Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Gadgets, Computers & Software (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/)

-   -   De-Bloating Android Devices | Xiaomi, Realme, Oppo, Vivo, iQOO (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/266864-de-bloating-android-devices-xiaomi-realme-oppo-vivo-iqoo.html)

Introduction

So, This is my first thread on Tbhp and I just thought why not to make it about something which I love as much as cars, TECH.

As of late there's no manufacturer that is offering their devices without any bloatware (exceptions: Motorola, Nothing). For people about to spam in Oneplus' defense please don't, it is just Oppo's gruesome ColorOS with a skin over top. For people who are new to the term, bloatware is something that is bundled by the OEM by default and you can/cannot uninstall it, ex: Mi Scanner, Google TV etc. Depending on your use case, the apps that can be called bloatware or unnecessary can vary from user to user and might not be same for everyone.

I've seen people using Xiao-meme/Red-meme, Real-meme devices and just ignore the fact that their notifications panel is filled with ads and unnecessary recommendations from apps that they don't need/want. As any geek would do I just went through XDA and found people pestered with the same issues, so after developer's came up with a solution I just thought why not to share it with the community on Tbhp and here I am.

For people about to jump in saying "This will root your device, This will affect your security, this will void the warranty and stuff", then NO, this is not rooting, will not compromise on the security of your device anyhow and will not affect your privacy (as if these OEM's even offer it to us anyway, privacy is just a false promise done by any brand in these times, ANY BRAND).

Why do you need to do this ?

The preloaded apps that OEM bundle with the device takes up unnecessary storage and frequently keep popping up in the background. What this will give you is plenty of free storage and RAM that you can now use to click more of the car pics that we all love and keep these pesky apps away from your data.

I've done this to devices running Xiaomi's MemeUI, Real-memeOS, Vivo & IQOO's FunnyOS and Oppo's Color-Ad-OS from extended family, colleagues, my workplace device. Although I'll be taking an example of a Motorola since this is my testing device but this can be done on ANY android device running any android version or skin over and above AOSP like the above mentioned various UI's.

What you need: Prerequisites

1. Any Android device.
2. A Windows PC.
3. A USB Cable to connect it to your Windows PC.
4. ADB & Fastboot Drivers, necessary UAD, which can be found here.

First Step: Making sure Everything is in place!

1. Download & open the Minimal ADB Folder as attached in the thread above.
   
   
   
2. Open the setup file "Minimal ADB Fastboot v1.4.3" and install it to your desired location.
3. Place the file "uad_gui-windows" from the downloaded folder inside the folder created by the setup.
   
   
   

Second Step: Enabling USB Debugging

1. Go to "Settings" of your android device, go to "About Phone" and check for "Build Number" and tap on it 7-8 times.
   
   
   
   
   
2. This will show you an option to enable "Developer Options". Enter your lock screen password (if it asks) and enable the developer settings.
3. Now search for developer options in Settings or you can find them under "Additional Settings" tab in Settings of your device.
   
   
   
4. Scroll through the options and enable "USB Debugging". (Please note in various MemeUI's you need to enable an extra option known as "USB Debugging (Security settings)", so make sure to do so for this method to work. Also enable "Install Apps via ADB"). Attaching a generic MIUI pic from google.
   
   
   
   
   

Third Step: Connecting the device to PC

1. Grab your USB cable to connect the phone with your PC and open the "cmd-here" application.
   
   
   
2. Now type "adb devices", let the command run through and it will show a unique code to your device and a status as "unauthorized" in front of it.
   
   
   
3. In this process your android device will show a prompt, mark it as "Always allow from this computer" and tap on "Allow".
   
   
   
4. Now again type the same command "adb devices" in the cmd window and now it will change the status to "device".
   
   
   

Fourth Step: Connecting with UAD

1. Now open the file "uad_gui-windows" and it should show something like this.
   
   
   
2. From here on you can install or uninstall ANY app from your device. (Please note this method can uninstall any app, so make sure not to uninstall some essential apps that are required for the working of your device).
   
