How To Remove Bloatware From Android Devices

Have you ever wondered how some applications already found their place on your Android device even before you got a hold of it? Even before you set up your account on Play Store, these apps would already be there on your phone mocking you. They know you simply will not get the option to uninstall them how much ever you might have tried. These preinstalled default apps are called Bloatware and you definitely don’t want them on your phone. Fret no more, we are here to help you remove carrier/OEM bloatware apps from your Android device.

Though most of the bloatware will not cause any harm to you or your device, these apps usually consume a lot of storage space, drain your battery, eat up the resources, and slowdown Android device performance as well. Also, there could be better apps that you might have installed already that serve the same purpose as these bloatware apps, so there remains no point whatsoever to let the apps stay on your device for redundant purposes.

How To Remove Bloatware From Android Devices

Though bloatware apps come pre-installed with your device, it is always a better idea to uninstall them when your Android phone security is a matter of consideration. Try removing the bloatware the ordinary way first, which is: 

• Going to Settings on your device.
• Looking for Apps/Applications. Tapping on it.
• Choosing the app that you wish to uninstall.
• Tapping on Uninstall.

Some of the times the above method may work, the rest of the time it mightn’t, because you might not see the Uninstall button for every application. In such cases, you can choose to tap on the Disable button to keep the bloatware from running. It will temporarily disallow the app from running in the background till the time you choose to open the app manually for some reason. These steps may slightly vary depending upon your smartphone model

If the above steps keep you unsatisfied with the results, there is one more way that will completely remove the bloatware from your Android device without root. This way is a bit advanced and complex, but you should remember that you asked for it. 

Enabling USB Debugging

Before we get into uninstalling bloatware from your Android smartphone, you need to first enable USB Debugging on your device. This is an option that is mostly used by software developers to gain access to smartphones for the purpose of running, testing, and debugging applications based on their performance on the device. Follow the below steps to do that.

• Download and install Android Studio on your PC (Windows or macOS). It is a developer tool that is used to create and run Android applications using a smartphone emulator. You can download it from here.
• Enable Developer Mode on your device which will further assist in gaining access to the developer option that we are seeking. For that, navigate to Settings > About Phone (further step for some devices, > Version) and tap on Build Number 7 times. A toast will appear saying “You are now in Developer Mode”.

• You will now be able to see a category in the settings or additional settings section named Developer Options. Tap on it.

• You will now be able to view the USB Debugging option. Enable it as this will help you connect your PC to the mobile phone, get into developer mode and perform various operations on your device with the help of your computer.

Uninstalling Bloatware From Android Device

You are all set to move ahead and can now connect your mobile device to your computer with a USB cable.

• You would now be required to open PowerShell (on Windows) or Terminal (on macOS) window from inside the Android Studio folder where ADB (or Android Debug Bridge) is located. For windows, the colation is: “C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools”. <user> is your Windows account name.
• Press and Hold Shift and Right-Click anywhere inside the folder.
• Select the Open PowerShell Window Here option.
• For Windows, type the command “.\adb devices” without quotes (just “adb devices” for Mac) to initiate the link.
• Run the command “adb shell” after that to get access to the connect Android device.
• The final step would be to run the command “pm uninstall – k –user 0 <app name>”. Of course, <app name> is the package name of the app that you wish to uninstall. You can use an app like this to find the package name of any Android application.

This will have uninstalled the bloatware from your non-rooted Android mobile phone. This might help improve Android device performance and stop draining your device’s battery.

That is pretty much all, folks. The era of these annoying, time-consuming, device-lagging, and storage-eating applications has now come to an end. With the techniques and the steps mentioned above in the easiest way possible, you can go ahead and uninstall bloatware from your Android device and make some space in your smartphone, for the love of God!