Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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Remove preinstalled apps - Universal Android Debloater (github.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

47 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I just discovered this amazing app! It lets you remove (or just disable) preinstalled apps like Facebook, Netflix, etc. and system apps like samsung knox apps, diagnostic, bixby, and even One UI (but you must have installed other launcher). You can’t brick your device, worst case it falls into a boot loop and after 5 reboots it will factory reset.

Debloating your device will make it faster, more private and more secure (less atack surface).

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Always wondered how deeply these types of de-bloating systems affect the OS overall. I'd be keen to give it a go but phone stability is pretty paramount.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Apps that are considered "bloat" are of course installed to the system partition. Which is something you don't have access to. The link to the app is created for your user account during device setup. It's still available to the system. Without root access they're not permanently removed. Removing them from your user means they don't run. If there is an OS update that updates apps for feature or security reasons, they have the potential to come back. You must remove them again. It does actually save battery once they're removed. You can verify this by using debug tools to look at all running services. You also don't need this app to remove bloat. It just makes it easier for those who don't want to use ADB command line.

A majority of apps won't ruin your stability if removed. The only app I know I can't remove is My Verizon Services. If I do, I lose certain functionality. If you're unsure, look up what each app does.