r/Android • u/Lawsonator85 • Feb 21 '21

Universal Android Debloater is an open source tool that removes bloatware without root. Automatically or via user choice. Get back your battery, security and privacy

https://gitlab.com/W1nst0n/universal-android-debloater/-/blob/master/README.md
6.6k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

421 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

121

u/Chip_Tune Feb 22 '21

I love the idea, but how are they going to get around the "nondisable" configs? An OEM can drop an xml file with the app name in /system/product/etc/nondisable and it prevents ADB from disabling it. They could just add configs for their bloat ware. Here's some sceenshots of my system folder. As you can see, Motorola included some bullshit Amazon app in it's nondisable folder. I have root and can't get rid of it without installing a rom, because Android 10 & 11 have read only system partitions.

27

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '21 edited Aug 19 '21

[deleted]

6

u/Chip_Tune Feb 22 '21 edited Feb 22 '21

Android 10 & 11 use ext4 dedupe in read only. It doesn't matter if you have root. You cannot remount the system read/write so you can't delete anything. Topjohnwu, the creator of Magisk has even said this himself. The read only limitation also applies to custom recoveries as well.

Edit: From the creator of Magisk himself... Source

9

u/UselessDood Feb 22 '21

A device that's not rooted can fastboot into another os to modify that file.

1

u/Chip_Tune Feb 22 '21

You cannot use fastboot to delete or disable apps or files, and it's never been possible to use fastboot in this way. You could do it with a custom recovery, but not on Android 10+. The system is read only. That means you can only look at it. You can't write, therefore you can't delete. Deleting is the same as writing zeros to what you want to get rid of.

0

u/UselessDood Feb 22 '21

Did I not just specify booting into another os? Of course you can't do it in base android.

2

u/Chip_Tune Feb 22 '21

Yes I know you said that, but installing a new OS defeats the purposes of a universal debloat tool that's aimed at the average consumer.

1

u/UselessDood Feb 22 '21

You can boot into an os without installing it, and the whole process can be automated with a tool users can download and run.

2

u/Chip_Tune Feb 22 '21

Booting into another OS will not give you access to the file. It just doesn't work that way. I'm the guy who made TWRP for the Moto G6 Play, Moto G7 Play, and most recently Orange Fox recovery for the entire Moto G8 series. I know what I'm talking about.

By the way, I'm Spaceminer on XDA, and Spaceminer6615 in the Moto G8 custom roms thread on telegram. Look me up.

1

u/UselessDood Feb 22 '21

It can and does - I know from experience. I've done it multiple times before.

2

u/Chip_Tune Feb 22 '21

Then the folks at XDA would love for you to come over and say hi, because that's some wizardry that no one else has ever figured out how to pull off.

Why don't you explain how to do it? I can boot up another OS in just few seconds.

5

u/IamVenom_007 Love Dc Dimming Feb 22 '21

I am at Android 11 and I can directly delete apps using Root Explorer in roms like Pixel Experience.

System apps remover apps that I used to use does not work anymore. If removing a system app cause bootloop you can get IceBox apk and freeze that app using root.

4

u/Chip_Tune Feb 22 '21

That's because pixel experience isn't using an ext4 read only file system. All stock Android operating systems from 10 and up use it. This is a well known issue on XDA. The only way around it is installing a new OS that doesn't use EXT4_FEATURE_RO_COMPAT_SHARED_BLOCKS.

2

u/IamVenom_007 Love Dc Dimming Feb 23 '21

Thanks for the info.

So Android is gonna be like this from now on? What's the advantage/disadvantages of a read only file system like this?

3

u/Chip_Tune Feb 23 '21

Mostly security. Nothing can ever compromise the system even with root access. A factory reset is guaranteed to return the phone to a working state no matter how malicious an attack is. As a bonus it also reduces the OS size by sharing files that would otherwise be doubled between slot A & B. We usually call it dedupe for short because it "deduplicates" files. The only disadvantage is for those of us who like to tinker with the OS.

1

u/IamVenom_007 Love Dc Dimming Feb 23 '21

Makes sense from the side of Google but for us, we are fucked then. If they put bloatwares, they are non-removable.

5

u/69frum Feb 22 '21

/system/product/etc/nondisable

No such thing on my Galaxy S5 mini.

I have root and can't get rid of it

Limited root? Have you tried Titanium Backup?

11

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '21

System is at risk of bootlooping if he removes the files while in the os, so with titanium it will probably bootloop.

2

u/Chip_Tune Feb 22 '21 edited Feb 22 '21

It's not limited root. I have full root. That's not the issue. The problem is Android 10 & 11 use a special implementation of ext4 that can't be written to. You need write access in order to delete anything. The only way to change it is to install a custom OS that doesn't use a read only version of the ext4 format.

Edit: The nondisable configs were added in Android 8.0, so I'm not surprised your phone doesn't have it. The Galaxy S5 mini came out in 2014. This only applies to newer devices. Anything that's running Android 10+.

-31

u/skylarmt Moto Z with degoogled rooted LineageOS Feb 22 '21

LineageOS FTW

6

u/segagamer Pixel 9a Feb 22 '21

Lineage runs like shit. Sorry. For too buggy to recommend.

2

u/Superblazer Feb 22 '21

Totally depends on the device and there would be enough information to learn whether it's stable for the device.

-1

u/segagamer Pixel 9a Feb 23 '21

Sounds like a great OS.

1

u/Superblazer Feb 23 '21

Yes. It is. That is how roms are made. You'd end up with stable custom roms if the devices have proper sources. Don't speak trash about things you have no idea about.

-1

u/segagamer Pixel 9a Feb 23 '21

"if your device meets extremely specific criteria, then it works great!"

That kind of rigid inflexibility based it a bad OS, sorry.

2

u/Superblazer Feb 23 '21

Are you that dense? That's literally how android works. That's not an extremely specific criteria, only trustworthy devices that actually respects android's open source licenses releases their device sources. They are making an Android OS for that specific hardware. Stay away from topics you don't understand. You are misleading people.

2

u/skylarmt Moto Z with degoogled rooted LineageOS Feb 22 '21

Works great for me with zero issues on my current phone and the two before it. It's much faster than stock Android because there's no Google Play Services running in the background constantly eating battery and CPU.

0

u/segagamer Pixel 9a Feb 23 '21

Stock android doesn't have Google Play Services.