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Hi, a new guy here!
I recently became a happy owner of 32Gb wi-fi only N7. I’m familiar with software dev (windows developer for 20 years with some work on unix) and customization/modding/flashing process (mostly for satellite receivers). However this is my first tablet and my first Android device so I could use some help
I successfully unlocked, rooted and installed custom recovery on my N7. I would like to get to a bare bones state of the N7 and then slowly add new features/programs to it when it becomes necessary for me. So I would like to remove all non essential parts that were preinstalled on my N7.
I was under impression that I could uninstall programs using N7 UI after device gets rooted. However it seems that for majority of the apps I still only have an option to disable.
I shelled into N7 and looked around. It seems that all (majority?) of the apps are in /system/apps folder. Can I simply remove the apps and their files from that folder? Does this folder only contain user apps or does it also have system apps that are essential for N7 to function? Is there a chance to brick it by removing something (everything?) from that folder?
I searched on a forum for a list of apps that are safe to remove. I thought it would exist since it seems to be something many of us would be interested in doing. I didn’t find the list. If there is such a thing and someone could direct me there, it would be great!
Given that I can remove apps by deleting them from that folder safely, I still have a question what each app does and how important it is. Is safe to assume that any app that has a wheel with a drive belt on it as an icon in apps screen on N7 is system app and has to stay?
I have two keyboard app installed – one is Android keyboard and one is ASUS keyboard. Judging by the name 2 of these are essential since Android is the OS and ASUS is the manufacturer. But do I really need two of them?
If there is a resource/thread that discussed something similar, please let know. I look forward to learn from anyone on this forum!
_Diver said:
Hi, a new guy here!
I recently became a happy owner of 32Gb wi-fi only N7. I’m familiar with software dev (windows developer for 20 years with some work on unix) and customization/modding/flashing process (mostly for satellite receivers). However this is my first tablet and my first Android device so I could use some help
I successfully unlocked, rooted and installed custom recovery on my N7. I would like to get to a bare bones state of the N7 and then slowly add new features/programs to it when it becomes necessary for me. So I would like to remove all non essential parts that were preinstalled on my N7.
I was under impression that I could uninstall programs using N7 UI after device gets rooted. However it seems that for majority of the apps I still only have an option to disable.
I shelled into N7 and looked around. It seems that all (majority?) of the apps are in /system/apps folder. Can I simply remove the apps and their files from that folder? Does this folder only contain user apps or does it also have system apps that are essential for N7 to function? Is there a chance to brick it by removing something (everything?) from that folder?
I searched on a forum for a list of apps that are safe to remove. I thought it would exist since it seems to be something many of us would be interested in doing. I didn’t find the list. If there is such a thing and someone could direct me there, it would be great!
Given that I can remove apps by deleting them from that folder safely, I still have a question what each app does and how important it is. Is safe to assume that any app that has a wheel with a drive belt on it as an icon in apps screen on N7 is system app and has to stay?
I have two keyboard app installed – one is Android keyboard and one is ASUS keyboard. Judging by the name 2 of these are essential since Android is the OS and ASUS is the manufacturer. But do I really need two of them?
If there is a resource/thread that discussed something similar, please let know. I look forward to learn from anyone on this forum!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have the energy right now to address every app one at a time, but I'll nudge you in the right direction. That should help you start tinkering.
The Nexus 7 is very popular in this community because it's intentionally more open, and less bloated, than much of the competition.
That being said, sure there are apps you could uninstall if you decide to. Some of the custom ROM's will have probably already have done this for you, but may create little unexpected quirks here and there.
The first thing you'll want to do is backing everything up thoroughly. I would use Titanium Pro (you'll see it referred to as Tibu a lot), to backup all apps and settings. Then I would use the Google Nexus 7 toolkit (found in the forums here) to do a backup, as well as make a nandroid backup.
Ok, so you're ready to tinker. Well, if you bought Titanium Pro from the app store, you've already got all you really need. First, use titanium to freeze an app you don't feel you need, and don't think is required. Re-boot, go about your daily routine, and see if all is ok. Continue on in this manner. Once you've frozen everything you're interested in, and made sure all is well, you can probably go ahead and uninstall them through Tibu. Freezing them should generally make them not start up anyways, so unless the tiny amount of space they take up is a concern, that's really all you generally need to do *.
* Ok, sometimes you have to fully uninstall things you don't want, but this should get you plenty to tinker with for now.
bladebarrier,
Thanks for your response. I understand the approach you suggested – disabling apps one at a time and then when they all disabled and device is working to my liking for a while I could uninstall them.
However, I’m somewhat frustrated with a sheer number of apps that I have out of the box and I can’t find a good description of what they do. For example:
Mobile Network Configuration
Google Partner Setup
Google Services Framework
Searching online doesn’t yield definitive answers if it’s something I need or will N7 work without them. I have google play store and google play services installed – does store app require services? Reading a bit about it doesn’t make it seem so, but I’m not 100% sure. So I was wondering if there is a list of apps that are required for N7 well being and that cannot be removed no matter what.
For example, Black Viper has an excellent example of what I’m looking for but for windows nt services: (can't post a link)
This page explain what each service is, what it does and if it’s safe to disable it depending on configuration you’re seeking – minimal set, typical, out of box of experimental. I would love to find something like that for N7 system apps
I installed CWM recovery when I rooted and as far as I can understand I does NAND backups. I plan on moving the backup file from the device to my desktop and keeping it there for safety reason.
The Tibu process that you described, as far as I understand (and I might be wrong here) is basically equivalent of disabling the apps using native N7 setting app, rebooting, using it for a while and then removing .apk and .odex (or simply app_name.*) files from system/apps folder. Tibu just makes it easier. Did I get that right?
And it’s still removing one app/widget at the time. I’d like to clean it out completely first and start from that point. So Tibu will probably not help me there. So my main Q is still out there – can I brick it by removing everything from system/app? Are there only user apps there or essential system apps as well? With CWM back up file on hand will I be able to recover if my experiment goes bad?
> * Ok, sometimes you have to fully uninstall things you don't want, but this should get you plenty to tinker with for now.
