Develop Bugs

Safe list of bloatware apps to turn off?

Does anybody know a list of pre-installed apps that can be safely "turned off" in our device? This is of course referring to pre-installed apps that can't be uninstalled.
I've read that sometimes turning off certain apparently inoffensive apps may bring instability to the device.
For example, I was just checking my location settings and I saw that AT&T Navigator had been requesting location (with high battery usage), but I don't use that app at all, so I'm plan on turning it off, but I wonder in what other apps that can be done safely.

lebertian said:
Does anybody know a list of pre-installed apps that can be safely "turned off" in our device? This is of course referring to pre-installed apps that can't be uninstalled.
I've read that sometimes turning off certain apparently inoffensive apps may bring instability to the device.
For example, I was just checking my location settings and I saw that AT&T Navigator had been requesting location (with high battery usage), but I don't use that app at all, so I'm plan on turning it off, but I wonder in what other apps that can be done safely.
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Generally the asps that allow you to "disable" them are all okay to turn off.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using XDA Free mobile app

I disabled anything that had to do with att.
Sent from the TermiNOTEr 4!

The only thing I've found that I had to enable was S Voice, I kept getting a pop up on the camera because it uses it for the selfie camera trigger.

Same here. Disabled everything AT&T and left S Voice active.

Everything ATT except MyAtt and s voice

I've disabled all att stuff and a few other things like s health, s voice, galaxy apps, Samsung account, Samsung billing, Samsung link, remote, print services, ANT services, milk, yahoo weather

I left S Voice alone (other things make use of it), and also Galaxy Apps (allows you to update S Health)

NYYFan02 said:
I've disabled all att stuff and a few other things like s health, s voice, galaxy apps, Samsung account, Samsung billing, Samsung link, remote, print services, ANT services, milk, yahoo weather
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How do disable the Samsung stuff? I can see how to stop it but I don't see an option to disable or turn off.
Also, anyone knows how to disable Lockout? All the options in app info ate greyed out, even force stop

lebertian said:
How do disable the Samsung stuff? I can see how to stop it but I don't see an option to disable or turn off.
Also, anyone knows how to disable Lockout? All the options in app info ate greyed out, even force stop
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Update the app then go to application manager and turn it off.
Sent from the TermiNOTEr 4!

borijess said:
Update the app then go to application manager and turn it off.
Sent from the TermiNOTEr 4!
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Awesome, that worked! Weird that you have to update it to disable it

I realize this is an older thread, but for others that stumble upon it via search, here's a discussion that includes an extensive list of apps to safely be disabled.
(same link as above) http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-4-att/general/apps-to-disable-removed-att-note-4-t2943779

lebertian said:
Does anybody know a list of pre-installed apps that can be safely "turned off" in our device? This is of course referring to pre-installed apps that can't be uninstalled.
I've read that sometimes turning off certain apparently inoffensive apps may bring instability to the device.
For example, I was just checking my location settings and I saw that AT&T Navigator had been requesting location (with high battery usage), but I don't use that app at all, so I'm plan on turning it off, but I wonder in what other apps that can be done safely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can install package disabler pro for a small fee.. great app but be careful when u use their auto bloatware disable feature because it can disable some stuff that your phone needs to function.. but this app let's you disable stuff that is greyed out in your app manager like music player for example.

Here is another list which I have followed. Not all of them, but quite a few. It definitely made a difference.
Now, I think many of those you would need to be rooted to do. And of course we know that's not much good now for AT&T phones.
I'm on a T-Mobile Note 4, rooted, so I was OK to try. I did the TIBU/Freeze method.

Samsung push service

What does this do and is it safe to disable?

Honestly I've always disabled this service in ALL my Samsung phones since then.... And nope, never had a single problem. I think is a notification service for Samsung Apps and I never use them.
So go ahead and disable / freeze / uninstall it.

PunishedSnake said:
What does this do and is it safe to disable?
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Click to collapse
It is also used for Samsung's backup system. When it's disabled it won't backup things like texts, photos, keyboard personal dictionary, etc. If you don't use this, then disable it. I wouldn't delete it just because sometimes Samsung apps use bits from other apps, which can cause issues like battery drain. It's tough to track down so I always just freeze it or disable it in settings.

