There are a number of reasons why people like Nexus and Android stocks and one of them is that it is devoid of unnecessary bloatware. Unlike Android stocks, manufacturer skins like TouchWiz, Sense etc. come with a plethora of pre-loaded applications you can not uninstall. In addition, carriers install their proprietary applications on devices they sell. These not only slow your Android applications, but they take the necessary storage space and also clog the user experience. So if you were wondering if you can remove these bloatware applications, the answer is, yes you can!
We list down ways to remove bloatware two smartphones anchored and unanchored, but before we get with it, you should have an idea about the applications you must remove or disable.
Which apps to delete or not delete
While applications and pre-installed bloatware are often unnecessary, you must be careful in choosing apps to remove and which do not. Removing an application from the base system can cause major issues of the performance of your device. So always be sure that the application you remove just a manufacturer or carrier bloatware and not a basic system service. In addition, some manufacturers or carriers of applications are available on the Play Store and you could not find them after you have deleted, so take that into account before deleting an application.
That said, you must remove pre-installed applications that you feel you never use and not part of the core Android experience. Now that we have that cleared up, here’s how you can:
How to Remove Bloatware for non-rooted devices:
Unfortunately for non-rooted devices, there is no practical way to remove bloatware. There are some tools available on XDA, which will eliminate so-called bloatware system and apps, but we tested them on different devices and they failed to work. The truth is that you can not completely remove bloatware on non-rooted Android devices but you can disable / hide. Android lets you disable applications natively, here’s how:
- Go to Settings> Apps on your Android device. Select the app you want to disable.
Remove Bloatware from non-rooted Android Devices - Once inside the app info page, press “Disable”, which will bring the message that disabling the application may cause other Apps not working properly. Select “Disable App”. You will then get a message asking if you want to replace this app with the factory release.
- On Android 6.0 Marshmallow, press the mute button removes application data as well. So if you have an older version of Android. you will need to manually clear the application data by going to the App info-> Storage-> Clear data. We also recommend a “Force stop”, “Uninstall updates” and “clear cache” to release as much memory as you possibly can.
- Once you have disabled an application, you will not see the application in the Android app drawer or anywhere else and the disabled implementation will only take the minimum amount of memory.
- To verify or enable applications that you disabled, go to Settings-> Apps. Then click on the menu “All Apps” and select “Disabled“. Once inside mobility applications, click the three-point and press “Show System” to see the system applications. Then select a disabled application and in the info page of the application, select “enable”.
The disable option is only present on newer versions of Android. So if you have an older version of Android so that does not have this option. or if you want to free up more storage, you have to root your device. Rooting has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, so check that first.
How to Remove Bloatware for rooted devices:
Rooting a device gives the option to delete any application or app pre-installed, and there are a ton of apps that let you do that. One of the simplest is NoBloat. It not only allows you to delete system applications, but also allows you to make a backup of these applications.
To remove an application, open and go to the NoBloat app then tap to “system apps”. Just type the app and you want to delete and you’ll get options, “Backup”, “Disable” “Backup and delete” and “Delete without saving”. It is important to note that you’ll need an SD card to create a backup of an application.
If you do not want NoBloat for any reason, you can also try other applications bloatware removal as System App Remover, 3C Toolbox etc.
MUST SEE: Xposed Framework – Easily Modify your Android ROM [4.0.3+]
All set to clean up your Android device?
We agree that disabling apps on non-rooted devices is not the perfect solution for Remove Bloatware from Android phone, but unfortunately that is the only way now. The good thing is, the method free storage space, more suppresses the user interface. There is no doubt that is very easy on Android devices anchored removing bloatware but rooting comes with its own set of caveats. To sum things up, these are the best ways to remove bloatware on Android devices. If you have a method that we would have missed, please let us know in the comments section below.