Database Users

Root Access, Can't Uninstall Bloatware

So I'm rooted on my Evo and as far as I can tell I've flashed the stock rom that should allow me to uninstall the bloatware, however, I dont see any uninstall options for that crap like facebook.
Anything I'm doing wrong?
I followed this guide to root and flash. I've tested my root using the "Terminal Emulator" and typing "su" and it returned a "#"
Thanks XDA, I love most of you

You know you need to uninstall from your computer using adb
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

I've installed Android Debug Bridge but I was under the impression that rooting my phone would allow me to do things on my phone, such as install and uninstall what I want.
Could you explain the process more or send me to a link that does?

If you want to do it in android you either need console program or a file manager. Root explorer us the best one and easiest. Looks just like a typical explorer, tap the rw/ro button for read only or read write and delete away.
You have to have completed the second part of unlocking nand. Otherwise your only option is using a computer and adb in recovery.

They dont make this easy do they? I would have figured Android to be very open for things like this, I'm starting to feel like I have to "jailbreak" again, only this time it's to remove crap.
This seems like so much work to get rid of facebook and sprint tv.

It took me 10 minutes total including the file downloads. Its a one time thing and there is a learning curve with any new platform.

Aridon, is there a free explorer you'd recommend? I dont mind buying software, just want to make sure I'm not mistaken before I buy something that is worthless to me.

You get a trial on any purchased software in android. After its installed if you go backto market and pull it up again there will be a refund option. So no risk. I think its for 24 hours.
As for a free one I'm not sure when I first started messing around with android I bought it because people said it was the best. I don't have any regrets.
Just remember to tap the top button for rw. Long press brings up options. Menu had an option for multiple file select and other goodies. its very powerful.

Aridon, thanks for everything, just 1 more question. I bought it, and the program is slick. I went to /system/app and deleted facebook, is that all I need to do?
Cause I still see it in the menu
I may have done a bad thing, my phone just reset itself.... I need a trainer to be with me at all times.

So after that restart, the files I thought I deleted are back.

Yes just go into system/app, make sure it says rw up top which means read write access, then select the file, general an .apk and .odex and delete. Not all files have both and some roms don't have any .odex files.
I'll be up for another 30 min or so and I'll keep an eye on this thread in case you have any questions.

Ok that means the second part where you unlocked nand wasn't done correctly. Make sure you go slow, download the files again because they are different and watch for errors.
The only hiccup I had was when I copied the new recovery and other files to my sd and tried to adb push it gave me some kind of can't find file error. I had to reboot and it was fine. It send after the boot I could go back in and adb the files it must have been some kind if a refresh error on the sd while in recovery.
Edit. I'm responding on my evo and in bed so excuse errors.

Go to sleep, I'll resume this thread tomorrow if I'm still having trouble. You Sir, are a life saver. This is why XDA is THE FORUM for anything mobile.

Good night then.
I know it can be a bit of a pain to do this but I promise you it will be worth it. Things have only just started and the custom roms are already awesome. Once we get the source code things are going to be insane over here.

Got it! Everything is working well. However, now my voice mail says it can not download messages.... Rebooted and it's all good.
Facebook and Twitter Free! Also, no more Sprint crap.
Life is good, again.

Another terminal substitute is Android Commander, out is naturally a file explorer that allows transfer and deletion off whatever you want. This program runs in your pc.
As Was mentioned above, root explorer is the easiest way.

Aridon said:
If you want to do it in android you either need console program or a file manager. Root explorer us the best one and easiest. Looks just like a typical explorer, tap the rw/ro button for read only or read write and delete away.
You have to have completed the second part of unlocking nand. Otherwise your only option is using a computer and adb in recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So with Android - one simply deletes the application rather than un-installing it? That doesn't cause problems with the system thinking the application still exists somewhere?

DrawnToScale said:
So with Android - one simply deletes the application rather than un-installing it? That doesn't cause problems with the system thinking the application still exists somewhere?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on where it is installed. /system/apps do not allow you to just uninstall you have to delete it. One this is done its gone. Obviously if you delete phone.apk you are going to have issues or if you delete a process that is running you may get a force close but for the most part unless you delete an app like people or dialer you are fine. After the single force close everything works properly.
Some custom roms moved programs to /data/app which allows them to be removed the other way.