One of the reasons I want to have them removed is to clean up the list of apps I have on N7. Right now I have 5 pages of apps and I have little idea what they do and if I need them – I had Korean keyboard installed for example.
As I mentioned I’m a newb in this area, so maybe my approach is a bit dumb, so please be patient with me
_Diver said:
bladebarrier,
Thanks for your response. I understand the approach you suggested – disabling apps one at a time and then when they all disabled and device is working to my liking for a while I could uninstall them.
However, I’m somewhat frustrated with a sheer number of apps that I have out of the box and I can’t find a good description of what they do. For example:
Mobile Network Configuration
Google Partner Setup
Google Services Framework
Searching online doesn’t yield definitive answers if it’s something I need or will N7 work without them. I have google play store and google play services installed – does store app require services? Reading a bit about it doesn’t make it seem so, but I’m not 100% sure. So I was wondering if there is a list of apps that are required for N7 well being and that cannot be removed no matter what.
For example, Black Viper has an excellent example of what I’m looking for but for windows nt services: (can't post a link)
This page explain what each service is, what it does and if it’s safe to disable it depending on configuration you’re seeking – minimal set, typical, out of box of experimental. I would love to find something like that for N7 system apps
I installed CWM recovery when I rooted and as far as I can understand I does NAND backups. I plan on moving the backup file from the device to my desktop and keeping it there for safety reason.
The Tibu process that you described, as far as I understand (and I might be wrong here) is basically equivalent of disabling the apps using native N7 setting app, rebooting, using it for a while and then removing .apk and .odex (or simply app_name.*) files from system/apps folder. Tibu just makes it easier. Did I get that right?
And it’s still removing one app/widget at the time. I’d like to clean it out completely first and start from that point. So Tibu will probably not help me there. So my main Q is still out there – can I brick it by removing everything from system/app? Are there only user apps there or essential system apps as well? With CWM back up file on hand will I be able to recover if my experiment goes bad?
> * Ok, sometimes you have to fully uninstall things you don't want, but this should get you plenty to tinker with for now.
One of the reasons I want to have them removed is to clean up the list of apps I have on N7. Right now I have 5 pages of apps and I have little idea what they do and if I need them – I had Korean keyboard installed for example.
As I mentioned I’m a newb in this area, so maybe my approach is a bit dumb, so please be patient with me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Removing Google framework services is a big no-no. To be honest, the easiest way to accomplish what you want is installing a custom ROM like CyanogenMod, especially since you've done all the prep work for such a thing.
Once you install any official CM build it is as close to app-less as you can get on a modular OS like this.
littleemp said:
Removing Google framework services is a big no-no. To be honest, the easiest way to accomplish what you want is installing a custom ROM like CyanogenMod, especially since you've done all the prep work for such a thing.
Once you install any official CM build it is as close to app-less as you can get on a modular OS like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's what i suspected! i thought that google framework would be something essential, but there is not much easily available information there to arrive at that conclusion
since i'm new to this, i thought i should stay away from any rom flashing until i get a bit more familiar with a device, terminology and stuff like that. i'm looking at the "[ROM] CyanogenMod 10.1 [OFFICIAL]" thread and i'm not sure about half of the terms - GAPPS, PSA, Nightlies i do know what ROM is, I do know what kernel is, virtual machine, etc. But it's applied to the platform that I have little experience with, so it makes me a little bit uneasy
_Diver said:
bladebarrier,
Thanks for your response. I understand the approach you suggested – disabling apps one at a time and then when they all disabled and device is working to my liking for a while I could uninstall them.
However, I’m somewhat frustrated with a sheer number of apps that I have out of the box and I can’t find a good description of what they do. For example:
Mobile Network Configuration
Google Partner Setup
Google Services Framework
Searching online doesn’t yield definitive answers if it’s something I need or will N7 work without them. I have google play store and google play services installed – does store app require services? Reading a bit about it doesn’t make it seem so, but I’m not 100% sure. So I was wondering if there is a list of apps that are required for N7 well being and that cannot be removed no matter what.
For example, Black Viper has an excellent example of what I’m looking for but for windows nt services: (can't post a link)
This page explain what each service is, what it does and if it’s safe to disable it depending on configuration you’re seeking – minimal set, typical, out of box of experimental. I would love to find something like that for N7 system apps
I installed CWM recovery when I rooted and as far as I can understand I does NAND backups. I plan on moving the backup file from the device to my desktop and keeping it there for safety reason.
The Tibu process that you described, as far as I understand (and I might be wrong here) is basically equivalent of disabling the apps using native N7 setting app, rebooting, using it for a while and then removing .apk and .odex (or simply app_name.*) files from system/apps folder. Tibu just makes it easier. Did I get that right?
And it’s still removing one app/widget at the time. I’d like to clean it out completely first and start from that point. So Tibu will probably not help me there. So my main Q is still out there – can I brick it by removing everything from system/app? Are there only user apps there or essential system apps as well? With CWM back up file on hand will I be able to recover if my experiment goes bad?
> * Ok, sometimes you have to fully uninstall things you don't want, but this should get you plenty to tinker with for now.
One of the reasons I want to have them removed is to clean up the list of apps I have on N7. Right now I have 5 pages of apps and I have little idea what they do and if I need them – I had Korean keyboard installed for example.
As I mentioned I’m a newb in this area, so maybe my approach is a bit dumb, so please be patient with me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tibu requires root access, in order to perform what we're discussing. I'm relatively new to JB, but I can't imagine any stock settings replicating its capabilities.
As far as a whole bunch of apps being in your list, that's sort of the way Android works. Think of it like "superfetch", or whatever that term was in Windows Vista. Basically, two things happen when you boot. Android looks at a list of apps that are designed to start on boot, and also apps that it expects you may want to run in the future. Both of these are designed to make the device run smoother overall, and it will kill apps if extra ram is required and they are not in use. Certain Android apps require themselves to run at all times. Some of these are apps like Tasker (if you're using tasker profiles), some of these are system apps that make the device function, some of these are apps that maintain widgets or background monitoring (weather apps, gmail, calendar).