(Q) How can I disable Instant Apps for Android

Like the title says, I've noticed since updating to 7.1.2 at least 2-3 times a day I am thrown a notification for "updating Instant Apps" but it never tells me if it was updated or installed. I tried going to Settings -> Google -> Instant Apps and it is disabled yet these apps are auto-downloading and installing in the background. I have auto-updates off on the play store but this still occurs.
Is there anything I can do to disable or at least cripple the instant apps? I'm reading the purpose of instant apps is so you can try an application without installing it, I do not want to test drive apps like Buzzfeed so however I can disable it would be great

fatapia said:
Like the title says, I've noticed since updating to 7.1.2 at least 2-3 times a day I am thrown a notification for "updating Instant Apps" but it never tells me if it was updated or installed. I tried going to Settings -> Google -> Instant Apps and it is disabled yet these apps are auto-downloading and installing in the background. I have auto-updates off on the play store but this still occurs.
Is there anything I can do to disable or at least cripple the instant apps? I'm reading the purpose of instant apps is so you can try an application without installing it, I do not want to test drive apps like Buzzfeed so however I can disable it would be great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, using Titanium Backup I couldn't find the package com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor but using a root explorer I found the application in /data/app/com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor-2
I also found saved data in /data/data/com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor
I have no idea if this will prevent the service from auto-updating as it has been without permission but I know where it is now...
Update: Deleting both folders causing settings to crash when you go to Settings -> Google -> Instant apps, so it might be deleted off my phone entirely. I will update if I see the application re-install itself

Instant apps are temporary apps. So you can't uninstall them or disable it. It's a feature built into Android that is not going away. Your only option is to install a rom without Gapps. Otherwise deal with it.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

superchilpil said:
Instant apps are temporary apps. So you can't uninstall them or disable it. It's a feature built into Android that is not going away. Your only option is to install a rom without Gapps. Otherwise deal with it.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
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deleting those two files seemed to have broken that feature.
My issue was that I disabled that service through settings as suggested by one of the google support pages but it would still download and install "Instant Apps" the service throughout the day, not the actual temporary apps themselves. So it's been dealt with lol

oh man, when i saw this i thought i had a virus on my phone.
especially when i couldn't find anything named "instant apps" in the app drawer

I am hoping that this will work for me as well. The first time I saw the instant apps pop up I just connected to a free wifi in Mexico and freaked out. This seriously bothers me. I uninstalled it and it came back update after update. I also will not be using any instant apps, so this is something I want to break.

speedee12 said:
I am hoping that this will work for me as well. The first time I saw the instant apps pop up I just connected to a free wifi in Mexico and freaked out. This seriously bothers me. I uninstalled it and it came back update after update. I also will not be using any instant apps, so this is something I want to break.
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some how it was pushed back on to my phone. this is not a permanent solution...

so I'm trying to disable this through other means now and I found something interesting? I need someone with more experience to chime in as far as what these* lines* do*.. and where I found it...
so in /data/data/com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor/shared_prefs/phenotypeConfigurations.xml there are these three lines:
<boolean name="Supervisor__enable_instant_apps" value="true" />
<boolean name="Supervisor__disable_url_resolution" value="false" />
<boolean name="TestFeature__enable_test" value="true" />
I flipped the value of these three entries to see if this will disable it. I find it odd that for the first line it was set for "true" when the settings say it's off. I will update again if I see this come back. My coworker had suggested that this may be built in to the Google app itself? Let's see...

so I had to unroot my phone because I forgot to log into snapchat, then re-root after, and Instant Apps was back yet again. The changes I made to the XML file persisted but the app was back.
I think I found a way to remove it entirely. I used Root Explorer, idk what other applications would work for this. So I navigated back to /data/app/com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor-1 and I clicked the base.apk and I had an option to uninstall, I did this then rebooted my phone to see if reboots are why it fixes itself except the entry for Instant Apps has been removed from settings. This appears to permanently remove this feature.

every time I think I fix this it keeps coming back lol, I finally called Google Support and this is the first they are hearing of it. The application re-installed itself at 430-some Mountain Time on it's own, other times it re-installs upon reboot. I'm going to find a way to cripple it if google cant
I recommend calling support to let them know that Instant Apps is enabled even though the switch says it is disabled.

