Database Users

Which apps (bloatware) are okay to remove?

I rooted my phone, installed lagfix, and removed some bloatware from the phone via Titanium. The phone was stupid fast after doing this, almost everything loaded up instantly. However I started to notice some things weren't functioning properly. Apps on the marketplace would not download, I would try to download Launcher Pro and nothing would happen, nothing downloaded. Tried this with other apps, same thing. I rebooted the phone and noticed upon reboot that a force close/app error happened, not sure which app it was but it had google in it. I have no idea what app it could have been since I only removed apps if I knew what they were like Slacker, Kindle, Sims etc. Maybe removing the Sims caused the error?
I also noticed that emails wouldn't send (or would take a long time) even when I was on wifi. And the XDA app wouldn't work. I would go to make a post, click the text input box, but it wouldn't let me move the text cursor. I would press the keyboard and nothing happened.
I removed a crap ton of apps but they weren't anything major. I also removed the samsung widgets since I would never use those. Guess I should have asked on the forums before removing so much stuff.
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Which apps are okay to remove? Any ideas on which app could have caused the market to mess up?

From what you listed, those are all safe apps to dump. I would have thought any issue is more likely to come from the lag fix than nuking "safe" apps. There are several threads discussing the apps that are safe to get rid of, take a look in the stickie for a link if you can't find it via seach.

Cool thanks!

SykesAT said:
From what you listed, those are all safe apps to dump. I would have thought any issue is more likely to come from the lag fix than nuking "safe" apps. There are several threads discussing the apps that are safe to get rid of, take a look in the stickie for a link if you can't find it via seach.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I 2nd that, I accidentally installed both lag fixes and got the force close thing. I had to nandroid restore and reinstall.
Sent from the best phone from TMO... Vibrant

DELETE THE BLOAT!
Download Root Explorer (i'm not associated with) and go to System/App to remove a lot of the bloatware that came on the phone. I strongly encourage researching what can & can NOT be removed. ALWAYS make a backup. Here is a good thread about removing the bloat. Remember, I am not responsible. It will be some time before we have a custom ROM that removes this crap for us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read the Tips and Tricks sticky. There's a lot of good stuff in there.

Which is the best for removing bloatware; Titanium, Root Explorer, or Root Manager?

Arcadia310 said:
Which is the best for removing bloatware; Titanium, Root Explorer, or Root Manager?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used root explorer, to "move" apps to a backup folder on sd card. Then went into Android settings -apps-manage apps --filter - all and uninstalled the apps.
Two step process. First step puts them out of sight, second properly gets rid of them. FYI, you can not do step 2 without doing the first step.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

SykesAT said:
I used root explorer, to "move" apps to a backup folder on sd card. Then went into Android settings -apps-manage apps --filter - all and uninstalled the apps.
Two step process. First step puts them out of sight, second properly gets rid of them. FYI, you can not do step 2 without doing the first step.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes sense. What if I move lets say 10 "bloatware" apps onto the SD card, delete them from the phone, then something goes wrong or something stops working. I can just move it back and it'll be fine right? And you don't literally mean you can't do step two without doing step one right?
I did filter all in the manage apps but I have two questions.
1. I went to a random app ThinkFree Office, there was no option to delete it there. I thought you could only delete bloatware in an app like Titanium?
2. When you delete an app it creates that long "com.app.uselessword here.word" listing right? In order to truly remove an app you would have to delete it in Titanium/Root Explorer then delete the thing I said right?

Unless you do step 1 you can not delete them in apps manager. Not sure why and it makes it a PITA.
when I dumped my bloat files were compeately gone from system/app. there was no com.app.uselessword here.word type listing.
I have not used Ti to remove apps so I can not speak as to how it works, if it truley uninstalls then it could be a one step process (I would still back the apk odex files first).
Again I have not tried to reinstall but I would imagine it works in reverse, move apk/odex to system/app and install.

[Q] removing bloatware

Has anybody messed around with the phone enough to figure out how to remove the bloatware? I could gain a lot of space with it removed so if anybody has found a way to please tell me thanks.

Yes this can be done. Root using z4root in the marketplace with permenant root. Then install root explorer. you can now uninstall apps.

spineforu82 said:
Yes this can be done. Root using z4root in the marketplace with permenant root. Then install root explorer. you can now uninstall apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok thanks got it to work

This is odd, I don't see z4root in the marketplace... do I need to do anything first to get it to show up?

