Operations on system applications in Android OS. Painlessly remove standard or system applications on Android from your phone: how and why

A smartphone or tablet based on the Android system should not freeze, reboot or turn off without the user’s knowledge. How to deal with intrusive standard Android applications that launch and work without the knowledge of the smartphone owner? It's not that difficult.

The essence of the problems that arise when operating a mobile device with Android

Choosing an Android smartphone or tablet is only half the battle. But the owner of such a device is faced with Android applications and components that are absolutely unnecessary to him. These applications cause a number of problems:

Of the pre-installed Android applications, you often need the following:

  • "Email",
  • "Browser",
  • "Telephone",
  • SMS/MMS (“Messages”),
  • "Downloads"
  • "Camera",
  • "Settings",
  • "Engineering menu",
  • Play Market,
  • SIM menu,
  • "Contacts",
  • FM radio,
  • "Google Settings"
  • "Watch",
  • "Tasks",
  • "Music",
  • "Video Player"
  • "Backups (Google Drive)",
  • "Organizer"
  • "Calendar",
  • "File Manager",
  • "Dictaphone",
  • "Weather",
  • "Navigation".

Most of the standard, pre-installed Android applications are actively used by the user, but some only take up space

The manufacturer and/or distribution company can install other Android applications, for example, Skype, Google Mail, Google Chrome browser (an alternative to the system browser), OK Google (Google voice search), Movie Studio and their own applications.

Cellular operators are developing their own applications for Android. Thus, the mobile operator Beeline includes the My Beeline program in its default applications. If smartphones or tablets are sold by the MTS company, these are the applications “Where are the children”, “Second Memory”, “Personal Account”, “Direct Transfer” and others, created for convenient management of additional services on the MTS SIM card number. In the case of the Yota operator, this is the Yota application. It is very easy to discover these applications - each of them has the branding of the operator company. These "secondary" applications can be easily removed without using Root access - even if they were installed by default before the device was put on display at the point of sale.

Is it possible to remove Android system apps?

To do this, you will need Root rights - the ability to not only read, but also write in Android system folders. By default, the system/app folder, which contains the files of all installed applications, is not writable.

There are more than a dozen Android applications that allow you to get Root access with one touch - among them are Easy Rooting Toolkit, Gingerbreak, HTC Quick Root, RootExplorer, SuperOneClick, VISIONary, Unlock Root, Unrevoked, z4root, etc. Which ones are suitable for your smartphone or tablet model - a test of each of them will show.

The RootExplorer application allows you to change the access level for system folders by setting the Read/Write attribute for them. After this, the user will be able to create, edit, rename, move and delete files within the system/app application folder. RootExplorer is available both in the Play Market and as a separate APK file.

Which apps should you remove first?

Note. The list has removed applications whose removal is questionable: it could negatively affect the operation of the Android OS and your smartphone.

