Is it possible to remove system applications? List of programs available for removal in Android OS

Sometimes the memory of an android is more valuable than an application that tells you what the weather will be like or the program schedule.

Many smartphones come with a built-in “package” of standard system applications that you can do without.

If you bought a new Android phone and want to get the most out of it, the recommendations below should help you.

When you buy a phone or tablet, you will definitely notice that some files are already installed on it.

They are integrated into the operating system with the help of a distributor or manufacturer. Most often, pre-installed ones do nothing but take up space, consume battery life and eat up traffic through constant updates to new versions.

At the same time, not everyone can afford expensive devices that have a lot of storage space - usually 1-2 GB, which is catastrophically small (no more than one movie).

There are two solutions for removing standard system applications on Android tablets and smartphones - disable or delete.

Shutting down is simple and quick: go to your apps and uninstall any updates you've made to those apps recently - only then can you turn them off.

Then you won’t see icons on the main screen or widget and you will be calmer, knowing that you have more free memory and internal space for storing files.

Uninstalling standard system applications can only be done by users who have received root rights.

Then, of course, free up even more internal space, but not everything is as simple as it might seem.

Pitfalls await you. First, on Android 5.1, Android 6.0 and higher, obtaining superuser rights is not as easy as on older versions (on old ones in no time).

Moreover, instead of Root rights, you may get not a smartphone, but a brick, in the literal sense - your device simply will not start.

Why? Because at the time of writing this can only be done through flashing, and this is already a risk.

Also, deleting unnecessary standard system applications can lead to serious malfunction of the others installed or even the phone itself.

How can you remove standard system applications built into Android?

I decided to write this little information about deleting standard applications on Android, since I noticed that many are not only completely unnecessary, but, as for me, “harmful”.

Those installed by you are usually deleted through settings / applications / Manager / Select the required / Delete.

This is the only way we can remove previously installed ones - downloaded from the play market. Why can't you remove system apps?

Because system files are protected and are contained in a system directory to which you do not have access. This is Symbian protection so that you won't accidentally delete them.

Frankly, it's good that they're protected. Imagine a situation where a friend or family member accidentally deleted a system application that is responsible for calls or SMS.

If your phone is ROOT, and you really decide to remove standard system applications, despite the risk, then I recommend using one of two applications: “Application Manager” or “Roor App Deleter”.

Application manager program for removing system applications

This is a small program, aptly named manager, which allows you to remove built-in system applications from your Android phone.

The only condition that must be met to use this program is that you must have a rooted phone.

I won’t touch on how to do this in this post, as you will find a description in the program itself, specifically for your phone model.

One of its advantages is that programs are classified according to their suitability.

In addition, the program is also equipped with a “trash can”, which, at a certain stage, allows you to restore changes

Roor App Deleter program for removing standard applications on Android

This is one of the best tools that you can install on your mobile device after rooting it.

It allows you to perform deletions that cannot be deleted in the usual way and has 6 main functions that can be accessed from the home screen icons.

The main advantage is the “System Applications” function. You can turn them off and when you need to turn them on.

Each program has a specific color, which means it can be disabled or completely removed without risk.

For those that are displayed in white, there is no information in the Roor App Deleter, so your best bet is to look it up on the Internet to find out what kind of fruit it is.

You can delete custom ones immediately, and in the task manager you can see which processes are currently active and consuming battery power (which processes are suspended).

Root App Delete is very easy to use, but you have to be smart. Good luck.

Not long ago I started writing a series of articles answering fairly simple questions related to Android that nevertheless arise in the minds of beginners. And here is one of these questions - how to remove applications from your Android device? There are several ways to remove it, I will write about each of them.

Uninstalling Android Apps Using Application Manager

We go to the dispatcher using the following path:
Menu - Settings - Applications
We select the required application and click on it - an application management window appears, in which you can, among other things, remove the Android program (delete Android applications) from your device.

The disadvantage of this method of deleting applications is that the list also shows pre-installed applications, which cannot be deleted this way. But for an unpretentious user who wants to remove an Android program he has installed or delete Android applications, this method is ideal.

Removing Android programs using special programs

How to remove applications for Android using special programs? And where can I download them? Such programs should make the process of removing applications as easy as possible. You can always search for Google Play, for example, "Uninstall" and get dozens of applications that allow you to uninstall other applications on your Android device with one click.