Now, there are two ways to go about sorting what is bloat, and what is there because Android decided to load it. You can install an app called Autostarts, that will give an insight into apps that start up when certain criteria are met. You can also use it to stop those apps from queuing up at those trigger points. This is another root required app, and while I purchased it long ago, may have a free version as well. It's time consuming to use, and not perfect, which is why Tibu is better for flat out locking down unwanted apps.
Back to my initial thoughts though, you will see apps in your system list that you haven't touched since boot, because Android tries to anticipate your needs. People used to use "task killers" to close the apps, and came to realize that unless one is causing a real problem, it's just going to go back into the cached app list again anyways, thus reducing battery life when it has to load it over and over again. "Task killer" is a dirty word around XDA, unless you're using it to close an app that doesn't just go into the background like a good little app should.
Basically, you're going to start playing whack-a-mole if you want your list to remain as small as possible, at all times, and yet still actually use the device for anything interesting. You can reduce it, via various methods, and if this were a device from say "insert-name" brand, and was loaded with bloat apps, by all means you should clean those out. However, I think you'll find that while google does install things that aren't needed, or even used by everyone, it's mostly not a big issue.
Check out Better Battery Stats, in the XDA forums. It's an app that shows a pretty good picture of what is actually going on when you're not looking, and can provide data on how to improve your performance. It's probably a better way to start delving into what processes are actually being used, and which ones are just basically harmless. You'll also learn a good bit about how Android works from the Dev's explanations of many of the processes.
---------- Post added at 08:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------
_Diver said:
that's what i suspected! i thought that google framework would be something essential, but there is not much easily available information there to arrive at that conclusion
since i'm new to this, i thought i should stay away from any rom flashing until i get a bit more familiar with a device, terminology and stuff like that. i'm looking at the "[ROM] CyanogenMod 10.1 [OFFICIAL]" thread and i'm not sure about half of the terms - GAPPS, PSA, Nightlies i do know what ROM is, I do know what kernel is, virtual machine, etc. But it's applied to the platform that I have little experience with, so it makes me a little bit uneasy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure whichever ROM you use, if you decide to, supports your HSPA+ model. There is a separate development section in the Nexus 7 forums, for those of us that have the HSPA+ version. We are the minority, as the Nexus 7 was initially released as a wifi only tablet.
bladebarrier said:
Tibu requires root access, in order to perform what we're discussing. I'm relatively new to JB, but I can't imagine any stock settings replicating its capabilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i do have SU privileges, so what i was talking about was disabling an app thru N7 setting screen and then when i deem the app ok to remove, going to adb shell and removing the actual file.
i just did this:
mount -o remount rw /system
rm iWnnIME_Kbd_White.apk
rm iWnnIME.apk
and it removed the japanese keyboard. however when i go back to app screen under settings, i still see it but now it has a grey icon with a SD symbols in the corner. so it appears it recognizes that the app is gone, but it's still referenced in the list. i pushed the files back using NRT and it all back to the way it was. so looks like my idea of cleaning the list by removing the apk might not fly.
and now I wonder how Tibu uninstalls the apps.
bladebarrier said:
People used to use "task killers" to close the apps, and came to realize that unless one is causing a real problem, it's just going to go back into the cached app list again anyways, thus reducing battery life when it has to load it over and over again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand the notion of apps being in the cache and being removed when more RAM is needed, however the purist in me just doesn't want the junk apps to be there in first place However there is a lot of validity to these of your words:
bladebarrier said:
Basically, you're going to start playing whack-a-mole if you want your list to remain as small as possible, at all times, and yet still actually use the device for anything interesting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My wife got Kindle Fire HD recently and she's been using it happily. While I was thinking why would anyone want a closed up system (well, more closed up system then Nexus), she's been using it and I've been frustrated with my N7 so i might just let it go and enjoy the japanese and korean keyboards anyway
bladebarrier said:
Make sure whichever ROM you use, if you decide to, supports your HSPA+ model.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm wifi only
ngshniq every
i think i found what i was after: http wiki.cyanogenmod.org/wiki/barebones (url modified since i still can't post urls). this wiki page has the list of app with a short description and if it's safe to remove. it also has additional information that explains why i still saw the reference to the app in the list when apk file was deleted:
looks like i need to pay attention to 2 additional files:
/data/system/packages.xml
/data/system/packages.list
i bet I would find a reference to the apps in these and i would need to remove it in order to have the app disappear from the app list. i'll play around a bit more and report back
One thing, could you explain your reasoning behind wanting to delete everything but the essentials? Do you have a particular goal in mind or is it because of your windows background? Because if so, you should know that android operates very differently when compared to windows, and such, the requirements to keep your device working in tip top shape vary greatly.
In my opinion, with your current limited knowledge of each process/app inner workings, what you're trying to do surefire way to break something beyond repair and needing to use a factory image to get back to zero. A custom ROM will be much safer and yield the exact same results that you're looking for. (Eventually, once you understand what each thing does, then this manual approach could satisfy your needs)
Note: GApps are the basic Google apps to flash on top of the barebones system. Gmail, Play store, and the framework.
Nightlies are experimental builds compiled nightly by a bot with the latest CyanogenMod code available.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
My goal was to simplify my approach to N7 by removing anything that I don’t need now and slowly adding all necessary components as I get familiar with it. But it seems at this point that this approach is a bit more complicated as thought it would be.
So I think I would leave it alone for now and revisit this later
_Diver said:
My goal was to simplify my approach to N7 by removing anything that I don’t need now and slowly adding all necessary components as I get familiar with it. But it seems at this point that this approach is a bit more complicated as thought it would be.
So I think I would leave it alone for now and revisit this later
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what you've done manually, you're clearly far ahead of a new user when it comes to understanding linux/unix.
If you want to lock down parts of what google implements, purely to keep it minimalistic, I would agree with the above poster. Go for one of the popular ROM options that are available, like CM, and work your way backwards. The Nexus 7 only has as much bloat as you allow it to have via the settings. This is another reason why Better Battery Stats is an excellent way to make sure your device isn't draining battery, yet isn't locked down. The other day I noticed an app that kept fetching my position, even though the case was closed (magnetic sleep mode). It turned out I forgot to disable the tracking in google maps (why it was defaulted to ON, I have no idea). BBS showed me what was running during the sleep phase, and I fixed it when I woke up the next morning after wondering why my battery dropped.