Table: applications that can be removed without harm to the device

Application Description Executable files
Weather client of weather.com AccuweatherDaemon.apk
Weather client from Samsung AccuweatherWidget.apk
AccuweatherWidget_Main.apk
“Sharing” programs and multimedia bookmarks on AllShare servers AllShareCastWidget.apk
AllshareMediaServer.apk
AllSharePlay.apk
AllshareService.apk
Hand clock on Android AnalogClock.apk
AnalogClockSimple.apk
GPS component LBSTestMode on some models of Samsung devices, which quickly drains the battery on the device AngryGPS.apk
Volume reduction feature on Samsung devices takes minutes to activate audioTuning.apk
Dynamic Android desktop background Aurora.apk
Backup calendar events on Google servers, event notifications CalendarProvider.apk
SecCalendarProvider.apk
Samsung chat (feedback from Samsung gadget manufacturers) ChatON_MARKET.apk
Google Chrome browser Chrome.apk
Synchronizing Google Chrome browser tabs with the corresponding Google service ChromeBookmarksSyncAdapter.apk
Text clipboard with additional features ClipboardSaveService.apk
Cloud services DropBox and Samsung CloudAgent.apk
Task scheduler with calendar Days.apk
Another dynamic wallpaper DeepSea.apk
Shell of the “Data Import” application from the system browser DownloadProviderUi.apk
SecDownloadProviderUi.apk
Dropbox cloud storage Dropbox.apk
DropboxOOBE.apk
Android notification about SIM card replacement DSMForwarding.apk
Remote device management and erasing information on a lost device (like a similar service on an iPhone or iPad) DSMLawmo.apk
"Double Clock" DualClock.apk
An encrypted file system (like a similar service in Windows) that makes other people's memory cards inaccessible for viewing the contents Encrypt.apk
Corporate mail and calendar scheduler MS Exchange Exchange.apk
Unlocking the screen by recognizing the face of the device owner FaceLock.apk
Updating the operating system and built-in Android applications over the Internet (via cellular networks or Wi-Fi) fotaclient.apk
Component for single and online games GameHub.apk
Weather and news widget Geniewidget.apk
Find your device using Google (similar to Apple's Find My iPhone) GlobalSearch.apk
Google Mail app Gmail.apk
Additional components of the Google Mail application GmailProvider.apk
Additional Google Play services GmsCore.apk
Backing up settings of user and system Android applications on Google servers GoogleBackupTransport.apk
Backup calendar events to Google GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter.apk
Backing up contacts on Google servers GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.apk
Google Improvement User Participation Program GoogleFeedback.apk
Social services of Google partners GooglePartnerSetup.apk
Instant Google Search GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk
GoogleSearch.apk
Voice search on Google GoogleTTS.apk
"Reminder" about events InfoAlarm.apk
"Logger" (event logging) Kobo.apk
Layar Augmented Reality Browser Layar-samsung.apk
Internet auto settings in LG devices LGSetupWizard.apk
Dynamic wallpaper LiveWallpapers.apk
Switch dynamic wallpaper LiveWallpapersPicker.apk
Dynamic wallpaper MagicSmokeWallpapers.apk
Play Market auto update MarketUpdater.apk
Mini-notes (like tweets, but on the device itself) MiniDiary.apk
System media player that works with Flash animation oem_install_flash_player.apk
Another social network from Google PlusOne.apk
Yellow press news PressReader.apk
"Tour" of your device, or "How to get started" Protips.apk
Backup Samsung media library on Kies servers SamsungApps.apk
SamsungAppsUNAService.apk
Backup system and user data on Samsung servers Samsungservice.apk
"Voice" Samsung SamsungTTS.apk
“Clock + calendar” Calendar Clock SamsungWidget_CalendarClock.apk
Latest news and subscription to updates from Samsung SamsungWidget_FeedAndUpdate.apk
Another option for the built-in system clock SamsungWidget_StockClock.apk
Weather clock-barometer from weather.com SamsungWidget_WeatherClock.apk
Samsung account. Monitors the movements of the device (similar to the “Find iPhone” function from the Apple iCloud service) signin.apk
Backup all types of Facebook and Twitter credentials SnsAccount.apk
Applications and widgets for social networks SnsProvider.apk
SnsDisclaimer.apk
SnsImageCache.apk
SocialHub.apk
SocialHubWidget.apk
Software update of the device syncmldm.apk
"Social" Samsung Social Hub UNAService.apk
Video editor. Using such a smartphone video editor, it is difficult to “cut” videos due to the inconvenience of working on a touch screen - that’s why many users edit videos on a PC VideoEditor.apk
Video player that lacks many codecs VideoPlayer.apk
Voice recorder with terrible sound quality VoiceRecorder.apk
Another Google voice search VoiceSearch.apk
WAP is a service that has been outdated a long time ago and is still incredibly expensive to this day. WapService.apk
Write & Go app on Samsung devices WriteandGo.apk
The process that allows a mobile operator to gain access to your Internet access settings wssyncmlnps.apk
Internet loggers and logging Zinio.apk

How to delete an application: step-by-step instructions

So, you have received Root access to all folders in the internal memory, including system ones, and you can now do whatever you want with built-in Android applications.

Problems encountered when uninstalling stock Android applications

When deleting applications, you need to remove not only APK files, but also files of the same name with the ODEX extension. Removing the ODEX description of any application allows you to get rid of unnecessary entries in the registry of the Android operating system, thereby having a beneficial effect on the speed of your smartphone. The fact is that when Android starts, the entire registry is loaded into RAM and works “all the way” in full force, and when turned off or rebooted, the Android system saves the data to the internal flash memory of the smartphone.

