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Published On: Wed, Jan 31st, 2018

How to Disable ‘Bloatware,’ Pre-Installed Apps, On Android

Bloatware refers to apps installed on android devices by the manufacturer. Some of these apps have very important functions in our phones such as the messaging and phone app, but others don’t serve any important function. In this article, we will guide you on how to disabled bloatware apps.

Most pre-installed apps are important and helpful to the normal operation of your phone. For example, you need the phone app to make and receive calls while a messaging app is important to send and receive messages. Because most of these apps are important system components, Android has restricted the removal of these apps. Although the move to protect the uninstallation of these apps is well-intended, some apps that come pre-installed may not suit the preference of the user. As a matter of fact, some of these apps are country specific, which means that users from other regions cannot use them.

photo/ Pixabay

With the best apps now available on Play Store, nobody need s limited manufacture market app with only a few hundred apps. If you want to disable these annoying apps on your android phone, here are the steps that you need to follow.

Although it is not possible to delete these pre-installed apps on your android phone, you can disable them so that they don’t appear on your Android’s app drawer and remain inaccessible until you enable them again. We have covered here the necessary steps that you need to follow to turn off these apps on your android device. You however note that this tutorial is for a Samsung Galaxy phone. The steps and screenshots are tailored to the Samsung device, but they should apply to most android smartphones.

Step 1: Go to the Home screen of your Android device

Step 2: Find the App drawer on the Home screen

Step 3: Find and open Settings from the App drawer

Step 4: From settings, scroll down to find App settings. For some Android phones, you will find tabs in settings; therefore, you may also want to open those tabs

Step 5: Scroll down the list of apps installed in your Android device and find the app that you want to disable. Tap on the icon of the app to access its application info

Step 6: On the same page (Application info), you will see the Disable button. Click it to disable the app

Step 7: A message will pop up informing you that by disabling the pre-installed app, you may cause errors on your android device and other apps. Tap the Disable button to continue

Step 8: You will then need to confirm your action by clicking the OK button

Step 9: The app will then be disabled. If you want to re-enable them app, just follow the steps we have highlighted here

Frequently asked questions

It’s clear that some people may still find it difficult to disable pre-installed apps or may have some questions that they need answers in order to successfully complete this task. That’s why we have prepared this short FAQ.

Q: How do I uninstall an app on my Android device?

A: You can uninstall most of the apps, but apps that are pre-installed by the manufacturer on your Android device may not present you with the option to uninstall them. Apps that can be uninstalled will have the “Uninstall” button when you access the application information page, whereas those that can only be disabled will have the “Disable” button.

Q: Will disabling bloatware free up some space on my Android device?

A: When you disabled a pre-installed app, user data will be removed. What this means is that any user data that is saved on your android device will be dumped and deleted. And when you re-enable the app and start using it, any data on it will be cleared. It’s just like using the app for the first time.

Q: I disabled an app on my Android phone but it did not free up storage space. What could be the problem?

A: While it’s true that disabling an app will delete its stored data, the space being used by the app will remain because the app is only being turned off and not being uninstalled, If you have not been using the app that you want to disable, then you can be sure that it has not stored any data on your Android device. If no data has been stored on your device, it means that there is no data to be deleted; therefore, no space will be freed on your phone

Q: What are the advantages of disabling pre-installed apps?

A: Some pre-installed apps can be annoying and some may not even be in the language that you understand. You can actually disabled pre-installed apps that you don’t use and manage only those you use frequently

Author: David Ayers

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