The Kindle Fire is a great option, because it doesn't require any of this fussing about. My woman loves hers. LOVES IT. Personally, I like to tinker a bit, and I'm too invested in Android apps to not have access to the play store. The Nexus 7, is for people like what you find here. We like to tinker, and make everything custom. At the same time, you could spend all day trying to figure out why EntriesRefresh_wakelock is your highest partial wakelock count, at 60seconds per 7 hours, or you can find that you just went 7 hours and only used 6% of the battery, even though you've been connected to wifi, texting, emailing, and checking the weather and news, the whole time. Not bad, honestly.
The biggest investment you can do for your Nexus, is probably getting a case that magnetically puts it to rest when you close it. After that, learn about the settings that drain battery in the background. Then, get Tasker and play around that (it's like programming, without the need to learn the code). After that, go to a custom ROM, or dig out Tibu, and basically start customizing which apps you will use. If that doesn't pass the time long enough, you can literally make your own ROM and put together exactly what you want. Whether the performance will be that much better or not, and whether you'll spend most of your day trying to look for coding errors, is up to you. I don't have the patience to code, but you're a coder, so what is broccoli to me, may be bacon to you.
No, this is NOT the Xposed "Fix Memory Leak" install that fixes nothing, because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release. If you have it installed now, you can uninstall it because it is literally doing nothing but taking up free space on your device; and is another hook you don't need in your install process. That also requires root to be installed, and this is a no-root situation
After a week of battling with XZDR and [NUT] starting to hate me, I decided to just bite the bullet, and FTF flash the stock, unrooted firmware, and see what it was like without root and if I could live. Most of the apps, not all of them though, can be disabled completely from within Android app manager, so things like TiBu are not really needed. I don't use Facebook or Twitter apps so having the "Xperia for Facebook" apps, which can't be frozen/disabled, was a pain in the ass, but they don't have any login information so everything's safe there.
I was very unimpressed with the way certain apps loaded. As an example, using Disa for my messaging solution was great, but SwiftKey was being a jerk. I'd press on the text input field and the keyboard would show up and then disappear right away. It would sometimes take up to 3 minutes of constant press *hides* press *hides* press *hides* just to be able to type a "K" message to someone. Not happy. Then, I'd load up Clash of Clans, do what I needed to do, then close it, then load up Family Guy, and it would crash because CoC was in the background. I'd have to completely reboot my phone in order to go from one game to the other. Very unhappy.
I found the app "Android System WebView", and not knowing what it was, tried to disable it. I uninstalled updates and disabled the system package, but it wouldn't let me disable it, only remove and replace with stock, and I thought that that was good enough. Rebooted my phone, and blamo.. phone performance increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude!
I've yet to have the SwiftKey hiding issue, and as I typed this, I finished the gold mine upgrade and went to see if Peter was doing Shipoopiing, and all was well.
Great thing is, if this doesn't fix your issue - you can update it right back to normal from Google Play.
Wiltron said:
No, this is NOT the Xposed "Fix Memory Leak" install that fixes nothing, because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release. If you have it installed now, you can uninstall it because it is literally doing nothing but taking up free space on your device; and is another hook you don't need in your install process. That also requires root to be installed, and this is a no-root situation
After a week of battling with XZDR and [NUT] starting to hate me, I decided to just bite the bullet, and FTF flash the stock, unrooted firmware, and see what it was like without root and if I could live. Most of the apps, not all of them though, can be disabled completely from within Android app manager, so things like TiBu are not really needed. I don't use Facebook or Twitter apps so having the "Xperia for Facebook" apps, which can't be frozen/disabled, was a pain in the ass, but they don't have any login information so everything's safe there.
I was very unimpressed with the way certain apps loaded. As an example, using Disa for my messaging solution was great, but SwiftKey was being a jerk. I'd press on the text input field and the keyboard would show up and then disappear right away. It would sometimes take up to 3 minutes of constant press *hides* press *hides* press *hides* just to be able to type a "K" message to someone. Not happy. Then, I'd load up Clash of Clans, do what I needed to do, then close it, then load up Family Guy, and it would crash because CoC was in the background. I'd have to completely reboot my phone in order to go from one game to the other. Very unhappy.
I found the app "Android System WebView", and not knowing what it was, tried to disable it. I uninstalled updates and disabled the system package, but it wouldn't let me disable it, only remove and replace with stock, and I thought that that was good enough. Rebooted my phone, and blamo.. phone performance increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude!
I've yet to have the SwiftKey hiding issue, and as I typed this, I finished the gold mine upgrade and went to see if Peter was doing Shipoopiing, and all was well.
Great thing is, if this doesn't fix your issue - you can update it right back to normal from Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me? i don't find any issues with the memory management by Lollipop as of today (from the first release). In fact, my phone runs faster and smoother compared to KK. Battery is so good that i don't need to recharge at night after the whole day usage. I use also the google keyboard (the VERY first version) which i dont find any problems at all. I just make my phone as simple as possible. No root done and i just disable some bloatwares and un-installing some gapps. I also ask myself, what's the use of Android System Webview? i do some couple of search and i found that, it does not affect the performance of my phone, so i just keep it update.
Facebook WhatsApp camera etc crashesh frequently
Hi Team
I'm facing a serious issue. I'm not able to use Facebook WhatsApp camera etc because these apps crash frequently. Device is Samsung gt p3100 and ur lollipop. Can u pls help me get this resolved. Thank u so much.
Regards
Amresh
I just disabled it, Does anyone know which apps depend on it? So far everything works fine.
amresh.india said:
Hi Team
I'm facing a serious issue. I'm not able to use Facebook WhatsApp camera etc because these apps crash frequently. Device is Samsung gt p3100 and ur lollipop. Can u pls help me get this resolved. Thank u so much.
