In this guide we’ll show you how to get rid of the pre-installed apps on your Galaxy S9 or Galaxy S9+. Out of the box, your phone has a bunch of apps that carriers added before you bought it. We call this bloatware, and it wastes lots of valuable space on phones. Samsung is notorious for it, but they aren’t the only ones.
We’re talking about Sprint’s NASCAR apps, AT&T WiFi, AT&T App Select, Amazon, Lookout, Hancom Office, and random apps from T-Mobile and Verizon. Most phones sold by carriers in the United States are full of apps you’ll probably never use.
There’s one problem with all of this bloatware, you can’t uninstall it. Well, not without rooting (Jailbreak for Android) your phone and doing a few hacks. However, you can disable them, and hide most from the application tray to clean up your device. Basically out of sight, out of mind. Here’s how to get rid of all the pre-installed apps on your Galaxy S9.
How to Disable Bloatware on the Galaxy S9
When you get the Galaxy S9 or Galaxy S9+ you’ll notice around 10 or 15 apps that you never installed. Some of these, like AT&T App Select, add new apps to your phone every month. It’s frustrating, to say the least. These are in addition to Samsung’s own apps plastered throughout the phone too.
Instructions
In settings, you’ll find a list of every app on the Galaxy S9. From here, one by one you’ll need to disable or uninstall them. This isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but you’ll only have to do it once.
Pull down the notification bar and hit the gear-shaped Settings button (or open the Settings app)
Navigate to and select Apps
Make sure the tab on the top left says All Apps
Now, scroll through the list and tap to Select any app you want to disable
Hit Disable, then Confirm to get rid of it (some will uninstall updates first, then get disabled)
Repeat steps 4-5 for any app you’d like to get rid of
As you can see, one by one I disabled around 12 apps on my AT&T Galaxy S9+. Be careful though, and only disable apps from carriers of if you know what the app is. That’s because if you just disable anything and everything, you can quickly cause Galaxy S9 problems. Some apps might look like bloatware but are essential to the operation of the phone. Basically, be careful, and don’t go “disable crazy”.
If you have AT&T we have another important tip. Tap the three dots in the top corner and select “show system apps” from the pop-up menu. Then, find and disable AT&T App Select immediately. This program added like 8 games and apps to my Galaxy S9+ overnight. You probably had something similar happen and didn’t know why. Each month, this will download more apps to your phone. To stop it, just hit disable.
Other Details
We’re all done. You’ve successfully disabled a bunch of apps that came pre-installed on your Galaxy S9. They’re still taking up space, but they won’t get updates, and you won’t see them in the application tray. Your phone is all clean now. You can follow these same steps to Enable any app you need at a later date, too. Our steps above aren’t permanent, and you can reinstate any app you’d like.
In closing, we want to mention one more time to be careful with this process. It’s easy to accidentally disable the wrong app, and cause problems on your new phone. As a result, only disable stuff that you’re comfortable getting rid of, and apps that came from your carrier. Look for things similar to our screenshot above, just to be safe. While you’re here, take a peek at these tips to fix Galaxy S9 battery life, and keep your phone safe with one of these 20 Best Galaxy S9 cases.