Uninstalling Android programs using file managers

Absolutely any decent file manager should have a tool that allows you to remove applications. It is accessible from the menu: a list of installed programs is displayed, uninstallation occurs with one tap.

Uninstalling Android applications using Google Play

If you installed applications using Google Play, they are stored in the “My Applications” tab and are deleted from there. Just find it and go in - the “Delete” button will be available. If you have installed many applications, just use the search.

Removing Android system programs

To remove Android system applications, you will need root user rights and access to the /system folder. If you have the above, use the program. All installed programs are stored in the /system/app folder. In order to remove a program, you need to find its apk file and simply delete it.
Be careful, we highly recommend not doing this!

Manufacturers of Android smartphones usually install many different applications, which are then not used by the user and consume system resources. However, such applications are considered standard and cannot be removed by ordinary means. This situation often does not suit users and they wonder how to remove standard applications on Android.

In this article we will try to answer this question. But before we get started, there are a few important points to note. Firstly, deleting standard applications can lead to unstable operation of the device. In order to reduce the likelihood of various problems and errors, do not delete applications with an Android or Play Market icon. And secondly, to remove standard applications you need ROOT rights. Without ROOT rights nothing will work, don’t even try.

Method number 1. Use the Root Uninstaller application.

The easiest way to remove standard applications on Android is the Root Uninstaller application. This application allows a user who has ROOT rights to manage standard applications as he wants. For example, with Root Uninstaller, you can uninstall stock apps, freeze stock apps, create backups of uninstalled apps, restore deleted apps, and hide apps.

The first thing you need to do is configure ES Explorer to work with ROOT rights. To do this, launch ES Explorer and swipe right to open the side menu of the application. Once the menu is open, go to the Tools section. Here you need to click on the “Root Explorer” menu item and turn it on.

As a result, a request to grant root rights will appear. Click “Ok” to grant root rights to the application. And after root rights are granted, click on the “Root Explorer” menu item again and do not release your finger until a menu with additional settings appears on the screen. In this window you need to select “Connect as R/W”.

And then, check the boxes next to the “RW” option and click on the “Ok” button.

This completes the setup of ES Explorer and you can proceed directly to removing unnecessary standard applications on your Android device. To do this, use ES Explorer to open the internal memory of your Android device and go to the folder /system/app. Here you just need to mark the APK files of standard applications and click on the “Delete” button. In addition to APK files, you also need to delete files with the application name and ODEX extension (if any).

If your device is running Android 5.0 or a newer version of Android, then in the folder /system/app all applications will be in separate folders. In this case, you need to delete them along with these folders.

After deleting the applications themselves, you need to remove updates for them. To do this, go to the folder /data/app and if there are APK files with updates, then they also need to be deleted.

In Android 5.0 and newer versions of Android, updates will also be located in separate folders. As before, we simply delete them along with the folders.

The last step in removing standard applications is to delete the databases and cache that are associated with the application. To do this, open the folder /data/data and delete the folders there associated with the standard applications you want to remove.

That's it, the removal of standard applications from Android is complete. Reboot your device for the changes to take effect.

Most owners of Android devices know that on a smartphone or tablet you can initially find a bunch of unnecessary junk in the form of pre-installed applications. Judging by the reviews, most of them are not only not needed by the average owner, but also cause quite serious indignation at the fact that such programs are constantly updated without his knowledge and take up space in the internal storage or use RAM. How to remove Android system applications will now be shown. And it is absolutely not necessary to have or be a superuser. But first things first.

How important are system applications?

Many people think that all built-in applications of Android systems are “built into” the operating system and are mandatory components for its functioning. This is wrong.

In addition, any device based on this OS has at its disposal unnecessary services that use Google registration with confirmation via Gmail. The question arises: why register the same Google+ account if the device was initially verified according to the standard procedure?

And if you look at services like Google Maps, it’s not hard to imagine how much space they take up in internal storage. There are no questions regarding applications that use geolocation, but most uninitiated users do not need this. 4PDA (a specialized site dedicated to mobile gadgets) recommends removing system applications in several available ways, even in the absence of root or superuser rights, which is often a prerequisite. Let's look at the most common options.

