Is it possible / OK to uninstall default apps?

frandavid100 · Aug 5, 2009

Hi folks,

I have installed the Steel web browser and like it much more that the one supplied by HTC with the phone... is it possible to uninstall it and just leave Steel?

The above is just an example, my HTC hero has lots of stuff I don't really plan to use, ever. Is there a way to get rid of them FOR GOOD?

Thanks in advance!

dirtybadger · Aug 7, 2009

frandavid100 said:
Hi folks,

I have installed the Steel web browser and like it much more that the one supplied by HTC with the phone... is it possible to uninstall it and just leave Steel?

The above is just an example, my HTC hero has lots of stuff I don't really plan to use, ever. Is there a way to get rid of them FOR GOOD?

Thanks in advance!

I'm so with you on this one...I've added Twidroid and turned off Peep but would love to completely delete it in order to avoid any conflicts. Also the default messaging program is a bit of a dog when compared to Handcent SMS.

There used to be a way on the WinMo 6 phones to change the registry values to allow deletion of TouchFlo UI programs but I've not been able to find anything online yet. Maybe it's too early in the phone's life for anyone to have cracked this.

At the moment, the only thing I can do is to make sure that notifications from default programs that I have replaced with better ones are turned off so that they only come from the new software.

I realise this doesn't help you (or me) very much but I'd pay good money to have an add/remove program that works on the default apps (ASTRO, Appmanager and OI File Manager do not seem to be able to access the default programs for uninstallation).

Does anyone with modding experience (obviously I don't ;D) have any suggestions on how to achieve this?

DBR

suisen · Aug 7, 2009

i have installed QuickUninstall app and it offers all the built in apps as well as the added ones....didn't try to delete any though, they don't bother me that much to toy with it just yet

dirtybadger · Aug 7, 2009

Kewl...thnx for the heads up. QuickUninstall is downloaded. I'll try to get rid of Peep and the inbuilt message program and if something goes wrong I'll be back here begging for more help

DBR

Dayzee · Aug 7, 2009

I've had some success with Root Explorer - I've successfully removed the stocks app and the stocks widget.

Big pointer before you start on removing default or stock Rom apps is to MAKE A NANDROID BACKUP!! You can do this by booting the temporary Recovery image from the rooting thread here
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=543571

That way, if you do mess up, you can restore the Nandroid Backup.

Just ask Auntie Dayzee (BTW I wish I was this sensible with other stuff in my life!! LOL)

frandavid100 · Aug 7, 2009

I need to partition my hard drive and install Windows in order to use Nandroid and root the phone (you need to root it in order to use root explorer right?).

As soon as I find a way for the installer to find my hard drive I'll poke you for advice, thanks dayzee

PatternInChaos · Sep 4, 2009

Does anyone know what's the name of the web'n'walk app? Can't find it in the app folder.

rhedgehog · Sep 4, 2009

It's not an app afaik, it's just a shortcut.
all it does is open the default browser to the t-mob web and walk homepage.

PatternInChaos · Sep 4, 2009

Oh.. do you also happen to know where I can remove it?

Nevermind, found it in the app folder as "urlshortcut.apk"

rhedgehog · Sep 4, 2009

frandavid100 said:
I need to partition my hard drive and install Windows in order to use Nandroid and root the phone

As far as i understand, ADB works in Mac and Linux as well, you just need to prefix the commands with ./

or have i missed something?? there's no point installing windows if you don;t have to....

sprinkles · Sep 6, 2009

how did you do it?

Dayzee said:
I've had some success with Root Explorer - I've successfully removed the stocks app and the stocks widget.

Big pointer before you start on removing default or stock Rom apps is to MAKE A NANDROID BACKUP!! You can do this by booting the temporary Recovery image from the rooting thread here
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=543571

That way, if you do mess up, you can restore the Nandroid Backup.