Before deleting any system Android application, it is recommended to disable it (“freeze”) and continue using the smartphone.

Do not try to delete the “Phone”, “Messages”, SIM menu, “Settings”, “Navigation” and “File Manager” applications - this is the “backbone” of the Android operating system and your device, without which it will lose its value. Otherwise, you will have to reflash the smartphone and start the process of “cleaning” the Android system all over again.

After deleting unnecessary Android applications, information about them remains in other Android system files located in the “/system/lib” and “/data/dalvik-cache” folders. The first one cannot be touched - this may lead to the smartphone not working. The second one can be cleaned using a hard reset of Android.

As with all third-party applications, you need to be careful with SystemApp Remover - it is advisable to make a backup copy of it on an SD card before deleting any application, otherwise you can damage the Android firmware. System applications, on which the operation of Android processes and services directly depend, require extreme care.

And although “reflashing” is not particularly difficult, think about whether it is worth taking this very delicate matter to extreme measures?

A hasty and thoughtless deletion can irreversibly damage the operation of the smartphone: SMS will not be sent or calls will be made/received, access to Wi-Fi wireless networks and gadgets with Bluetooth will be lost, the Android operating system will restart cyclically or freeze at startup, etc. .

How to get back deleted Android system apps Before deleting, make a backup copy of the Android applications you are deleting.

  1. Not only APK files must be copied, but also ODEX files corresponding to all applications to be removed. Let's look at saving information and user data using the Titanium Backup tool as an example. Naturally, Root rights on the smartphone should already be available.

    Install and run Titanium Backup, assign it superuser rights.

  2. Share your system folder with Titanium Backup

    Open the "Backups" tab. The program will show which Android system applications you can copy.

  3. Go to the backups tab

    Select the properties of the list of Android applications by which it will be shown to you.

  4. Sort the list of applications by one of the main criteria

    Open the action bar above the selected app by tapping its name. Press the “Freeze!” button.

  5. To save the application, click "Save". Open each application and save a copy of it. This way, you will be protected from accidentally deleting applications, without which the Android system may perform noticeably worse.
  6. To unblock the launch and operation of this Android application, repeat all steps. Only instead of the “Freeze” key there will be a “Unfreeze” key.
  7. To restore a deleted application, run Titanium Backup again, sort the list of applications by the availability of their backup copies and restore each of them individually (the “Restore” button).
  8. You can save all applications in one go. To do this, open the tool for creating a full “system” copy of Android in the Titanium Backup program. Select "Back up all system data." If you want to copy your applications as well, select the “Back up all user software and system data” option.

    Back up all applications and system data

  9. If you do delete some system applications, you may need to restore them. Run the Titanium Backup recovery tool.

    Recover all apps that were deleted

  10. Select "Restore all system data". If you also deleted custom applications, but want to restore them too, select “Restore missing software and all system data.”

How to remove all unnecessary Android system apps at once

So, through experiments on “freezing” applications, you have compiled a list of unnecessary Android system “software” that reduces the performance of your smartphone. You are now sure exactly which applications you don’t need, but you don’t want to delay the issue of cleaning your Android system from unnecessary system junk. Are you tired of wandering through backup programs and performing actions on each application? The time has come to act quickly and decisively. In addition to Root access, you need any file manager on your PC or on your smartphone itself.

  1. If you operate directly from the smartphone itself, open the standard Android file manager. The APK files of the applications being deleted are shown first.
  2. Go through the list of the system/app folder and remove all applications that bother you. If you know exactly the names of the files you need, use the file manager search.

With File Manager you can remove all the apps you don't need

Components that are part of the Android operating system and are marked with a web address in a mirror image of the form com.android.<ресурс>, or having an icon in the form of a green Android robot - cannot be deleted. Choose others that do not have this signature, with normal names that match the names of the programs that need to be removed, for example, Clock 2.2.5. The result of inept intervention is the crash of the Android firmware, requiring a complete software restoration of the smartphone. In this case, only specialists from the Android Shop service center, which is located in every major city, will help.

Video: How to remove Android system apps

Removing debris from the device is also not particularly difficult.

Video: cleaning Android from garbage, detailed instructions

The right measures will help protect the Android system from sudden losses of the software built into it, and will protect you from failures in the operation of your smartphone. In addition, the internal memory of the device will become more spacious, after rebooting the smartphone, the Android system will work faster, battery consumption will decrease and Internet traffic consumption will decrease - the benefits with which you will be rewarded for your experience and correct actions.