3. You can find the safe to remove apps list for every android skin from google by a simple search.
   
4. For example, if I want to remove the "Google Chrome" app, I'll just find the package name for Google Chrome in the gui interface and tap on "Uninstall" following which the app would be uninstalled.
   
   
   
   
   
5. You can also restore any app that you uninstalled by mistake by changing the list from "Enabled to "Uninstalled" and just restore the app that you want.

Post-Debloat

Also, after you're done with everything, just disable the "Developer Options" from additional settings tab so any app won't give you the made up warning that some of them give (Yes, I'm looking at you Standard Chartered).

Just a tip to all, please disable the glance lock screen or uninstall it completely that always keep showing you irrelevant data.

So, Use this method to debloat your android smartphone and make it much more responsive than before. And before any of you ask it, YES this even works on "Scam-sung's" restrictive One-UI, so you can remove any of the pre-loaded junk they give.

I hope this helps everyone in making their user experience much more intuitive. Use carefully and De-bloat to your heart's content. ;)

Thanks,
nstark13

Great info! Thanks for sharing. However, isn't it true that nowadays Android allows customers to uninstall all bloatware apps themselves within the UI, just like we normally uninstall other apps? I remember reading this somewhere in the news.

Yes, this was going around sometimes back but it was just a suggestion and you still cannot uninstall everything. Also, I don't think it'd be implemented anytime soon stating that an average joe will uninstall system files.

That's Impressive.

Although I'm not a tech geek, Is it possible to do the same on "EYE"Phone ?

iPhone lets you uninstall almost everything without a fuss.

Love your naming convention but sadly no, you can't debloat an "Eye-phone" with this since this is uses Android tools and is only made for same. You cannot do much without jailbreaking, what you can do at best is create a folder in the last menu and put all apps you consider junk there so it'll look less cluttered.

Although I'm not an iOS user due to these restrictions but I heard they made a lot of stock apps uninstallable after 2017.

Thanks for sharing the guide. For those who prefer downloading the tools mentioned above from the source. No offence to the OP.

Debloater

https://github.com/0x192/universal-a...oater/releases

Adb

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/t...-9-18.2317790/

Thanks for sharing. Although the download link for the adb tool does not work anymore from XDA, Androidfilehost must've removed the file hence the drive link. :)

There is one more method to get this done without use of PC. I have tried this in the past and it worked like a charm. Please refer to the below link

https://www.xda-developers.com/deblo...no-root-no-pc/

If we have a rooted Android phone we can tweak around with a lot of settings and uninstall any app. Downside to this is that we will not be able to configure outlook email and other banking apps due to their policy restrictions

Agreed, but since most users don't keep a rooted device in hand this is the safest method imo. And also you don't need any kind of prior knowledge for this, if you follow the instructions carefully then it can be done easily.

Thanks for sharing, I have a Dell 8 inch 3230 tablet stuck on old android version with no support now to newer version of apps, even YouTube does not work any pointers to install custom Rom?

Iphone's do not have any bloatware pre-installed.
For Android, each manufacturer loads up different apps from the factory. (Netflix is pre-loaded in Oneplus, Vivo has some Hot Games/Apps pre loaded in it)

Mod note: Please use Multi Quote [Quote+] or edit original post, instead of back to back posts. Thanks.

Hi,
I'll be glad to help. Can you please share the exact name of the tablet?
Is it the Dell Venue 8?

Well I disagree, I don't think a general user needs "Numbers, Garageband, iMovie or Keynote" and they are bloatware by definition.
There might be some more apps like that, like not necessarily every user uses FruitTV.

Thanks for your time,yes it is Dell venue 8 3230 on Intel processor, Dell abandoned it after release and didn't get any system update.Being a Intel processor it was bit tricky for Custom rom build.

First of all thank you for this very useful piece of tech advice. Can any window PC can be used for this.