So once I install Root Explorer, where do I go to delete the bloatware. There are so many directories, I'm not sure where I go to remove them, please help.

go to system/app

Snpdragn said:
So once I install Root Explorer, where do I go to delete the bloatware. There are so many directories, I'm not sure where I go to remove them, please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before you remove anything from the /system/app folder make a copy of the entire folder and save it in a safe place. Just in case.
I suggest buying Titanium Backup (pro key) so that you can use the freeze feature, this will keep the app from running or showing up in your app tray and can easily be reversed. Titanium BU Wiki

I spent a good amount of time getting rid of junk and found that it doesn't really give me back very much space.

gongo2k1 said:
I spent a good amount of time getting rid of junk and found that it doesn't really give me back very much space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, i only freed up ~10mb after removing all the preinstalled stuff

It won't free up much useful space, as the preinstalled apps are all in /system, not /data, but it will keep useless junk from running all the time. I found that switching to an alternative launcher and removing anything blur-related the phone felt much quicker.
Also, freeing up space in /system will give you room to move a few ringtones/alerts/alarms over there, so that they'll work even if your SD card is being accessed on the pc.

bakageta said:
It won't free up much useful space, as the preinstalled apps are all in /system, not /data, but it will keep useless junk from running all the time. I found that switching to an alternative launcher and removing anything blur-related the phone felt much quicker.
Please please tell me how you removed blurcrap??? I tried following directions somewhere on here and bricked my phone.
Sent from my MB508 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Getting control of my Desire HD

Hi folks,
I want to be able to uninstall all the bloatware that my DHD came with so I guess I need to root it. However in this regard I don't need a perm root? As I don't need to change the UI etc, just remove a bunch of unecessary apps.
I've tried using the rooting guide here but as an anroid newb the instuctions are too vague for me to follow and my attempts to infer what the authors mean have resulted in failure (no brick tho! ).
So, I have visionary and supersuer both installed and I tried the temp root and perm root function in visionary (which is granted supersuer permissions from the superuser app in the process) but when I go back to "manage applications" the uninstall button for all the bloatware apps is still greyed out.
Any ideas?
EDIT: Typing "su" in terminal emulator results in "#" so that appears to be working correctly. But still no go on uninstalling the apps. I don't care about not getting updates over the air as I value having greater control over my device more. Besides, I can always flash it manually.

dccxviii said:
Hi folks,
I want to be able to uninstall all the bloatware that my DHD came with so I guess I need to root it. However in this regard I don't need a perm root? As I don't need to change the UI etc, just remove a bunch of unecessary apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello 718 ,
I've read something about uninstall unwanted applications
in the adb description "Using ADB.pdf" and "How to install adb.pdf".
Hope it helps you, I'm in the searching and reading phase of owning
the HTC DHD (some weeks ago - and android newbee) -
it's a jungle of information here on xda-developers
WBR peschi

Use titanium backup or root explorer.
sent from my dhd

Thanks for the replies.
So far i've started using titanium backup as it seems easier to use then having to install adb shell. Although I installed that as well and start learning some basic commands.
For now, titanium seems to be the answer to my issue as it allowing me to uninstall a whole heap of useless apps. But I think in the next few days of tinkering i'm gonna come to the conclusion that I want even greater control. Which seems to indicate falshing an entirely defferent rom to HTC sense. Although the keyboard on the sense UI is second to none IMO but smoething tells me that there's a .apk file out there with that in it

So, I've rooted my Desire HD with VISIONary+ and mounted /system as r/w using that "Mount system r/w" app from market, to move some of the stock apps from the Desire HD (and to hopefully solve that Facebook for Android problem I described in another thread). I used Root Explorer to move the apps to a folder on the SD card, turned the phone off and back on, and the apps were back?
Is this because I haven't done that "S-Off" thing, does the quick boot option need to be disabled (even though I turned the phone off entirely) or something else, in order to keep the apps that I moved, from respawning in /system/app?
Thanks in advance (and sorry for borrowing your thread, OP).

I don't think i've got s-off (whatever that means lol) and I was able to uninstall the crapware using titanium backup. My process was somewhat convoluted but I guess it boiled down to 2 things. Visionary and Superuser apps.
Now I don't think my phone is completely rooted because when I go to the default "manage applications" list in the stock UI the uninstall button for the crapware system apps is still greyed out. But for when I run titanium backup, it gets granted superuser acces from the superuser app and is then able to uninstall all the bloatware.
I would like to know of a sure fire way whether my phone is completely rooted or not though. Namely because I think I want to start using completely different roms.

I temprooted using visionary+ then opened titanium back up to uninstall unwanted apps. But which are safe to remove? I want to get rid of Facebook, Friendstream and a few others but Titanium warns me they are system components and my phone may not work after uninstalling them....
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

I got rid of all of that (twitter, myspace etc rubbish). Even some native htc ones that I know are ancilliary. You just have to use a bit of logic as to what might require what. Crap like friend stream or whatever wuold most likey rely on such apps. But since I uninstalled that too... you get the idea
I was gonna get rid of sound hound as well but it's actually kinda useful. One of the few apps I left on it from the factory.
EDIT: I've also been using titanium to backup more usefull HTC system apps so that when I do eventually move to a new rom, i can just install them later. Things like the HTC clock, office apps, calender, messaging etc are superior to stock android equivalents.

WTF...
I had to remove my sim card for something and when I reinserted it and turned on the phone all the apps I 'removed' were back as if nothing ever happened!
Did I miss something because I don't remember reading anywhere that that would happen if you rebooted your phone!
Agrrrr...I need some help >.<

If your DHD does not have S-OFF after every reboot it will restore everything you removed.

