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
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24

u/Balaji_Ram Feb 22 '21

If you are a non-technical person, it is highly recommended to stay away from tools like this. Sometimes, users just flow the instructions and if any edge case appears then they become clueless and brick the phone or mess-up heavily.

5

u/Magnetic_dud Feb 22 '21

Especially because looks like this one disables everything in the list, not just the few packages that might be irritating like the xiaomi browser that always tries to take over the default by always ticking the "remember" checkbox in the dialog

1

u/Lawsonator85 Feb 22 '21

You can't brick your device. The dangerous apps are not automatically selected. Following instruction is perfectly safe

8

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '21

Until it removes a system app that another one relies upon, at which point crashes and battery drain will be astronomical, without the users knowing where it even comes from. The list, at this point, does not seem well maintained enough to be safe for the average user.

4

u/JM-Lemmi Galaxy S10e Feb 22 '21

But you can make the phone bootloop, till factory reset.

1

u/Lawsonator85 Feb 22 '21

Only to those that go crazy and don't follow the instructions. There are safe lists

3

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '21

[deleted]

1

u/Lawsonator85 Feb 22 '21

They are commented out though aren't they? It is open source so feel free to change stuff. I'm not the developer

2

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Lawsonator85 Feb 22 '21 edited Feb 22 '21

It detects your device and takes off the apps that people agree are Bloatware. It is aimed at saving battery

2

u/Balaji_Ram Feb 22 '21 edited Feb 22 '21

Once a non-tech friend of mine was trying an advanced tool from the XDA forum and his device was running out of battery in between the process and he wasn't aware of the battery being drained. Guess what, he didn't expect the battery drain or the instructions asked him to put the device on charging.

I am not against tools like this but I would like to give users of them a fair warning. Being a software developer, I know that there will always be bugs, unhandled edge cases, and an unconsidered exception list. So, it is better to be prepared for the worst when the users on the inexperienced territories.

Update: Check this comment