Just ask Auntie Dayzee (BTW I wish I was this sensible with other stuff in my life!! LOL)

Hi Dayzee,

noob here. i just rooted my htc hero and i have root explorer running.
can you explain how you removed those apps?
I want to ditch peep, footprints and possibly pc synchronization (if this is safe).

I am a little lost in this file directory structure...

...or could you point me to a really great link on this topic?

thanks so much,
sprinkles

rhedgehog · Sep 6, 2009

had success using Paul's method on Modaco...all credit to him in my case.

http://android.modaco.com/content/htc-hero-hero-modaco-com/291521/if-you-want-to-remove-htc-sync/

Used a file explorer (astro in my case) to view the folder /system/app so that i could see what needed to be removed, but am now happily without Peep, Learn More, Stocks,HTC Sync, Mail etc.

adb remount
adb shell rm /system/app/xxxxxx

replace xxxxxx with the app you want to remove

HTC Sync - PCSCII*
HTC Stocks and Widget - *Stock*
Peep - *Twit*
Learn More - Learn*
Footprints - *Foot*
Mail - HtcMail*

there's plenty of others in there as well if you have a look. Just be sure to be careful what you delete, and remember that the app names are case sensitive.

The rooted 2.73 rom from Modaco works fine with this command, and i expect the Modaco custom roms will as well.

Tweedeldee · Sep 6, 2009

I used a similar method to get rid of some HTC app which kept bugging me since I upgraded to the new ROM (Peep, Stock, etc), works perfectly and no problem so far.

It's pretty straightforward, even for a newb like me, but if anyone is interested in the steps I followed :

0- Before doing anything that can mess up your phone, it's recommended to do a nandroid backup.
I'll explain how to backup each removed app individually, but we're never cautious enough !

1- Load the recovery image and mount the system:

Code:

fastboot boot cm-hero-recovery.img
adb shell mount /system

2- Get the list of app installed, spot the files you want to delete

Code:

adb shell ls /system/app/

3.a - First alternative : Backup on SDcard and delete

Mount sdcard.
Create a folder saveHtcApp.
Move (copy + delete in one go ! ) files from system/app to saveHtcApp

Code:

adb shell mount /sdcard
adb shell mkdir /sdcard/saveHtcApp
adb mv /system/app/Stock.apk /sdcard/saveHtcApp
adb mv /system/app/Stock.odex /sdcard/saveHtcApp
adb mv /system/app/com.htc.StockWidget.apk /sdcard/saveHtcApp
adb mv /system/app/com.htc.StockWidget.odex /sdcard/saveHtcApp

Then check that all worked right by doing some ls (Yeah, I'm found of double-checking)

Code:

adb shell ls /sdcard/saveHtcApp
adb shell ls /system/app/

3.b - Second Alternative : (don't do it after 3.a !) Backup on Computer and delete.
(on Windows, I assume Linux's folks won't need explanations to do the same on linux.)

Create a folder saveHtcApp : in the following example, in the working directory.
(Of course, you can make it anywhere, but it make the path smaller to work on working directory... and move the save folder afterwards)
Then pull (copy) the files from the phone to the computer.
Just to make sure, a little dir to see that all files were actually copied on the computer.

Code:

mkdir saveHtcApp 
adb pull /system/app/Stock.apk ./saveHtcApp
adb pull /system/app/Stock.odex ./saveHtcApp
adb pull /system/app/com.htc.StockWidget.apk ./saveHtcApp
adb pull /system/app/com.htc.StockWidget.odex ./saveHtcApp
dir

Then, delete them :

Code:

adb shell rm /system/app/Stock.odex
adb shell rm /system/app/Stock.apk
adb shell rm /system/app/com.htc.StockWidget.odex
adb shell rm /system/app/com.htc.StockWidget.apk

4 - Reboot the device !

Hope that could help someone.

Tested on Brown French Hero, 2.73.405.5 ROM offi.

Dayzee · Sep 6, 2009

Brill stuff - I'm rubbish at the coding stuff - where does this back the apps up to? and what does the dot do? and if its pulling to the PC, does the slash have to go the other way?