fatapia said:
every time I think I fix this it keeps coming back lol, I finally called Google Support and this is the first they are hearing of it. The application re-installed itself at 430-some Mountain Time on it's own, other times it re-installs upon reboot. I'm going to find a way to cripple it if google cant
I recommend calling support to let them know that Instant Apps is enabled even though the switch says it is disabled.
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I have the same annoyances, "Installig Instant apps" notification appears randomly during the last month, and reading in the logcat they are updates/patches to the new feature, managed by finsky app (Play Store). The most scaring thing is that one time it appeared also during mobile data connection, which is not acceptable (and 800kb background data from Play Store). Google is being too aggressive with it. Why not simply integrate it and update it along with Play Services like the other 1000 google APIs ? !on WIFI!
Thank you for your tests, unfortunately the update process seems to be triggered by Google Play services itself or by Google play store.
I searched for related alarms/wakelocks in Amplify and could only found one wakelock coming from com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor itself: .ExperimentUpdateService. I decided to keep it as this probably isn't the trigger.

ninestarkoko said:
I have the same annoyances, "Installig Instant apps" notification appears randomly during the last month, and reading in the logcat they are updates/patches to the new feature, managed by finsky app (Play Store). The most scaring thing is that one time it appeared also during mobile data connection, which is not acceptable (and 800kb background data from Play Store). Google is being too aggressive with it. Why not simply integrate it and update it along with Play Services like the other 1000 google APIs ? !on WIFI!
Thank you for your tests, unfortunately the update process seems to be triggered by Google Play services itself or by Google play store.
I searched for related alarms/wakelocks in Amplify and could only found one wakelock coming from com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor itself: .ExperimentUpdateService. I decided to keep it as this probably isn't the trigger.
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Click to collapse
yeah that's now my only worrisome complaint is that it ignores the play store settings and will download over any network connection. You can try submitting feedback through settings and suggest they fix this part so that it updates as you said. Thanks for the additional info, I'll try disabling that and report back if it makes any difference. I doubt that's the source of the problem though so I uninstall the apk so something else must be initiating it.

Thank you guys for this thread! I have the regular Pixel and have been seeing this happen... "Instant Apps" was disabled but somehow still updating either itself or something else, and I wondered if there was an additional switch somewhere to disable it. Looks like the answer is no. ?
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

So I noticed every time the play store found an update, magically Instant Apps was back. I began to notice that this may be a service built into Play Store and not the Google app itself. So I had an idea, I went into Settings for Android and turned off background data for Play services. Obviously this will affect quite a bit, but honestly I am at that point from fighting this feature that I'd gladly give that up. So far after 2 days I have not seen the application re-install itself. It has been more permanent that the other solutions I've had so far.
There's an article from XDA in Analysis and Opinion talking about Instant Apps and Play Store 7.8.15, apparently this issue is affecting people all the way down to the Samsung S5... although people are hesistant to believe this issue exists for whatever reason.

You can cripple it by restricting its access to internet via firewall. Unfortunately this method also drives up battery consumption as the firewall does jujitsu with "Google Play services for Instant Apps" - I am actively fantasizing about taking my baby sledge to this thing and going back to a "dumb"-phone that doesn't have all this drama constantly! I'm using an S5 right now. This is definitely a google thing. They have a similar self-install-without-asking "feature" on windows via their chrome browser. Just look up "SwReporter" in that program's directory. It self-populates with an executable as you use chrome normally and there is no option in the program for it to not do that. You can safely make a shortcut to that directory and empty it out regularly to restrict its functionality which is presumably for keeping an eye on you. I am also trying an alternate method of changing security to prevent write access to that directory. I have no idea how to do that on an unrooted android. Any ideas? And does anybody know how to cripple "instant apps" malware/spyware backdoor "feature" on an unrooted device without eating battery like crazy?

