Bloatware—all those useless apps that were installed on your phone before you got it—can take up a lot of space, even if it’s just a bunch of visual icons. Deleting these apps is a good idea, and not just for your personal sanity and satisfaction.
Where does bloatware come from?
It’s possible to get bloatware from many different sources. Sometimes, they can be installed by malware, or they may be downloaded as part of a package deal with another app, hidden in the terms and conditions. But a lot of bloatware is installed on your phone as soon as you get it. Think of all the preinstalled apps that come with your phone that you’ve never used. These can be third-party apps or games or just tools that aren’t that useful.
Such apps can come preinstalled by either the phone manufacturer or your cell carrier. They often aren’t causing any direct harm, but they cause visual clutter, may take up valuable space, and can even lower your phone’s performance. As for why these apps are included on your phone at all, there are many potential reasons. Maybe the phone provider thinks you really want to use Bixby. Maybe they’re being paid by other parties to install their apps on your phone. The bloatware isn’t malicious; it’s just an eyesore.
Being an eyesore is reason enough to get rid of bloatware, if you ask me. Even if the only thing bloatware does is clutter your home screen, that’s more than enough reason to delete it, or at the very least, disable it.
Some apps on Android cannot be uninstalled
Unfortunately, there are some apps on Android that you can’t actually uninstall. It depends on your manufacturer and your device. Google Pixels, for example, cannot delete the Chrome, Maps, Drive, or Calculator apps. Some apps on the Pixel can only be deleted during the initial setup of the device. Galaxy phones have their own set of default apps that can’t be deleted either, but there are a few that are easy to get rid of: Samsung Free, Global Goals, Samsung TV Plus, Samsung Kids, and Samsung Shop.
You can easily uninstall apps by holding down on their icons on your home screen and selecting “Uninstall.” If you want to delete apps through your phone settings, the process is slightly different on Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy. For Google Pixel, go to the Google Play Store and tap the Profile icon. Tap “Manage apps & devices > Manage”; select the app you want to remove, and tap “Uninstall.” For Samsung, go to “Settings > Apps”, tap the app name, and tap “Uninstall.”
If you have a lot of apps you want to uninstall all at once, it might be easier to do it from the home screen. If you hold down the icon for an app, one of the options you have available is “Select.” If you choose this, you will then be able to tap a bunch of other app icons to select them all at the same time. Then you can just tap “Uninstall” to have all of those apps uninstalled simultaneously.
Now, technically, there is a way to delete even the preinstalled apps that you normally wouldn’t be able to, using a tool called Android Debug Bridge, or ADB. But ADB is an advanced tool, and using it requires a lot of know-how. It is an option, if you’re willing to learn some new tricks, but if you’re not looking to get that deep into your “hackerman” era, you might just want to disable those apps instead.
How to disable apps on your Android device
Disabling apps is not the same as deleting them, and not as helpful. Unlike deleting an app, disabling it only hides its icon from your home screen. But it’s technically still installed on your phone and still taking up space. That said, if there’s nothing else you can do about it besides disabling the app, it’s still better than nothing. At least you won’t have to look at it. Other than system-critical apps, you can disable most apps on your phone.
On a Pixel, go to “Settings > Apps > See all apps” to find the apps you want to disable. After you select them, just tap “Disable” at the top of the screen. For Samsung, go back to “Settings > Apps”, find the app you can’t otherwise delete, and select “Disable” instead. You can also find the app on your home screen, hold down the icon, and select “Disable” or “Remove” from there. Either option will at least hide the app from the home screen.
Ultimately, bloatware is not doing a whole lot of damage to your phone (unless you got it from malware, then you might need to be worried!). But its very presence is a nuisance, and unfortunately, there’s not much you can do besides deleting or disabling bloatware every time it’s added to your phone. If you want to do more than just disable it and you don’t trust yourself with Android Debug Bridge, there is one other relatively simpler method to delete bloatware you can try.