If you've just started learning the Android OS and are already thinking about making your own changes, such as making the app a system app on Android, then you've come to the right place.

Now we will figure out how to embed a custom application in Android and make it a system one. But first, let's figure out why you need to embed programs:

  • Creation of custom firmware.
  • Replacing an external launcher
  • Replacing built-in less functional applications with more advanced ones.
  • Free up memory to install other programs

In order to embed the program into Android you will need.

Convert regular apps to system apps with Link2SD utility

This method is very convenient because it does not require much effort from you; all this is done in a few clicks:


  1. Install Link2SD on your smartphone from Google Play.
  2. Launch the Link2SD program and provide root access.
  3. Select the program you want to integrate into the Android system
  4. After that, click on the three dots in the upper right corner, in the window that opens, click “Convert to system”.
  5. Next, reboot your device.

In order to make sure that the application is integrated into the system, go to settings, open all applications, find the one that you integrated, open and view information about the application. Make sure there is no " Delete", if it is not there, then your program has become a system one.

The standard way to embed an application in Android


Before embedding an application, you need to know what it consists of:
  • An Android application has a file name and extension: For example drWeb.apk where drWeb ​​is the name and apk is the extension.
  • Android programs can be easily opened using (WinRAR or 7zip)
  • Some applications have "lib" folders (if you are going to open with an archiver)

This folder may contain subfolders named:
  • Aremeabi
  • Aremeabi-v7a
  • Mips64
These folders contain files with the extension " *.SO"

Instructions on how to make an Android application system

There may be slight differences between different versions of Android

For Android versions 1.5 - 4.4.4

First, download the file manager Root Browser V Play Market. Open Root Browser and give it root rights.


Programs that are built into the system are located at " /system/app/application.apk".
Those programs that are installed by the user are located at " /data/app/application.apk".
Copy the application from " /data/app/"and drag it into the directory" /system/app/"however, be aware that some applications contain files " *.SO"which need to be embedded at " /system/lib/".

The second option is to go to " /data/data/" "folder_application_name/lib/file.so" and drag the desired file(s) to " /system/lib/". After this procedure, restart your smartphone.

Instructions for Android versions 5.0 and higher


Starting with Android versions 5.0 Lolipop and higher, Google has made changes to installing applications. If on earlier versions of Android applications Apk located in one folder XXX.APP, then starting from versions 5.0, each separately installed application is installed in its own individual folder with the libs it needs" *.SO" if the application has these or them.

Now there is no need to embed libs" *.SO" by the address " /system/lib/"you can just drag and drop the folder from" /data/app/Application_Name" V " /system/app/Application_Name" (System applications are located at " /system/app")


Go to " /data/app". Find the folder with the desired application. Copy the folder with the contents to the system partition " /system/app", then restart your smartphone.

Very often, after downloading an application from Google Play or another unknown source, you need to save the installation file with the application (.apk) on your device. For example, in order to transfer an interesting application via Bluetooth. However, there is not always time to search for the installation file on various file hosting services and numerous resources dedicated to Android topics. Therefore, in order to extract the installation file with the application (.apk) from the device, there are several simple ways. In this example, I will tell you about the three most popular ones.

Method No. 1

To extract the installation file with the application (.apk) from the device, you must:
1) First, download the file manager - Astro File Manager and run the downloaded application. If you already have Astro File Manager installed, you need to find it on your Android device and just run it (full path) Menu - Astro File Manager.

2) After launching Astro File Manager, we find ourselves in a window in which we see the memory drives present on the device and a list of a series of cloud services (you can always register or log in to them, thereby expanding the internal space of the device by several extra Gb).

3) Then swipe to the left, opening the main application menu.

4) After this, you need to click on the item Application Manager, taking you to a new window showing all the applications installed on your smartphone or tablet.

5) In order to extract the installation file with the application (.apk) from the device, you need to tap on the application you want to extract, for example Google Chrome, tap on the Google Chrome icon and two suggestions will appear in front of us: make a backup copy or uninstall.

6) Tap on the left point Res. copy and wait for the process to complete. Once the copying is complete, the application installation files can be found in the phone memory.