Ahh, thnaks for that. I've used the S-off radio tool to disable the security now. Hopefully those rubbish apps will stay away (tested with reboot and it seems so). However, now that i've rooted my phone and switched to S-off I am still curious as to why system apps are still unable to be uninstalled through the in-built android app manager.
Also, I attempted to use the clockworkrecovery mod to install new ROMS and so wanted to backup my current ROM install before trying new ones but the phone just goes to a black screen with a pic of a mobile phone with a red exclamation point in a triangle.
...unless of course after all this it STILL isn't rooted. In which case I think I might start looking seriously at the Nexus. *sigh*

The built-in app manager will not let you remove system apps regardless of being rooted. Install Titanium Backup from the market. This will remove it.
Download ROM Manager from the market, and "Flash Recovery" again, some users have issues with it working first time.

That did the trick! Thanks very much
One last question then, if I flash a new ROM e.g. cyanogenMOD, will that completely replace HTC sense and thus allow me to use the built in app manager to remove apps because...there won't be anymore 'system' apps?

andyharney said:
If your DHD does not have S-OFF after every reboot it will restore everything you removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have root + Radio S-Off but every restart the phone causes my default Smart Keyboard deactive. Do you have any idea about that, is it spesific for an app or a general problem?
I am asking because I did not do ENG S-Off I have done only Radio S-Off.

With S-ON every reboot will result in ANY change to the system being restored, You make system changes permanent you need S-OFF.
As for your keyboard being disabled, not sure about that. Installing & using an additional keyboard shouldn't make any system changes.

dccxviii said:
That did the trick! Thanks very much
One last question then, if I flash a new ROM e.g. cyanogenMOD, will that completely replace HTC sense and thus allow me to use the built in app manager to remove apps because...there won't be anymore 'system' apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even on CM system apps cannot be uninstalled through the Android App Manager. It's the way its designed, why would the system allow you to remove the "Android System" or "Dialer". Imagine the chaos if you uninstalled something you actually needed and Android let you do it.
You need to use 3rd Party apps (Titanium Backup) to do this, or ADB

still scared
so after rooting my HD what ARE the apps which are safe to remove?

Mat Buenaluz said:
so after rooting my HD what ARE the apps which are safe to remove?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you ever want to make use of ota updates (eg to improve camera performance) then none of the 'bloatware' apps are safe to remove as removing them will prevent the ota update installing.
Sent from my HTC HD so may contain typos, bugs and, if the battery lasts, pearls of....(battery 0%)

As the tittle says getting control over your DHD, so this might be the right thread, allthough might be off topic to op's post...
Anyway my last device was a N900 and that was fully rooted with no permission limits. I've learned that the rooted DHD has some limits and i've run into one. On the N900 i used the terminal for allmost anything, flashing, copying, installing, removing etc. and would like to do so here on the DHD. My problem is that i'm trying to flash the kernel/zImage through terminal emulater but get this error - failed with error: -1. -
Any help would be great
Sorry to go off topic...

You cannot flash a kernel using terminal emulator. If you want to flash manually, get android sdk and use fastboot.exe in platform-tools to flash.
1. Reboot your device while holding vol-, it will go to bootloader
2. Select fastboot in bootloader
3. In your PC, type: "fastboot.exe flash zimage c:\any_folder\zImage"
4. Type: "fastboot.exe reboot"
After that you have to remount your DHD's system to rw state: "mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mmcblk0p25 /system", and manually push wifi module to /system/lib/modules/ using adb. If you do not do that, your wifi does not work. You need ENG S-OFF.

[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.

Is there any way of deleting factory apps WITHOUT rooting?

I'm wondering if there's any way of deleting some of the factory apps without having my phone rooted? I can't get the root to work so just deleting the apps I don't want would be ok instead.

dsmaori said:
I'm wondering if there's any way of deleting some of the factory apps without having my phone rooted? I can't get the root to work so just deleting the apps I don't want would be ok instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No not really...You need root unfortunately.
What do you mean you can't get root to work? What's the problem you have encountering?

jwonga said:
No not really...You need root unfortunately.
What do you mean you can't get root to work? What's the problem you have encountering?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually scratch that. After 24hrs I've finally figured out how to root it. Maybe I should have stuck to my Nokia 1100. These smartphones are all 'Whiteman magic' to me

dsmaori said:
I'm wondering if there's any way of deleting some of the factory apps without having my phone rooted? I can't get the root to work so just deleting the apps I don't want would be ok instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way to get rid of the factory apps is to use RootExplorer and delete the .apk of apps you want remove...but Rootexplorer want root!!
Make root is not complicated and I think that it is very useful and practical to run many apps which want root permission, such as rootexplorer (best file explorer ever!), any backup program annd others useful apps
Moreover, remove factory application which we never use helps to improve battery life, have much memory to run own apps, and a more reactive device

I've read about changing the phone's CSC as a possible solution. Can anyone more experienced comment about that?