Today I noticed that Instant Apps was installing without my permission. When I clicked on that notification, it brought me to the Google Play Store. (In Google Play Store, I have auto updates disabled.) I have an unrooted Galaxy Note 4 and I can't even find the settings for Instant Apps under the Google settings. Why aren't the settings there? I found the app in the Apps settings called "Google Play services for Instant Apps" (thank you G1A). I cleared it's the cache and data and then uninstalled it. So I'm assuming it will not come back but you never know.
EDIT: Well the "Google Play services for Instant Apps" reinstalled itself AGAIN WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. Getting sick of tired of Google's POMPOUS business ethics.

If it reinstalled itself.... then his would require root privileges in order to disable.

yeah this issue is annoying, it seems to initiate the download upon every reboot and each time it checks the play store for updates for any of your apps.
I found a way to disable it but it required freezing the app through Titanium Backup. I have NO CLUE why I couldn't see Instant Apps before in this list but it is listed as "Google Play Services for Instant Apps." It does not re-install or try to even download, does not show in Settings under Google, but if you look at the app itself in settings you will see it does still run. I am not sure to what extent but yeeeaahhh at least it doesnt seem like it can run anything

No problem As an update, changing security permissions (specifically for writing) for chrome's target folder Definitely (in windows 10) serves as an effective measure to blockade its ability to regenerate itself. This same method also works for microsoft edge located in the C-Windows-SystemApps folder. I presume that the programming methods would be analogous with android on google's end. Anybody know how to restrict write access to a folder on android? So long as it checks for a folder existing and it does exist (multi-decade programming approach) then it attempts to write to that folder. However, because it's already running in stealth mode (aka background) then it will never show an error message when it fails to execute, and it won't report back either, as that functionality depends on the contents of the targeted folder it is denied access to. It should be effectively crippled without excessive CPU consumption if you can just restrict its ability to write to the default folder that it installs itself in. Any ideas how to execute this kind of blockade?
UPDATE: As a way to cripple not Instant Apps specifically, but an entire host of functionality on the android platform, something called "Power Saving Mode" seems to knock out a key background runtime required for this pest to run. Unfortunately it doesn't let you pick and choose what it shuts off, so other useful apps may lose their functionality too. Post if anybody finds a more app-specific method!

Does this crap have its own separate package? If so, you could uninstall it and make a dummy APK having the same package name. This could prevent "updates" due to signing key conflicts, but might also break things...

Removing apps on unlocked s9

I got my s9 phone today (unlocked). I noticed flipboard and facebook come pre-installed. I did uninstall, but that just uninstalls updates, not the app. Is there any way to totally get rid of these, without having to root or anything?
How do I know if my s9 is the unlocked version?

I also have an unlocked s9 and I ended up using BK manager to simply disable the built-in apps I didn't want.

That's always been a gripe of mine. I can see makers wanting to put their own branded software on a phone but I hate it when they insist on putting apps like Facebook, Flipboard, etc on the phone as system apps. Especially when these apps are easily installed from the store.

Disabled Google apps keep re-enabling themselves

I have several Google apps (Chome, Duo, YouTube, Google Photos) that I've kept disabled on my OnePlus 3 (Android v9) from the very beginning. For the last two weeks, they keep re-enabling themselves. I've repeatedly disabled them several times but they re-enable in just a few minutes. Any ideas on how to keep them disabled?

shobuddy said:
I have several Google apps (Chome, Duo, YouTube, Google Photos) that I've kept disabled on my OnePlus 3 (Android v9) from the very beginning. For the last two weeks, they keep re-enabling themselves. I've repeatedly disabled them several times but they re-enable in just a few minutes. Any ideas on how to keep them disabled?
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Do you have root? If so, Titanium Backup can be used to freeze them (even remove them) whenever not needed and cut off their market links (Play Store links) so that they don't auto update. I think that that is what is happening in your case. Even when auto update is not enabled, sometimes the Google apps behave different to other apps and update themselves.

TNSMANI said:
Do you have root? If so, Titanium Backup can be used to freeze them (even remove them) whenever not needed and cut off their market links (Play Store links) so that they don't auto update. I think that that is what is happening in your case. Even when auto update is not enabled, sometimes the Google apps behave different to other apps and update themselves.
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TNSMANI, thank you for the response. Unfortunately I no longer have root so TB is not an option. You are correct, however, that the apps get re-enabled when they update. That said, this didn't used to happen as I've had them disabled since I got the phone. It only started happening recently.