7) The full path to the application installation files looks like this: / sdcard/bakups.

Method No. 2

Install the Root unistaller application. Open the application, Root Uninstaller will scan how many applications you have and make a backup of all applications along the way:
From phone mnt\sdcard\autobackups.
From the computer (so that the phone is recognized as a flash drive) sdcard\RootUnistaller\autobackups.

Method No. 3

We get Root. Install the application. Open the application and follow the path \ data\app\ and select the application. If you are interested in system applications, then follow this path\ system\app\ and select the application. We save the selected applications to the SDCARD (memory card) and do whatever we want with it.

APK Related Articles:

So, you have a terrible itch in your hands and a wild desire in your head to fiddle with system applications in your Android phone, but greed does not allow you to pay for TitaniumBackup, and your conscience prevents you from using the hacked version. I’ve heard enough about the problems with updating system applications in ROM, but I’ve suffered myself with the conversion of system applications into user ones.
In this article I will tell you how to perform all these operations yourself without the risk of breaking something.
We are preparing the tools.
This time we need a file manager that can work with superuser rights. The paid RootExplorer will cope best with this task, but you can get by with the free EStrongs File Explorer. In this particular case, these programs are equally suitable, but in ES File Explorer you need to enable in the settings to mount the "/system" partition for recording like this:
And a free version of TitaniumBackup.

The agenda is as follows:

  • Make a user application from a system application;
  • Make a system application from a user application;
  • Update system application.
We transform it from a system application into a user one. First, we launch TitaniumBackup and make a backup copy of the application that we will mock. Let it be Google maps this time.
As I wrote above, we make a backup copy of the application in TitaniumBackup and, without a shadow of a doubt, remove it from the system. That's it, now we don't have the application on the system, but we have a backup copy of it.
Now we go to Google Play (aka the former Android market), find our former system application there and simply install it. There is only one problem left: we lost all the settings this way. But! We still have a backup copy! Therefore, we launch TitaniumBackup again, find our application in the list, give the command to restore the application, but from the proposed options we select the button " Data only".

That's it, now our system application has become a user one and has saved all its settings.

We turn a user application into a system one. Everything is much simpler here.
All user applications are stored in the phone's memory at the address "/data/app", which is where we will go.
Let's take the OS Monitor program as an example and make it a system one. By the icon we find it in the above folder, for me it is called “com.eolwral.osmonitor-1.apk”. Just take this file and move it to the "/system/app" folder. Now the application has become a system one, but there is still garbage left in the system, which eats up precious internal memory. You can find it at "/data/dalvik-cache" by name @ . The found file is simply deleted.
Now we reboot the phone again and use it.
A reboot is required for the system to create a cache file for the migrated application.

We update the system application.
Android has a rather clever mechanism for updating system applications. Due to the fact that in normal operation the "/system" section is not writable, the new version of the application is simply placed in "/data/app", which is also used when tapping on the application shortcut.
Let's look at the update process using the example of the Superuser program, which is installed when the system is hacked in order to obtain root rights or is already available in custom firmware.
We have two copies of the program: one in "/system/app" under the name "Superuser.apk", the other in "/data/app" under the name "com.noshufou.android.su-1.apk". To update the system application, just move "com.noshufou.android.su-1.apk" to the "/system/app" folder, then delete the "Superuser.apk" file and rename the new file to "Superuser.apk".
All! Now our system application has the latest version.
Now you need to clean the folder "/data/dalvik-cache" by deleting the file @ .
Again, we reboot the phone so that the system independently updates its cache.

Comrades from w3bsit3-dns.com said that to be completely happy, you need to do a couple more manipulations with the files.
The problem is that the files from "/system/app" are owned by the user root and group root, and the files from the "/data/app" folder are owned by the user system and group system.
After all the manipulations, you need to restore the rights for the files. To do this, you need to connect to the phone using the command " adb shell"or run any phone emulator directly on the phone. Rights are corrected with the following commands:
# get superuser rights
su
# fix permissions for files in /system/app
busybox chown -R root.root /system/app/*
# fix permissions for files in /data/app
busybox chown -R system.system /data/app/*

Now everything will work as it should.

