Remove pre-installed software on Android phones

Pre-installed software coming with Android phones can be pretty annoying. It takes extra-space that is otherwise precious, sends user data to third parties and bloats the phone with unwanted functionality. A big example of such bloatware are Meta apps (Facebook, Instagram,...etc) that come installed with Samsung models and are almost impossible to delete.

If you want to delete such apps from your phone, here are the steps :

Display Developer Options

Activate Developer Options on your samsung phone by going to Settings --> About Device (About phone) --> Tap Sofware Information --> Tap Build Number seven times then enter you PIN. The Developer Options section will now appear in your settings

2. USB Debugging

Activate USB debugging by going to Settings --> Developer Options --> USB debugging.

3. WebUSB chrome flag

Go to Chrome browser (you must have it installed since other browsers may not support this feature). In the search bar tap chrome://flags/ and search for WebUSB in the flags search input text box. In the Flag Automatic detection of WebUSB-compatible devices choose Enabled

4. Connect your phone

Connect your phone with a USB cable to your laptop. A pop-up window will ask for authorization of file transfer between your phone and laptop. Tap OK.

5. Get the app package name

For this you need to install this app : Package Name Viewer 2.0. After installing, enter the app and search by the name of your app. For example, if you want to delete Gmail app, just tap Gmail in the search bar, and the app will take you directly to where it is displayed in the apps list. Click on that block and note down the app package name.

6. Go to webadb.com

Go to www.webadb.com and click on Start. Among the available devices click on the one that matches yours, then tap Connect. Go then to Interactive Shell. The following interface will be displayed :

7. Uninstall the app

Finally, you will be able to uninstall the app with the command :

pm uninstall --user 0 package_name_here

For example for Gmail app, you will enter the command :

pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.gm

If the result of the command is Success, then you will notice that the app of concern has disappeared from your phone.

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