).
PBFred said:
So if it had an easy name to remember, not too big of an issue, but app names in the directory aren't always straightforward to what they are... they may be listed by their developer's name or such.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess you can try "pm list packages -f" to get the names of the apks and their matching data folders.
PBFred said:
I'm not opposed to completely wiping it and re-installing everything, but there are a number of games that I would lose my progress in if I did that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can most likely extract their data. Alternatively, you may want to look into Titanium Backup for backing up both apps and their data.
PBFred said:
Granted, the TWRP backup doesn't help much when it comes to space, but it is a nice thing to have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could also move the TWRP backup to the computer...

I would just backup any apps/games on TB while also saving the contents of your SD on your computer. Then simply use TWRP to wide SD card. You can then move your TWRP backups to the SD card from your computer and restore app and data on TB.