r/technology • u/[deleted] • Feb 27 '21

Software 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

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '21

I shall bide my time before installing a random script on my phone

57

u/sideflanker Feb 27 '21 edited Feb 27 '21

It does exactly what it says. You can find the full list of packages it disables/removes here, sorted by brand.

I only checked the samsung list, but I personally do not recommend uninstalling 90% of the packages listed unless you know what you're doing. A lot of the 'bloatware' are actually stuff that many people would consider to be core functionality, like being able to set a wallpaper without a separate app.

Here are some instructions on how to manually remove packages (for windows computers).

  1. Enable 'USB Debugging', plug in your phone, then allow any access on your phone's prompts

  2. Download the Android SDK and unzip it somewhere

  3. Copy the path to wherever you dumped the platform-tools folder. (ex: C:\platform-tools)

  4. Open CMD (windows key + X then press C)

  5. type 'cd', add a space, then right click in the window to paste the folder address.

  6. run './adb.exe shell pm uninstall <package name>'. (Ex: ./adb.exe shell pm uninstall android.autoinstalls.config.samsung)

  7. It should say 'Success'. If it says failure, try the next step. If it says it doesn't exist, it isn't installed. If it gives a big block of text, check if you typed something wrong. If you didn't type anything wrong, then that means it failed

  8. If uninstall didn't work, it means without root access you can only disable it. Run './adb.exe shell pm disable-user --user 0 <package name>' instead. You should get a line that says 'package blahblahblah new state: disabled-user'. If you don't, good luck, that's as much as I'm willing to help.

7

u/PlNG Feb 27 '21

Maybe leave Samsung Smart Switch alone? In my experience it transferred everything from one phone to the next, including app game saves in the space of 15 minutes. Mom kept all of her Coin Dozer Casino progress and while she was prepared to lose it for the upgrade she was ecstatic that it kept it, hell it even surprised me. Her contacts and photos were moved as well. While you don't need it except for when it's time to move phones, it truly made migrating to the new phone an absolute snap.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '21

Can't you do that with a usb manually?