Best Method to Install APK?

hey guys, was googling this question and i came across three ways. I was wondering if the simplest method achieved the same result as the hardest method with no issues. The first method was through android market, second was something about downloading the sdk, than command prompting etc etc, and the last method (which i prefer) was just moving the apk file over and clicking on it (this is the method i prefer).
are there any drawbacks to each one or are they all the same? not sure why theres the command prompt one if you could just move it over and click it...

boogieboogie said:
hey guys, was googling this question and i came across three ways. I was wondering if the simplest method achieved the same result as the hardest method with no issues. The first method was through android market, second was something about downloading the sdk, than command prompting etc etc, and the last method (which i prefer) was just moving the apk file over and clicking on it (this is the method i prefer).
are there any drawbacks to each one or are they all the same? not sure why theres the command prompt one if you could just move it over and click it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
first of all:
"downloading the sdk, than command prompting etc etc", that is what we call an "adb push" into the phone, now for the drawbacks:
1. through market download and install, you need a steady connection while the apk is downloaded, interrupted connection means failing installs
2. adb push needs a little more knowledge on commands, and if you don't know any, you might just mess up stuff, or even not installing apps when you think you installed it
3. moving apk file is the easiest, but if the SD gets corrputed or a bad transfer, then you will be installing corrupted apps that will not work
well ,thats the drawbacks of the 3

noobandroid said:
first of all:
"downloading the sdk, than command prompting etc etc", that is what we call an "adb push" into the phone, now for the drawbacks:
1. through market download and install, you need a steady connection while the apk is downloaded, interrupted connection means failing installs
2. adb push needs a little more knowledge on commands, and if you don't know any, you might just mess up stuff, or even not installing apps when you think you installed it
3. moving apk file is the easiest, but if the SD gets corrputed or a bad transfer, then you will be installing corrupted apps that will not work
well ,thats the drawbacks of the 3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the reply
for the third one, if the SD gets corrupted than a restore would fix the cd card correct? and if i do somehow install a corrupted app, just uninstalling it would solve it right?
but than, why do all the videos on youtube tell me that i should download appinstaller from the market to install apk files when apk's can be installed just by selecting them?

Droid Exlorer > Batch Install

would it can help?
open2go make it easy to download link on your phone.
1) access open2go.com on your phone and create shortcut on homescreen
2) type open2go.com/APK_URL on addressbar of desktop broswer.
input 4 digits on the phone.
download. install. done.
example:
open2go.com/angrybird_apk/ht tp://download.getjar.com/downloads/web/adp/107604/AngryBirds_1.4.2.apk
(remove space ht^tp )

boogieboogie said:
thanks for the reply
for the third one, if the SD gets corrupted than a restore would fix the cd card correct? and if i do somehow install a corrupted app, just uninstalling it would solve it right?
but than, why do all the videos on youtube tell me that i should download appinstaller from the market to install apk files when apk's can be installed just by selecting them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if the app corruption appears (not the SD card), the app will keep on FC or making your phone look stupid, and yeah uninstalling it may help, but if it fails, you will have to manually remove it, and that I am not sure bout how cause it never happens to me. Next bout the SD corrupt, no, restoring will not help since it is the SD's partition in problem, you will have to do some formatting
using appinstallers have a advantage of keeping record of your activity(depending on the app you use), or even do batch installations, which is faster than average one-by-one installs. Imagine downloading something to your pc via internet, would you use a download manager of some sort, or just use browser's download manager?

[Q] Setting the Xperia Play to install to the sd card

Hello,
So I'm about to take the plunge and pick up an Xperia Play in the next few days. With it I'm planning on getting a 32GB microSD (class 4) card. What I'm concerned about though is whether I can fully utilise the card.
What I mean is, is that I've read that some apps can not be directly installed onto the SD card, forcing you to first install them onto the pitifully small internal storage before moving them over to the card. Other apps can not be moved to the SD card AT ALL, creating situations where you may actually run out of internal space and not even have enough to apply phone/OS updates. This has me slightly worried. What's the point in buying a nice big SD card if I can't fully utilise it?
Now, I know things are possible if you root the phone, but I'm not interested in doing that (I know, call me weird if you want, but I have no interest in rooting the phone when I get it). What I want to know is, can I do the following things without rooting the phone?
- Move certain apps/games to the SD card (I realise some vital apps can't be moved for technical reasons)
- Force the phone to install new apps/games directly onto the SD card
Thanks in advance for your time!

firstly, this is Gingerbread, and with Gingerbread means we are given the full authority to install apps on the phone or on the SD card. The problem comes from developers themselves. Whether an app is installed in the internal memory or the SD card is solely determined by the developer because of a string/command they have to put on their application's manifest files. that string gives us the option, so if they have not included that string on their apk's (like Asphalt 6 for example with a size of 29MB!!!), we will have no choice to select where to install it--with a default location on the internal memory!
This one is a good read on what i'm trying to say:
http://muffinresearch.co.uk/archives/2011/02/02/android-force-moving-apps-to-an-sd-card/
there is a hack however, something like pm SetInstallLocation 2 through adb, it's somewhere here.. something like THIS it changes/forces the install location to SD card..

Use link2sd. I have 370 apps installed and still have 239mb of internal storage
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

Except link2sd requires root access...