Regards
Amresh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Bro,
Wrong thread. please direct you're question to Samsung Thread. maybe they can helped you in there. This is a Sony Xperia Z1 thread. But since you're here, Try to factory reset your phone or wipe dalvik and cache.
Wiltron said:
No, this is NOT the Xposed "Fix Memory Leak" install that fixes nothing, because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release. If you have it installed now, you can uninstall it because it is literally doing nothing but taking up free space on your device; and is another hook you don't need in your install process. That also requires root to be installed, and this is a no-root situation
After a week of battling with XZDR and [NUT] starting to hate me, I decided to just bite the bullet, and FTF flash the stock, unrooted firmware, and see what it was like without root and if I could live. Most of the apps, not all of them though, can be disabled completely from within Android app manager, so things like TiBu are not really needed. I don't use Facebook or Twitter apps so having the "Xperia for Facebook" apps, which can't be frozen/disabled, was a pain in the ass, but they don't have any login information so everything's safe there.
I was very unimpressed with the way certain apps loaded. As an example, using Disa for my messaging solution was great, but SwiftKey was being a jerk. I'd press on the text input field and the keyboard would show up and then disappear right away. It would sometimes take up to 3 minutes of constant press *hides* press *hides* press *hides* just to be able to type a "K" message to someone. Not happy. Then, I'd load up Clash of Clans, do what I needed to do, then close it, then load up Family Guy, and it would crash because CoC was in the background. I'd have to completely reboot my phone in order to go from one game to the other. Very unhappy.
I found the app "Android System WebView", and not knowing what it was, tried to disable it. I uninstalled updates and disabled the system package, but it wouldn't let me disable it, only remove and replace with stock, and I thought that that was good enough. Rebooted my phone, and blamo.. phone performance increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude!
I've yet to have the SwiftKey hiding issue, and as I typed this, I finished the gold mine upgrade and went to see if Peter was doing Shipoopiing, and all was well.
Great thing is, if this doesn't fix your issue - you can update it right back to normal from Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So your telling me to disable or uninstall Android System Web View in order to increase performance on lollipop....
martin132014 said:
So your telling me to disable or uninstall Android System Web View in order to increase performance on lollipop....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use the built-in Android uninstaller - don't use TiBu if you're rooted or completely uninstall it. Android interface won't let you uninstall it entirely, just remove the updates and return it to stock factory settings.
It's currently working perfect for me - no issues or slowdowns or crashes all day today. I've used Chrome, the key program that this app is designed for, and it still works fine, along with a few other select programs that utilize it. All is well.
I don't know about stability issues if you're rooted and you completely uninstall it - so proceed at your own risk..
Wiltron said:
Use the built-in Android uninstaller - don't use TiBu if you're rooted or completely uninstall it. Android interface won't let you uninstall it entirely, just remove the updates and return it to stock factory settings.
It's currently working perfect for me - no issues or slowdowns or crashes all day today. I've used Chrome, the key program that this app is designed for, and it still works fine, along with a few other select programs that utilize it. All is well.
I don't know about stability issues if you're rooted and you completely uninstall it - so proceed at your own risk..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As interesting as this solution seems, I think I found why you don't have an issue I used to have a lot of launcher redraws and slow downs every now and then. So I froze a bunch of apps using ROM Toolbox and boom, no more redraws or slow downs. Worked like a charm. I think freezing or uninstalling bloat was the reason your memory issue was fixed. Cause I didn't uninstall the web view or make any changes with regard to it.
Uninstall or freeze bloat, and it should fix it immediately
ROM Toolbox requires root.
Freezing and Uninstalling bloat also requires root.
My fix doesn't require root.
It dosnt fix it ? % but atleast better, i saw an article before mentioning that android webview cause lag problems idr where
I will test that! I also suspected that component to be a memory hog... Thanks for sharing, I will test and see what happens!
Security issue
Please be aware that you are opening yourself up to security issues by uninstalling these updates. This webview component is the part of Android used for displaying webpages inside of other apps. Since it is a full HTML renderer, it is susceptible to the same security issues that regularly get fixed in your Chrome installation. But previously, (pre-lollipop) this component was part of your ROM and could only be updated by firmware updates. Since lollipop, Google separated this component into an updateable Android package. I sincerely wonder if your ¨fix¨ was due to the uninstallation of these updates. You have, however, already missed 4 security updates.
Proceed with caution...
Wiltron said:
No, this is NOT the Xposed "Fix Memory Leak" install that fixes nothing, because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release. If you have it installed now, you can uninstall it because it is literally doing nothing but taking up free space on your device; and is another hook you don't need in your install process. That also requires root to be installed, and this is a no-root situation
After a week of battling with XZDR and [NUT] starting to hate me, I decided to just bite the bullet, and FTF flash the stock, unrooted firmware, and see what it was like without root and if I could live. Most of the apps, not all of them though, can be disabled completely from within Android app manager, so things like TiBu are not really needed. I don't use Facebook or Twitter apps so having the "Xperia for Facebook" apps, which can't be frozen/disabled, was a pain in the ass, but they don't have any login information so everything's safe there.
I was very unimpressed with the way certain apps loaded. As an example, using Disa for my messaging solution was great, but SwiftKey was being a jerk. I'd press on the text input field and the keyboard would show up and then disappear right away. It would sometimes take up to 3 minutes of constant press *hides* press *hides* press *hides* just to be able to type a "K" message to someone. Not happy. Then, I'd load up Clash of Clans, do what I needed to do, then close it, then load up Family Guy, and it would crash because CoC was in the background. I'd have to completely reboot my phone in order to go from one game to the other. Very unhappy.
I found the app "Android System WebView", and not knowing what it was, tried to disable it. I uninstalled updates and disabled the system package, but it wouldn't let me disable it, only remove and replace with stock, and I thought that that was good enough. Rebooted my phone, and blamo.. phone performance increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude!
I've yet to have the SwiftKey hiding issue, and as I typed this, I finished the gold mine upgrade and went to see if Peter was doing Shipoopiing, and all was well.
Great thing is, if this doesn't fix your issue - you can update it right back to normal from Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"...because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release." <- I reported that already.