Removing system applications from Android devices: general rules

Let’s immediately differentiate the understanding of deleting or disabling standard programs from similar actions based on firmware. With system firmware, the situation is much simpler, because in most cases, even when installing them, intervention is required at the superuser level, similar to Windows systems where there is a super administrator account. The essence is the same.

Some programs installed on Android devices allow you to bypass these restrictions, especially when flashing firmware, but a “clean” system can easily resist changes. Hacking an OS to grant developer rights, so to speak, is quite simple. But it will be problematic to remove Android system applications correctly.

Using programs like Explorer

An inexperienced user needs to know that logging into the Google Play service and trying to delete an application will not have any effect (it simply will not appear there). Deleting program files manually is also a thankless task, since most users do not know where all these objects are located. In addition, many of them may be hidden or contain data in locations other than the installed program directory.

In the simplest version, you should use Root Explorer or its analogues (Framaroot, Titanium Backup, Root App Remover).

In Explorer, you need to find the tools item and, by entering the root explorer menu, agree to the provision of superuser rights. Then in a new window you should confirm the R/W connection, and then search in the app directory located in the System directory.

When the necessary APK files are found, you need to delete only applications, but not services (think a hundred times before doing this). But this won't be enough. At the same time, you should delete all objects of the same name with the .odex extension. Only after this the system will be cleared. Some people believe that this cleaning method removes registry entries. We beg to differ with this, because in Android, built on the basis of Linux systems, there is no registry at all.

System App Remover

In the previous case, deleting pre-installed applications can be very easy to make a mistake. For example, a fairly large number of cases of “demolition” of the Wi-Fi module are known, as a result of which users were left without communication. Reverting the initial build after this is very difficult (but possible).

Another thing is the official System App Remover utility, which can even be downloaded from Google Play. Only root rights are required. But the application filters system components, giving the user the right to choose, highlighting categories like “Can be deleted”, “It’s better to leave”, “It’s not safe to delete”. In the simplest case, deletion concerns social network widgets (Facebook, Twitter) or similar services like YouTube. This will not harm the system.

In the second option on Android, the program does not recommend deleting system applications, since this may affect the list of contacts, calls, messages, etc. Again, without knowing the name of the service, you should not do such things, otherwise the phone mode can be deleted, after which making calls will become unavailable.

Uninstalling system applications without root rights

Now a few words about the lack of appropriate access rights to change the configuration. You can uninstall system applications from Lenovo, as well as from other mobile device manufacturers, yourself without using privileges of this level.

To do this, you need to use the SuperOneClick and Deploater applications in parallel when connecting the device to the computer. Without talking about the principles of operation, we can only note that their actions force the system to believe that the user has developer rights. During the installation process, the drivers are first installed, and then the main application is launched. It operates based on vulnerabilities found in Android 4.0, so the antivirus may perceive the program as a symptom of external unauthorized influence.

Conclusion: The real-time scanner needs to be disabled. But the program deletes all unnecessary selected objects with .apk and .odex extensions automatically.

Is it worth doing?

Removing Android system applications looks acceptable. But do not forget that some services may be disguised, and their names will not tell the user anything at all. In particular, this applies to elements whose names begin with the prefix com.android or com.google. This is where you need to be especially careful and remove such elements of services only with a full understanding of all the consequences.

Device manufacturers build programs into their devices. Sometimes comfortable, sometimes not. Alas, it is impossible to remove unnecessary pre-installed applications. Therefore, they needlessly take up invaluable space on the hard drive, sometimes making it difficult for the processor and RAM to work. However, this problem also has a solution. How to remove useless programs?

Is it possible to remove system applications on Android

Firstly, it is indeed possible to remove built-in programs. Secondly, this doesn’t even require special skills. You will only need to install root rights on the device. In other words, bypass the system’s internal protection and gain access to all Android functions.

Why you may need to remove pre-installed programs

In addition to the obvious - freeing up disk space - there are more important reasons: sometimes an error appears in system applications, an unpleasant bug due to which the Android cannot work normally. To the point where the device cannot be turned on. In such cases, a notification appears about problems in a specific standard program. One option is to delete it.

It is worth considering that not all applications can be removed without harm to the operating system. Root access allows you to use anything you want, but it can also do a lot of damage.