So there's basically nothing I can do about this without rooting the phone or fiddling with the adb? That if the app or game doesn't provide the option or where to install, I'm stuck?
Balls.
There must be a solution...how are you guys not running out of space on this thing?

most, if not all of us have rooted our phone.

White_Pointer said:
So there's basically nothing I can do about this without rooting the phone or fiddling with the adb? That if the app or game doesn't provide the option or where to install, I'm stuck?
Balls.
There must be a solution...how are you guys not running out of space on this thing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The facts are, without root access you don't have enough control over your phone to do it. And if you don't want to use adb, you might as well sell your play and buy a feature phone, because thats all you have atm lol
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

Create a partition of your SD card then use link2sd.. For now maybe you don't have interest on rooting your phone but after a few days you will realize how important for us to have root access..

I thought the whole point of Android (as opposed to, say, iOS) is to give the user control. If I can't do something as simple as moving apps to an sd card without rooting the phone, it seems Android has failed in that regard. Even my 2 year old Omnia 2, running the dated Windows mobile 6.1 OS, allows me to choose where to install things and allows me full access to the file manager to move data where I want without ever needing to root it.
I'll probably still get a Play, and maybe adb is an option, but it still seems an annoyance to enable the option which should be there already.

White_Pointer said:
I thought the whole point of Android (as opposed to, say, iOS) is to give the user control. If I can't do something as simple as moving apps to an sd card without rooting the phone, it seems Android has failed in that regard. Even my 2 year old Omnia 2, running the dated Windows mobile 6.1 OS, allows me to choose where to install things and allows me full access to the file manager to move data where I want without ever needing to root it.
I'll probably still get a Play, and maybe adb is an option, but it still seems an annoyance to enable the option which should be there already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your missing the point, root isnt a bad thing or a hack, google always ment to supply android rooted like any linux distro. But they took root away from the end user to protect them. Malware wise a unrooted phone is a safe phone. It's then the end users problem if they root there phone and have all there passwords stolen. There is no comeback on google. The nexus phones are easy to root because google makes it easy, phones made by companies like HTC are harder to root because they want to protect there software. Although HTC and Sony have made a U-turn recently, allowing for end users to now bootloader unlock there phones and even supporting 3rd party rom developers.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

Unfortunately rooting a phone isn't quite as simple as logging in as the root user in linux. If you could "log in" to your phone as root to perform certain actions such as moving apps to an sd card, and then "log out" when you are done, back into your regular phone user mode, then it would be a different story. As it stands now, you get one thing wrong in the root process and you could lose vital functionality, or in the worst case can brick your phone.
I don't call that "protecting the end user", I personally think that whole concept is a load of bull. If they wanted to really protect the end user they'd make it easy to log in as root, but require the user to contact support for the password or something and get them to accept a T&A first so they understand the implications of it. That way the phone doesn't permanently stay in "rooted" mode, and you only need the root access temporarily so your chances of contracting any Malware are slim.
Doesn't that make a lot more sense?

narflynn619 said:
firstly, this is Gingerbread, and with Gingerbread means we are given the full authority to install apps on the phone or on the SD card. The problem comes from developers themselves. Whether an app is installed in the internal memory or the SD card is solely determined by the developer because of a string/command they have to put on their application's manifest files. that string gives us the option, so if they have not included that string on their apk's (like Asphalt 6 for example with a size of 29MB!!!), we will have no choice to select where to install it--with a default location on the internal memory!
This one is a good read on what i'm trying to say:
http://muffinresearch.co.uk/archives/2011/02/02/android-force-moving-apps-to-an-sd-card/
there is a hack however, something like pm SetInstallLocation 2 through adb, it's somewhere here.. something like THIS it changes/forces the install location to SD card..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the ADB Hack:
Install Android SDK, download the recommened files.
Open up command prompt (if you're in windows) goto adb, its located [drive installed on, normally C]:\[wherever you installed it, i.e. program files, or if you unzipped it, unzip folder]\android-sdk_r12-windows\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools (where you have it installed might differ from mine. If you don't have the android sdk library, this makes it worth it.)
when you get to the folder you have adb located, and your phone is plugged in (USB Debuging needs to be turned on (settings -> application -> development)),
type:
adb shell
(you'll have to wait a little bit)
when you see the command prompt change to "#"
then type:
pm setInstallLocation 2
reboot
you don't need root, and it's easy to do

[Q] Deleting phone, camera, etc apps?