About the WebView. If you think that WebView is responsible for your device not working properly then you definitely don't know what WebView is and when it's even being used. You don't just go and disable any system app you don't recognize. Those advices are worthless.
All you need is a stable ROM. I'm using my own custom ROM, have the latest Play services, Play Store and WebView embedded into the ROM. The ROM works perfectly and normaly has 700-800 free RAM.
Have a look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-z1/general/icylollymod-igor-eisberg-t3101848
Wiltron said:
ROM Toolbox requires root.
Freezing and Uninstalling bloat also requires root.
My fix doesn't require root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your attitude towards root does not make a lot of sense: your system apps have root regardless of rooting status. Your android runs as root without asking for permission. So, your phone IS rooted by default. The only one who does not have root access is you. Having root for you means having an app that alerts you and asks for your permission when there is a request for root by other apps. That prevents malicious script execution. Let me give you an example: your web browser sits in system partition which has automatic root access. Suppose, you visit a site thay silently executes a java script and takes over your browser. Now, it has root permission without any notice to you: it can download anything to your system and take over your phone. And there is nothing you can do to stop this unless you have root. Also, think about oem and google updates: they all can run silently, unless you have root.
So, in short, having no root equals no security at all...
Wiltron said:
No, this is NOT the Xposed "Fix Memory Leak" install that fixes nothing, because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release. If you have it installed now, you can uninstall it because it is literally doing nothing but taking up free space on your device; and is another hook you don't need in your install process. That also requires root to be installed, and this is a no-root situation
After a week of battling with XZDR and [NUT] starting to hate me, I decided to just bite the bullet, and FTF flash the stock, unrooted firmware, and see what it was like without root and if I could live. Most of the apps, not all of them though, can be disabled completely from within Android app manager, so things like TiBu are not really needed. I don't use Facebook or Twitter apps so having the "Xperia for Facebook" apps, which can't be frozen/disabled, was a pain in the ass, but they don't have any login information so everything's safe there.
I was very unimpressed with the way certain apps loaded. As an example, using Disa for my messaging solution was great, but SwiftKey was being a jerk. I'd press on the text input field and the keyboard would show up and then disappear right away. It would sometimes take up to 3 minutes of constant press *hides* press *hides* press *hides* just to be able to type a "K" message to someone. Not happy. Then, I'd load up Clash of Clans, do what I needed to do, then close it, then load up Family Guy, and it would crash because CoC was in the background. I'd have to completely reboot my phone in order to go from one game to the other. Very unhappy.
I found the app "Android System WebView", and not knowing what it was, tried to disable it. I uninstalled updates and disabled the system package, but it wouldn't let me disable it, only remove and replace with stock, and I thought that that was good enough. Rebooted my phone, and blamo.. phone performance increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude!
I've yet to have the SwiftKey hiding issue, and as I typed this, I finished the gold mine upgrade and went to see if Peter was doing Shipoopiing, and all was well.
Great thing is, if this doesn't fix your issue - you can update it right back to normal from Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As few peoples pointed out, by NOT installing Android System WebView update, your phone might have some security risk.
I would really not recommend using this "FIX" , My Z1 doesn't have this sort of problem anyway.
Webview IS security risk, because it is an html renderer with web connection abilities. There is no legitimate reason for a user to have this app, which purpose is to provide an advertising vehicle for corrupt developers (I call corrupt those devs who use ads in their "free" apps). It is better to just uninstall this app than constantly update it where updates are always behind bugs, malware and other security vulnerabilities. Only your web browser, e-mail client and internet messaging apps should be allowed to connect to the internet for security reasons and battery/performance sake. So, while I don't agree with OP's attitude towards root, I support him when he gets rid of another bloat/malware/security risk...
As far as deleting the app, if your rom does not provide for system app removal, just use a file manager (root required) and erase the app from the system...
For anyone who cares:
Webview is part of android. Not updating it is a bad idea as others have stated. There was an update about two weeks ago that had some bugs and was eating battery and causing some apps to crash. Google fixed it quickly and the current one in the play store is fine again. No battery drain and plays nice with all apps.
It's funny that if Google didn't release a buggy update, nobody would have even known or cared it was there. They would have just updated it.
As others have stated it was always there, only now they are updating it regularly through the play store instead of having to wait for an OTA. If you don't update it, that's fine, it is your choice.
It should be updated considering there are security and performance fixes in the updates. Giving others erroneous information and telling them to remove it completely when you don't even know what it is, is not a good idea.
A simple Google search when the buggy update dropped would have revealed that it was just that, a buggy update. Solution was, uninstall just the update UNTIL Google released a fixed one. Personally I have noticed better battery since the newest update.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Free mobile app
No matter the solution, this new Lollipop release is really bug when it comes to memory management. I can't listen to a podcast without the app being killed ten times an hour... It never happened to me before. My smartwatch is constantly disconnected because the Wear app is killed every time I receive a message and so on (while there are still at least 400 MB free in memory).
optimumpro said:
Webview IS security risk, because it is an html renderer with web connection abilities. There is no legitimate reason for a user to have this app, which purpose is to provide an advertising vehicle for corrupt developers (I call corrupt those devs who use ads in their "free" apps). It is better to just uninstall this app than constantly update it where updates are always behind bugs, malware and other security vulnerabilities. Only your web browser, e-mail client and internet messaging apps should be allowed to connect to the internet for security reasons and battery/performance sake. So, while I don't agree with OP's attitude towards root, I support him when he gets rid of another bloat/malware/security risk...
As far as deleting the app, if your rom does not provide for system app removal, just use a file manager (root required) and erase the app from the system...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I´m sorry, this really is just bad advise: you are breaking apps (legitimate apps, not the adviews you refer to) by removing this app. Again: this is not an app, it is a system component that Google made updateable via the play store. It is not meant to be removed without breaking apps.
stamppot said:
I´m sorry, this really is just bad advise: you are breaking apps (legitimate apps, not the adviews you refer to) by removing this app. Again: this is not an app, it is a system component that Google made updateable via the play store. It is not meant to be removed without breaking apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Name one app (that is no malware/bug/ad) broken because one removes webview...