Transferring user programs to system ones

Why is this being done?
As you know, the S150 GU was initially based on the Android v system. 2.3.4
But, when using this version there is one very big problem.
This is a SLOT OF INSTALLED USER PROGRAMS.
I believe that this is the most important and unjustified gap of software developers.
Well, oh well, as long as the development of devices is carried out by marketers and traders, and not by engineers, this cannot be avoided.
This unpleasant fact occurs due to incorrect turning on/off of the power in the car. As you know, the developers took (it is not clear why) the path of completely loading/unloading the system, with concern for preserving the charge of the car’s battery.
Although, if they switched to SNA mode (as all devices on Android work), then there would be fewer problems, and the on/off speed would be seconds.
But we have what we have.
In the process of analyzing the crash of programs, it turned out that it was not the programs themselves that crashed, but their data.
In the event of an emergency situation when the GU is turned off, the data of all applications, including system ones, is reset upon startup. Moreover, if we do not notice this on standard system programs, since there are no user settings in them, then when we reset installed third-party programs, this leads to the complete inoperability of these programs.

Let's figure it out why exactly installed programs stop working....
What's going on, let's look at the structure of the files of installed programs.
What do programs on Android consist of...
1. The program itself, ( *.apk)
2. Libraries ( *.so)
3. Other files (settings, etc.)
So, when installing a third-party application, the main .apk the file is installed in the root folder /data/app, and the rest of the accompanying files into the folder /data/data.
To folder /data/data/name/lib working libraries related to specific programs are installed.
If the power is turned off incorrectly, an unauthorized “RESET” occurs on the GU.
When resetting, all data in the folder is cleared /data/data, including the destruction of LIBRARY FILES of all installed programs. This is the reason for the programs not working
The components of system programs are located in a different place, namely the file . apk is in the folder /system/app, libraries in folder /system/lib, but the rest of the components are located in the ill-fated folder data/data.
Based on the above, we had to tinker a little to minimize the problem of program crashes. Since the number of programs required for use in a car is small, it was decided to make all programs system ones.

How to make a third-party application system?

What is needed for this?
1.Root access is required.
2. Special program TitaniumBackup (as it turned out, it slightly incorrectly handles the transfer of program libraries on our GU, or rather to the wrong place, so we use manual transfer)
3. A file manager that works with the root system, I use TotalCommander (this is what the entire transfer procedure is done with)
4. Little knowledge and skill

So let's get started.
1. Simply move the file in the file manager. apk programs from the folder /data/app to a folder /system/app
2. Using the same manager, we set access rights to this file, namely 644
3. Look at the folder /data/data/program name/lib and if there are library files in this folder *.so,
then we transfer all these files to the folder /system/lib, not forgetting to set access rights for each file 644 .
4.We do similar procedures with all installed programs.
5.Reboot the device.
6. Launch Titanium, and with its help we index all applications.
We use the command in the section STORAGE - Integration of sysDalvik into ROM.
This is how we codex the programs.
What is this for, in the folder /system/app next to the main file name.apk file appears name.odex.
This is a file that is the code of the original program, but adapted to the processor commands of a given device.
7. Using the same Titaniuma, we execute the command STORAGE-clear Dalvik-cache, thereby clearing the internal memory.

We all remember how quickly the system boots after flashing the firmware, when no additional programs are installed, and how the boot time increases later. So, after completing steps 7 and 8, we again return to the manufacturer’s stated download speed of ~20 seconds.

After all the manipulations, we use Titanium to backup the DATA of all installed system programs; the programs themselves do not need to be backed up.
And if the system crashes, now all programs remain functional, only with pristine settings.
So we restore them using Titanium, again in 20 seconds.

My installed programs:
1.PowerAMP Pro(audio player)
2.MX Player Pro(video player)
3.Viper4(equalizer)
4.Opera (Yandex)(browser)
5.TotalComander(root file manager)
6.MapCam(speeds, warnings)
7.GeoNet(navigation)
8.YandexNavi(navigation)
9.Torque(ELM WIFI) (OBD scanner)
10.Sdmaid(system cleaning)
11.PixelPhone(dialer)
12.Titanium Pro(instrumental)
13.SmartKeyboard Pro(keyboard)
14.Navitel 8.7.150
Almost all unnecessary junk has been removed from the system.

I wrote a lot, but I think this will answer a lot of endless questions.
Changes and additions are welcome, I will add and correct them.