I just purchased a NC yesterday and I've had a great time playing around with it. I am running the Nook 1.4.1 OS internally and using my SD card to boot MIUI 1.11.4.
I've searched all over the web and I've not been able to find any straight answers one way or another -- is there a way to delete the apps that are obviously meant for a phone? The camera, phone, dialer, messaging, etc apps are pointless on the NC and I'd like to get rid of them. Especially since I can't just delete them off of the desktop in MIUI.
Has anyone been able to do this before?
Thanks a ton!
Erica

AFAIK, there is no way to do this without titanium backup. TiB is available in the market for root users

If you are rooted and have superuser installed, you can use root explorer or es file explorer (with allow root explorer and mount file system as writable Checked in settings) to delete system apps in system/apps. Removing system apps may render apps incompatible with device. Use TitaniumBackup for insurance.

Yeah, I tried all of that but I couldn't get system rw permissions on anything.
Finally found a few tutorials on editing custom roms, and I did that to delete the pointless apps. Getting ready to flash it back onto the NC, so we'll see if it works.
Luckily, I haven't put anything on the nook at all that I would need to save/back up. All I've done the past 48 hours since getting the NC is try out different custom roms to see which one I want to stick with. LOL. And I'm doing it all on the SD card so I can keep the native nook functionality.
Thanks for the replies though. <3

Let us know which ROM you choose. Just curious...
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

hwong96 said:
Removing system apps may render apps incompatible with device. Use TitaniumBackup for insurance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seconded! I deleted Gtalk one time (it was constantly FCing even when it was running in the background) and the android market stopped working until I put it back on.

There is no real good reason for doing this and a lot of bad ones. They do not use up much if any resources and some apps may make calls to them even though they are not technically used. I would leave well enough alone....

I agree with leaving most stuff alone, but the problesm I'm running into is that the new market fc's. I can uninstall the updates to market and it works fine, but market updater updates it again shortly thereafter. I need to freeze or uninstall market updater, but anything I've tried to use can't mount /system. Any ideas?

GrStead123 said:
I agree with leaving most stuff alone, but the problesm I'm running into is that the new market fc's. I can uninstall the updates to market and it works fine, but market updater updates it again shortly thereafter. I need to freeze or uninstall market updater, but anything I've tried to use can't mount /system. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can uninstall the market updater with Titanium Backup.

mounting /system is quite easy with root explorer. I've experimented a lot with removing system apps. I move them into a new sub folder within /system, so I can put them back if something becomes unstable, but for the most part I run a really light /system folder that boots even quicker than without.
root explorer needs to have the "browse as root" option checked in its settings, and then, when you are in the system folder, you need to press "mount r/w" at the top of the screen.
If you just want to optimize battery, removing phone.apk and telephonyprovider.apk get the best net benefit. After that, I recommend creating a shortcut to Settings/Accounts & Sync so that you can turn off background data and Automatic Syncing when you are not actively using them. They draw a lot of power over the course of a day. I find that with them off during screen off and wifi off, the battery will not diminish for many days.

[Q] ZTE Blade Q mini, problem with storage and app store

Hello I got the ZTE Blade Q mini for my girlfriend but we just got to the point where we can't update any app because we get an error that there is not enough space to install. (while yes, we have at least 3GB of free space in the phone and the SD card).
I checked around and it seem that it is a know problem with 4GB phones and how the playstore use it's temp file and that I can't do many things while the phone is stock.
The question is what I have to do to go through this problem?
Should I root the phone? How this can be done?
Should I use a custom ROM? How this can be done and which ROM?
Sorry if this questions are nothing new, but after searching for a couple of days in the forum didn't found enough info to know exactly what to do, and I'm afraid to start experiment with a phone that is not mine.
Thanks for your time.

Hi Nitro, I know this an old thread but its a problem with most android phones. Just lately I been trying app2sd, which I think is the best of its type? and I now have an embarrassingly large amount of apps on my little blade q mini, but it don't always run that smoothly you know. Just recently I've been thinking of a new Rom and a lean and mean machine. A racer stripped to the bone and ready to roll. But after a while I'll get bored and start tinkering again. just moving a few apps to the SD. and so on...

Hello, we have stopped trying to update, we are ready to trash this phone and get a winphone...
This is stupid and I blame google because the playstore is to blame here, who can't use a temp file in SD card.
Anyway if you have found any rom for the phone I could love to know, I want to give it a go before we change the phone.

nitro912gr said:
Hello, we have stopped trying to update, we are ready to trash this phone and get a winphone...
This is stupid and I blame google because the playstore is to blame here, who can't use a temp file in SD card.
Anyway if you have found any rom for the phone I could love to know, I want to give it a go before we change the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
whichever Rom hooky use your still gonna get the problem with the lack of space for apps

if it is use less space on the phone we will be fine, because we are able to move apps in the sd card, we just don't have enough space in the phone for the google play store to use as temp file. And we can't delete anything because the space is used by core and undeleted apps.

here's a thought. why not bypass the play store. just download the apk file into your sd card and install it? this works for me