Just because an app sits in the system does not make it a legitimate one. Any app, if it wants to display an internet page, can use stock browser. There is simply no reason to have an extra layer (webview) that exposes you to security risks. This is, by the way, what Google does: to make sure that your device is wide open to commercial/spying interests. But luckily, because of open source, one can remove most of this garbage...
Managed to flash recovery and root YB after a lot of frustration. Question now is: Why bother? Cannot delete the Lenovo/Google junk - which is the main reason I root devices. Installed only one app that requires root so far - Adaway - only to have the YB hang for a while during every operation.
Bought the YB out of curiosity only. Find I dislike Lenovo intensely (not alone in this). The YB is in many ways just a gimmick. The fancy hinge is not required on such a light device - it's just a selling point; money would have been better spent on an improved CPU or camera (which is useless). Keyboard is handy, but I find my Note5 serves me just as well (besides being a vastly better device on all fronts). I don't expect anyone will even try to develop a custom ROM for the YB.
Anyway, will fiddle with the YB some more and then give it away to someone hereabouts. If I am missing something about rooting the YB, please let me know.
seems like you should try a little bit harder...just becasue you don't know how to deal with it, it doesn't mean that it isn't possible stock apps can be deleted, at least with help of some third party apps (e.g. titanium) that require root (i personally got rid of those google docs apps, chrome browser, lenovo intro, etc...)
what were your problems with rooting? by now, I went back to stock via backup three times (for several reasons) and rooted it again, which sums up to four times rooting without any hiccups.
i
danjac said:
seems like you should try a little bit harder...just becasue you don't know how to deal with it, it doesn't mean that it isn't possible stock apps can be deleted, at least with help of some third party apps (e.g. titanium) that require root (i personally got rid of those google docs apps, chrome browser, lenovo intro, etc...)
what were your problems with rooting? by now, I went back to stock via backup three times (for several reasons) and rooted it again, which sums up to four times rooting without any hiccups.
i
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually used titanium to try to remove junk apps. First time ever with this problem. Even tried to delete the apks directly using es file manager. Cannot so far find out what is preventing their removal (titanium reports them uninstalled, while es reports operation failed).
Root. Posted elsewhere on this. Rooting in itself is not a problem. In fact, I intend restoring stock to see if that will get rid of the hangs that are occurring. As matters stand for me at the moment, I really have no use for root.
See a 12" YB is on offer now. Looks as though the 10" version is history already - but I suspect it will remain a curiosity for a while yet.
danjac said:
seems like you should try a little bit harder...just becasue you don't know how to deal with it, it doesn't mean that it isn't possible stock apps can be deleted, at least with help of some third party apps (e.g. titanium) that require root (i personally got rid of those google docs apps, chrome browser, lenovo intro, etc...)
what were your problems with rooting? by now, I went back to stock via backup three times (for several reasons) and rooted it again, which sums up to four times rooting without any hiccups.
i
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you help me out in rooting my yoga tab 2?
suan aimte said:
Can you help me out in rooting my yoga tab 2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
of course i can help you:
GUIDE - HOW TO GET ALONG ON XDA [noob-friendly]
1st: USE SEARCH (eg. 'root yoga tab 2')!!! it is really easy! 3rd entry should do the trick.
2nd: reading skills are also very helpful: if i remeber correctly, there's kind of a 'how xda works' when you register...it's quite useful, especially if you want to get along without trouble in the future.
hope it works!!!
I have the unlocked version, am able to root, but I'd rather not break the warranty till I've used the phone for a bit and found it's ok. Is there a list of apps that are ok to disable, including both google and motorola apps? I don't know that I want to disable every package that contains the word 'motorola', or google... Plus I'm sure there are some that don't contain those words.
From what I've been reading google seems to collect all sorts of data from the phone whether you have set up an account or not. I'm trying to increase privacy on the phone in the meantime. I'm installing other open source apps in the place of the google ones (for maps, calendar, gallery, contacts, video, etc) and disabling the play store. I've noticed that I can disable a number of apps via settings-->apps or by using adb pm uninstall. I'm not sure if using pm uninstall via adb is better? It looks like it just uninstalls the app for the current user, which implies there are other users that can use the app? Is there a user other than me running behind the scenes?
If I remove the google apps can google still sync or read my contacts, calendar, app activities etc even when using different apps?
Sorry if these are dumb questions, I'm trying to understand how this works. It is interesting, but it is very different to try to understand something when you're not a programmer or don't have the tech background. I'm not terribly technical but I would like to understand what goes on. If this is the right place please let me know where to ask. I have been searching for info as well but not found answers.
Hi,
Samsung Galaxy note 20 ultra Europe exynos sm-986b debloat/decrapify (Switzerland/Swisscom).
I'm starting my journey to debloat that phone which is entirely unusable for me, due to the unwanted presence of hundred of junk apps.
After realizing that I was not using a data cable but only a charging cable (computer not having usbc, I had to use another cable than the official one). I manage to get my bearings a bit.
So the connection is sorted out (out of topic), now start the actual decrapifying:
1) I used/will use this program, to list all programs:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/an...easy-management-android-applications-t4147837
Note: I could have used adb directly but this seems easier, especially as we talk about hundred of lines.
Note 2: each time I installed "ACBridge" which appears to show nice icons for that program.
2) I have compiled a list of applications currently installed. I did not install anything manually myself yet, not even connected to Android Play:
442 apps by default.
https://gofile.io/d/xGHoff
Note: Are some of these apps only specific to my seller and my region? It's possible, since the phone clearly had some of the FYI operator branded options installed.
3) I'm going to factory reset now. Again, nothing was really installed, just official rom updates done. But I want to start from fresh.
4) After I will reinitiate the phone, I will redo the list of applications capture, and start trimming down.
5) After the factory reset, it seems I had a new screen (unless I skipped it by mistake last time) proposing me to install additional apps like spotify, linked in... I refused this time. Last time I had the apps installed maybe a mistake click, or something new thanks to newer firmware.
6) Use the program again, I now have 429 apps only instead of 442.
