Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
I want to specify for anyone whom doesn't know.
ADB can't actually "remove"/delete system applications from the devices storage. It can only "uninstall" them from the user account; that's why you can't brick the device with this method.
So if you're looking to free up space on the device you'll have to find a different solution.
Thanks for the awesome GUI tool.
Do you suspect there are still benefits to doing this then?
Yes. Some of them do nothing other than serve ads and /or track information.Disabling them can help thus with better privacy and longer battery life.
Ofc. "Uninstalling" say the Facebook shitware that's included in Samsungs from the user account prevents them from running. The apps are still very much in the system partition, but the user account will never run it because to the account it's "uninstalled".
Storage-wise they're there, but they never run or take up memory? Is this correct?
Correct.
This is awesome.
One of the best decisions Apple ever made was not letting carriers and other OEMs install bloatware on phones out of the box.
The end result is a locked ecosystem though. The open source nature of Android makes this a bit harder to regulate for Google.
Also money money money
Just all the apple bloatware lol
Like what? Their office apps?
I do find it annoying to delete them on new phones.
Except safari you can uninstall rest
Ya. I do it in Android too.
I used ios, android and windows phone and no you cannot remove all the apps installed by manufacturers. Especially Samsung phones (using Samsung as example cuz it is the most popular in android). They have lot of stuff installed in them that cannot be uninstalled in normal way maybe with adb and special debloater tools but then some apps randomly crash. Everything has two on Samsung like two stores, two email apps, two photo apps etc. on apple this is not an issue. Of course this is not a problem with every manufacturer. I still have oneplus 8 as secondary phone even that has lot of stuff. I have used customs roms since nexus 4 days i know how minimal android images look like with minimal gapps (pico). As far as i know none of the android manufacturers can match minimal android or can be modified to match minimal experience without using custom roms. While ios can be configured to be significantly minimal if you want right after setting it up. I strive to use minimal stuff. I use arch and nixos and configured them to be as minimal as possible so i do know little bit about it. So in my opinion in the current state if i can only select one os then ios is better compared to android (as available in devices available to purchase) i would prefer android in custom rom format but google seems to be making that impossible and moving lot of apps to depend on google play services. You can say lot of shit about apple like not allowing third party engines, shitty app store policies while still allowing sketchy apps on app store, no side-loading, no option of third party stores, vendor lock-in for system backup cloud provider, late to lot of features, heavy repair prices, anti repair using individual component serial number lockin but I don’t think bloatware is one of them. You can remove all but essential minimal apps on ios if you want to but definitely not on android. Sorry for long rant.
The gold standard is to flash a new ROM, but a lot of people dont't want to, or cannot because either the phone won't allow (Samsung etc) or it is too daunting. Next we had ADB commands via terminal (hello hours in the terminal). UAD in isolation might seem daunting, but compared to the alternatives, it it is a heaven sent gift, and I'm not even religious.
I've always done it manually and never knew there was an app for it, that's so cool!
You can't brick your device
Still, always good to do your research before removing a package that looks unnecessary but is actually integral to your system
I used it for the first time on my tablet. I went from LineageOS with unlocked bootloader to debloated Stock OS.
I found it well documented. It has filters to mark apps for removal. You can be conservative or more aggressive. It tells you the purpose of each package and even if it unexpectedly affects functions that shouldn't be linked to them at all.
Having a way to reinstall Stock android is a good precaution though.
How is a novice to tell?
Looking at the github page, the tool seems to come with certain lists telling you what is safe to delete based on what brand the phone is from or what carrier you're using.
I've used this on my Samsung phone and I've seen better battery life with so much junk running in the background.
Same.
I would use Lineage os
That would also work, except for unsupported devices.
True, I suppose
Is this better, or just quicker, than going thru the apps in Settings>Apps one by one and hitting ~~"Uninstall"~~ "Uninstall" or "Disable" whenever the button is available?
Not every app is graphical. Not all can be disabled.
Using "package manager" from F-Droid you can list them and simply use adb uninstall --user 0 APP for all apps. Copy paste, appname, thats it.
Just be sure to keep the logs to reinstall when needed?
some apps are installed by your system. you can only "disable" them through the settings but not uninstall them.
And some you cant even disable
Yes yes I understand that. But is this ADB trick anything other than a time-saver? As you say, they cannot be uninstalled either way.
Adb commands can uninstall them instead of just disabling them, thats why you should try it
Right. I've even done that in the past. Would be nice to see the evidence that uninstalling is any more useful than disabling.
As in clearing space and simply off the list? Idk what else you are expecting...
someone could make this a simple mobile app using shizuku so you don't even need another device.
Seriously this would be sick
Should be useful for phones with unlockable bootloader.
You don’t need to unlock the boot loader for this
Been using this for a long time. Great tool. Great idea.
If for some reason you cannot get this to work on your system, the database on this GitHub is still useful for doing it manually.
Always wondered how deeply these types of de-bloating systems affect the OS overall. I'd be keen to give it a go but phone stability is pretty paramount.
Apps that are considered "bloat" are of course installed to the system partition. Which is something you don't have access to. The link to the app is created for your user account during device setup. It's still available to the system. Without root access they're not permanently removed. Removing them from your user means they don't run. If there is an OS update that updates apps for feature or security reasons, they have the potential to come back. You must remove them again. It does actually save battery once they're removed. You can verify this by using debug tools to look at all running services. You also don't need this app to remove bloat. It just makes it easier for those who don't want to use ADB command line.
A majority of apps won't ruin your stability if removed. The only app I know I can't remove is My Verizon Services. If I do, I lose certain functionality. If you're unsure, look up what each app does.
Ah that looks awesome. Definitely gonna try that out. Thanks for sharing
Nice
Can this clean up my Kindle fire tablet from 2017?
If it runs Android and if you can enable usb debugging in developer settings than yes, otherwise no.
Fire Toolbox is the only one that I'm familiar with. It's less cleanup and more hiding a bunch of stuff. Adding a bootloader and disabling some of the Amazon tracking.
I don't think there's any programs that allow you to straight up nuke the Amazon firmware and side?load your own android or tablet OS.
I see I’m using Amazon toolbox and yeah it just layers a nice launcher and hides Amazon crap. Doesn’t really sets a clean android install. I would love a nuke option for these tablets.
For Kindles, the Fire Toolbox will get you sorted if you're below FireOS 7.3.2.2. https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/windows-linux-tool-fire-toolbox-v32-2.3889604/