Important and useless stock apps

Without consequences, you can remove programs built not into Google Android itself, but into the shell of a specific manufacturer.

For example, Meizu smartphones with their proprietary Flyme OS shell have a “Tools” application, which has a ruler, compass, level, etc. Similar programs can be found in many shells like TouchWiz from Samsung or Xperia from Sony.

It is much more dangerous to get rid of Android programs itself. They all depend on each other. And even third-party applications use them for their own purposes. For example, if you delete Google Maps, you will not be able to play the popular Pokemon GO.

On the 4pda.ru forum, users have compiled an extensive list of built-in applications:

1. Visit this page.
2. Expand the spoiler “Description of stock programs.”
3. Make sure that the application you are planning to remove does not have functions important for the OS:
   • if the name says “YES”, it means you can erase the program;
   • If “NO”, then you perform all actions at your own peril and risk.

How to get rid of unnecessary factory programs

Disable

To disable some stock programs, you don't even need root access. You can turn them off, the effect will be the same (except that they will continue to take up disk space).

Demolish

Installing root access using a computer

Please note that obtaining administrative rights will void your warranty service. Root makes the system more vulnerable to viruses and internal errors.

Manufacturers do not want to take on unnecessary responsibility, so the terms of use strictly state that rooting is a reason to deny you warranty service.

Uninstalling a program

It is highly advisable to save copies of the deleted files somewhere. Because your actions may have unintended consequences. And if errors or failures subsequently arise, simply return the application to its place - the problems should disappear.

For backup, it is recommended to use the Titanium BackUP program. With its help, you can either make a full backup of the device and in the future restore the non-working device to its saved state, or freeze a separate application that you want to remove, so that you can later unfreeze it and put it back.

How to remove standard programs on Android - video

Possible problems

After removing system programs, system malfunctions may theoretically occur. Therefore, it is best to back up a copy of the files in a safe place in advance so that they can be reinstalled.

But if a backup was not made and problems arise, flashing the device will help.

1. Go to the official website of the manufacturer of your smartphone or tablet and download the required firmware version.
2. Each device has separate instructions for reinstalling the system. Find it and act according to the recommendations.

All applications you deleted will be installed with the firmware, so any problems caused by deleting system programs will be solved.

How to get back deleted stock apps

If you have disabled them

If you simply disabled the program, then just launch it again in the “Settings” -> “Applications” -> “All applications” menu. To do this, find the desired application in the list, highlight it and click “Run”.

You can also do a Hard Reset, that is, reset the settings to factory settings. This will delete all parameters and return the phone or tablet to its original state, and at the same time start the disabled standard processes. There are two ways to do this.

Hard Reset via Settings

1. Open “Settings” -> “About phone” -> “Storage” -> “Reset settings”.
2. Check the required boxes:
   • “Deleting data” will destroy program settings, contacts, messages, etc.;
   • “Formatting the built-in memory” will erase all data from the device’s hard drive, except for what was originally installed, that is, photos, videos, third-party applications.
3. Click the "Restore" button. After a few minutes, the device will reboot in its original form.

Recovery using Recovery Mod

How to reset your smartphone to factory settings on Android - video

If you deleted them

If you saved a duplicate of deleted files, then simply return them to their original location on the device. That is, place the .apk and .odex files in the /system/app folder, and the update files in /data/app (even if the updates are lost, the program itself will restore them).

If there is no backup, then there are two options:

• or you find files from other users;
• or reinstall the Android OS.
  

  Look for missing files only in reliable sources, as it is very easy to get a virus. Ask friends who also use root rights to search for data, for example, or download information from trusted sites. Many Android forums have special threads where users share standard application files with each other. All materials are checked by forum moderators and the participants themselves, so the chance of infecting the device is minimal.

The last and always working method is to reflash the device. Download the official version of the system from the manufacturer’s website and install it via Recovery Mod.

Many built-in programs, especially from the device manufacturer and not from Google Android developers, are useless. At the same time, they take up a lot of space, interfere with the system, eat up battery power and slow down the OS. Getting rid of them is not difficult, but it will require root access. And it is highly advisable to save copies of the deleted files in order to protect yourself in case of failures and possible errors.