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How to Disable Bloatware Without Rooting Android Phones

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Android smartphones come with some useful software, but a lot of it is just bloatware with little use to the user.

AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile get paid to install these junk apps, so maybe it saves us a few bucks on the cost of the phone, but most of these apps aren’t worth the space they take up.

Many Android phones won’t allow users to uninstall the bloatware, but it is possible to disable the apps.

Disabling an app tells the Android OS to stop running the app at launch. Many of these apps load when the user turns on their phone. These apps run in the background eating up CPU cycles. which can drain the phone’s battery and potentially slow things down.

People who root their phone can uninstall these apps, but for those who don’t want to root or can’t, this method offers the next best option.

How to Uninstall Default Android Apps Without Rooting

disable android apps

Using my Samsung Galaxy S III running Ice Cream Sandwich, I performed the following steps to get rid of Samsung’s AllShare apps, AT&T Navigator and the Samsung Media Hub apps.

Use it to get rid of others if you like, but be careful since this might disable an app that other apps depend on to run. Stick with bloatware apps to stay safe.

  1. Open Settings
  2. Tap Application manager and choose All
  3. Tap the name of the app that needs to be disabled
  4. Tap Force stop and then choose Disable

Some apps won’t offer a Disable option. The button’s grayed out. Also, when I hit the Disable button, Android gave me the following popup as a warning.

android app disable warning

I can’t say I noticed a huge difference after disabling just five apps, but it can’t hurt. More aggressive choices might show noticeable battery life improvement and speed boots, so try to get as many apps disabled as possible. Reverse the process if other apps start crashing or won’t run properly.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Chris Wilkerson, DC

    07/25/2012 at 6:27 am

    There are a number of free apps on the market that will do this for you on startup.

    • Get

      04/25/2013 at 5:20 pm

      Gonna keep those app names a secret are you?

  2. Lindsey Treczker

    11/17/2012 at 12:01 pm

    Thanks so much for this. I got less bloatware now without rooting my samsung galaxy s3.

  3. David,

    12/11/2012 at 10:11 am

    This doesn’t help. They just start right back up whenever you use something on the phone.

  4. Asprin

    11/17/2013 at 7:37 pm

    Cool. Unfortunately the apps do start right back up. The best solution are those apps that monitor activity and shut them down regularly (e.g. Advanced Task Manager, JuiceDefenderUltimate, Clean Master). It may be a good idea to install at least 2 of these ‘startup’ app stoppers…my battery lasts a long time with ‘Advanced Task Manager’ and ‘Clean Master’ running.

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