Dayzee

Tweedeldee · Sep 6, 2009

Good question, I should have explain that a little

I'll update my previous post.

For the slash-thing... I'm always switching from windows to linux to windows, so I'm always confused between which slash use.
When I have issue with /, I try with \.
BTW, in the present case, I run all those lines on Windows 7 without any issue.

Edit : post step-by-step edited. Is it clearer ?
If anyone see anything to change or explain, just say so.

sprinkles · Sep 6, 2009

removing htc hero sucka apps

Tweedeldee said:
Good question, I should have explain that a little

I'll update my previous post.

great and thanks. while you were sleeping, i went in and did some removals; just the apk files. what about the .odex files?

I took these apps out at the knees
-peep
-footprints
-tutorial

any other suggestions?
thanks.

Tweedeldee · Sep 6, 2009

Hey, I wasn't sleeping ! Just finding a way to save on sdcard instead of pc and re-redacting the post ! >.<

I didn't knew what was an odex file either, so I googled it :
http://groups.google.com/group/android-framework/browse_thread/thread/70ee61a240edc84a?pli=1

They are created for a final system image. They are not required --
if they don't exist, the system will create them in /data during
boot.

I backuped them too, just in case...

For the suggestion, the list to remove is pretty simple : anything you don't use at all.
As long as you keep the backups, there shouldn't be any problem to put them back if there is any issue.
Of course, any app used by other apps must stay on the phone.

I removed :
Stock
Peep
Footprints
Tutorial
HTC Sync

rhedgehog says he removed HtcMail too.

sprinkles · Sep 6, 2009

removing htc hero sucka apps

Tweedeldee said:
Hey, I wasn't sleeping ! Just finding a way to save on sdcard instead of pc and re-redacting the post ! >.<

I didn't knew what was an odex file either, so I googled it :
http://groups.google.com/group/android-framework/browse_thread/thread/70ee61a240edc84a?pli=1

I backuped them too, just in case...

For the suggestion, the list to remove is pretty simple : anything you don't use at all.
As long as you keep the backups, there shouldn't be any problem to put them back if there is any issue.
Of course, any app used by other apps must stay on the phone.

I removed :
Stock
Peep
Footprints
Tutorial
HTC Sync

rhedgehog says he removed HtcMail too.

thanks dog.
technically, if you wipe the device and start over all these apps are reinstalled from the get go.

this list is great. i am going to do some more cleaning and move onto the next task of partitioning my storage.

dayzee did a wonderful job for that newb root posting...i wish there was locked how to list that was easy enough for anyone to:

-1- root the htc hero (completed)
-2- remove and replace htc's crapware apps (maybe this thread is part 2)
-3- partition storage (not seeing an easy way yet but downloaded apps2sd)
-4- recommended replacement apps and next steps

i'd be glad to help put this together, make it easy to read, make it pretty, etc.

-sprinkles

Tweedeldee · Sep 6, 2009

Not a bad idea, you're on your way !

I want a pretty, clean, post with colors, pics, screencasts, videos, nice fonts...
Good luck with that !

Dayzee · Sep 6, 2009

sprinkles said:
thanks dog.
technically, if you wipe the device and start over all these apps are reinstalled from the get go.

this list is great. i am going to do some more cleaning and move onto the next task of partitioning my storage.

dayzee did a wonderful job for that newb root posting...i wish there was locked how to list that was easy enough for anyone to:

-1- root the htc hero (completed)
-2- remove and replace htc's crapware apps (maybe this thread is part 2)
-3- partition storage (not seeing an easy way yet but downloaded apps2sd)
-4- recommended replacement apps and next steps

i'd be glad to help put this together, make it easy to read, make it pretty, etc.

-sprinkles

I agree - I've added Tweedeldee's method to the Hero Wiki which is here

http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Hero

and has some other guides - Sprinkles, there is also a Dayzee Walkthrough for installing MoDaCo Roms, including some tips on Aps2SD partitioning methods.

Hugs - Dayzee xxx

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