7) I tried the list mentioned a starting point, I will look into this user list, allegedely 109 apps removed from a S20 (which is a different phone, I know):
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/tool-windows-adb-appcontrol-v1-4-5.4147837/post-83980273
First that only has 104 apps over 109.
Second, I found a few items I wanted to keep and a few I wanted to remove.
Customization Work required here...!
Caution: the list of 109 items contains what is described elsewere as dangerous:
com.samsung.android.authfw ; Not Recommended: Used for password autocompletion, can be removed if you don't use it. This app is sometimes called by the system and might cause battery drain if removed
com.serv.android.preloadinstaller : App that install other application, do not remove!
I will check each non-obvious items.
This list seems more pro:
Samsung full apps list
Feuille 1 LAST UPDATED 01/09/2022,Reinstall an app using pm install-existing [the app package],Enter in shell using adb -d shell before running the command,Enter in shell using adb -d shell before running the command,<a href="https://docs.samsungknox.com/CCMode/G988B_Q.pdf">https://docs.samsungk...
docs.google.com
I made a custom preset with the 85 items in the list of " Safe to uninstall ". Only 71/86 where showing, some I wanted to keep like Android Auto.
--> I seems to have to choice but start from a bigger list and go through it myself.
After checking each items of that 109 list, vs the spreadsheet and sometimes google, I actually ended up reducing the list, or keeping more items. My final list is currently 68 applications to remove.
I also removed additional things like Netflix.
FINAL LIST:
Samsung SM-N986B_[All]_presetJSDec2020.txt
In the process I learned that this list seems rather personal to do. Yet, some items are marked not to be removed due to battery drain, so the initial list of 109 seems risky. I would say some manual work is mandatory.
8) Moving on, time to uninstall. Done.
9) Time to configure the basics again (basically language, etc...). Done.
10) Time to migrate data from old phone to new phone, I used "Samsung smart switch" app, installed it on both phone, used wifi, and unselected unwanted things. Done after some 1-2 hours (not so much data but it was slow and I interrupted twice).
11) Now the phone looks ok, a few apps had to be manually reinstalled like MCDonald's crapp.
12) Time to recover authenticator, relogin to apps, etc...Some apps I can't do now like RSA token, needs to regenerate a token elsewhere. GoogleAuth was simple, I could easily export from old phone/import new phone..
13) Phone works for now. I see I missed to remove some stuffs like "My files" which was basically simply like file explorer but from Samsung. That was indicated as "not remove" but probably can be ( com.sec.android.app.myfiles ).
Edit: day +1 after the step 13. Phone works properly. No visible impact on battery drain (seems high, as usual and with little usage overnight, same as before any intervention from my side). Unable to continue anything for now, being ill. Everything seems to work, even without the stuffs I removed.
On that note, I got rid of youtube and yt music, and installed YoutubeVance.
I tested the basics (phone, camera...) looks ok.
Note: this is WIP and more sharing the journey, as well as learning. Usually I would unlock bootloader, root, and install a decent ROM from XDA; but not happening this time.
Thanks for sharing cyber.cat thread ! Used it and removed 20+ useless app
ouroukai90 said:
Thanks for sharing cyber.cat thread ! Used it and removed 20+ useless app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad that could help- The tool from Cyber Cat and the threads are useful. Yet I saw quite a few tools/options around.
The idea was to share the experience of using one, do some sort of decrapifying/debloating and comment.
For me even if I expected a bit that, I was a bit surprise that this operation needs a lot of customization.
Let's say it was easier to start from a fresh Android ROM and add some selected Google apps, rather than trimming down that Samsung junk (That something I usually do with custom roms, here I stayed with official Samsung ROM, so I did not have that possibility to start fresh).
I see Android 11 update should come soon (around January 2021?).... I take it that they will reinstall all their garbage in the OTA update... And we will have to decrapify again!?
Yes I guess for a major update it will maybe reinstall crap like "tips" from Samsung. But i've done this using beta4 OneUI3.0 and it work very well
Is it possible to uninstall the google app? And then install it again? I have problems with hey google not working
Anskjer said:
Is it possible to uninstall the google app? And then install it again? I have problems with hey google not working
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, which app specifically?
Not sure what is "hey google", are you talking about "Google Assistant"?
Anyway, usually clear cache, not uninstall/reinstall...(then clear data when sure what you doing...)
htchd2sucks said:
Yes, which app specifically?
Not sure what is "hey google", are you talking about "Google Assistant"?
Anyway, usually clear cache, not uninstall/reinstall...(then clear data when sure what you doing...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The assistant is inside the google app. Clear cache I have try but didn't work. Thanks for the help
The phone shown me an update yesterday (01/01/2021), OneUI3, Android 11.
It updated without any issue, and all my apps and things are properly there after.
One strange thing is it was allegedely updating 470 apps on my phone, I don't remember having so many.
Another thing to notice, is that I did not notice any new garbage apps after the update. For example, some emoticons junk was not reinstalled. Also, the default keyboard remains Gboard, like I set myself before the update.
Anyway, time to check now, in details.
Verdict: # Total applications: 421
Some junk have been installed again during the update. (after my previous cleaning, I was at:
# Total applications: 361)
I don't see the same type of junk as it was before, like Netflix apps, Bixby...etc... So it's rather strange.
One horrible app I found is "eBay Partner Attribution". What is it? Affiliate marketing is a referral program where sites pay commissions to affiliates who send traffic to their site that results in a sale.
Well done Samsung, installing junk to get additional money...
App killed on sight (com.ebay.carrier).
I also removed com.google.android.videos.
That will be all for now, don't have the time to do better.
Is it really safe to debloat all knox related stuff? just asking if it helps anything?
jirka607 said:
Is it really safe to debloat all knox related stuff? just asking if it helps anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think knox junk tripping is only if you replace your bootloader:
Knox
I think removing the apps only is not tripping it (anyway, if it is, my phone is fine without it).
It depends what you mean "safe" anyway, if you are talking about some features that might not work, or a broken phone for example.
Thanks, im not sure if you should put the Knox app in the safe list.
danterape said:
Thanks, im not sure if you should put the Knox app in the safe list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to delete it then u'll see xD