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Root Rooting to remove apps

amlothi

amlothi

Android Expert
Hi everyone,

I am considering rooting my phone. I'm hoping you can give me some information to help make that decision. I've read the procedures and many threads, so I have some idea what I'm getting into.

I have an unlocked unbranded Desire (purchased online, no warranty).

I like HTC Sense. I don't plan to try any other ROMs.


The primary reason to root would be to remove pre-installed apps that I don't want.

1) If I root and remove the following apps (Twitter, Facebook, FM Radio, Stocks, Flickr) will I notice any difference with my phone? Speed? Battery life?

None of those apps are setup with an account or set to sync.

2) If I don't change to another ROM, can I still get OTA updates? I'm assuming the update will "unroot" my phone. So, will the update work correctly? Will it restore the apps I just spent time deleting?


3) Any other things you would recommend I do?
 
Although you need root access to remove system apps, you can actually now do this without rooting. Rooting will not allow OTA updates.

What I will suggest is simpler.

1) Download 19/Nov r14: VISIONary + one click root - Android @ MoDaCo

2) In that app apply temp root (Lost at reboot)

3) Download titanium backup

4) In titanium, go to the Backup / restore tab. Find tehapps individually and press them to uninstall.

5) Reboot.

Simple. No warranty voided. No Recovery changed. OTA not affected.
 
A nice straightforward solution.

Just to add. Some OTA updates (major ones rather than patches) will replace these apps though and you will have to repeat the temp root and deletion process.

Deleting these apps won't get you back any space but may help with battery. I've not got stocks set up to sync but its is still running in the background. Likewise with Friendstream, Peep, Weather, Facebook, Flickr & Footprints. I've not set any of these up at all but they are still in the 'running' section in manage Applications.

I'm not sure you'll notice any difference in performace as they are probably not sucking much CPU time. That said the procedure is so simple that its worth it.
 
GrenW said:
A nice straightforward solution.

Just to add. Some OTA updates (major ones rather than patches) will replace these apps though and you will have to repeat the temp root and deletion process.

Deleting these apps won't get you back any space but may help with battery. I've not got stocks set up to sync but its is still running in the background. Likewise with Friendstream, Peep, Weather, Facebook, Flickr & Footprints. I've not set any of these up at all but they are still in the 'running' section in manage Applications.

I'm not sure you'll notice any difference in performace as they are probably not sucking much CPU time. That said the procedure is so simple that its worth it.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Good additions.
 
As much as I do not care for rooting I did this with my Desire Z just to get rid of the Bell Bloatware and it worked great and was thinking of doing it with my Desire, it clears all of the garbage out of the phone.
 
I rooted just to clean the bloatware out of my HTC Incredible.

There is no need to delete any stock apps. Using Root Explorer go to System>apps> (the apps will appear with the same icon you see on your phone desktop) then rename the .apk to .bak. example if you don't want Skype.apk to run on your phone just rename it to skype.bak this will disable the app. It will no longer run or show up on your phone. If you ever change your mind just rename back to .apk and its up and working again that quickly.

I noticed Superuser.apk is there as well with the ninja icon. I'm now wondering I renamed it to Superuser.bak if that would disable my other apps that only work with Superuser permission.

Comments anyone?
 
TDS40 said:
I noticed Superuser.apk is there as well with the ninja icon. I'm now wondering I renamed it to Superuser.bak if that would disable my other apps that only work with Superuser permission.

Comments anyone?
Click to expand...
Well as one of those apps will be root explorer, you might find it hard to undo if it does...

Edit: Forgot to say, nice tip! But do you need S-OFF to rename a /system file? (or adb)
 
Titanium backup can 'freeze' apps. This essentially does the same thing as your name change idea - stops them running at startup or otherwise. Still keeps them there in case you need them again.

Not sure if this is in the free version though?
 
Yeah, I used to use Ti for that back when I had a stock ROM. But I admit I don't know how that would work with a temporary root - will the app stay frozen or will it come back to life on the next boot (since Ti won't run any more)?
 
Hadron said:
Yeah, I used to use Ti for that back when I had a stock ROM. But I admit I don't know how that would work with a temporary root - will the app stay frozen or will it come back to life on the next boot (since Ti won't run any more)?
Click to expand...

This is what I thought. Hard to know without trying.
 
Hadron said:
Well as one of those apps will be root explorer, you might find it hard to undo if it does...

Edit: Forgot to say, nice tip! But do you need S-OFF to rename a /system file? (or adb)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about the S-off question I'm new to rooting.

I used the one click unrevoked3 program to root the phone.

After you have Superuser privileges then you open Root explorer (from the app store) then go to system>apps> then "mount as r/w" (read/write). Then touch and hold the app of your choosing. One of the options is "rename".

If the phone is not rooted Root Explorer will will not have the option (at the top of the screen to "mount as r/w". It will only have the option to be mounted as r/o (read/only).
 
If for any reason I have a hardware malfunction and need my phone replaced under warranty. It will be very easy to restore all stock apps (by renaming) and also make Superuser vanish. If disabling Superuser disables Root Explorers ability to Read/write. Would that not be a simple way to restore to stock and unroot the phone?
 
You said you have and Incredible, so I just checked and unrevoked does do S-OFF for that as well as rooting. This is different from the GSM Desire, where it only roots.
 
TDS40 said:
If for any reason I have a hardware malfunction and need my phone replaced under warranty. It will be very easy to restore all stock apps (by renaming) and also make Superuser vanish. If disabling Superuser disables Root Explorers ability to Read/write. Would that not be a simple way to restore to stock and unroot the phone?
Click to expand...
There's more to unrooting that just removing the superuser permissions app, so it all depends on how thoroughly they look. The custom recovery would be a dead give away that you'd been fiddling with the firmware, for example.

But an RUU will completely reset everything back to stock.
 
Hadron said:
There's more to unrooting that just removing the superuser permissions app, so it all depends on how thoroughly they look. The custom recovery would be a dead give away that you'd been fiddling with the firmware, for example.

But an RUU will completely reset everything back to stock.
Click to expand...

Will have to read up on the RUU.

I love having my phone rooted wouldn't have it any other way.

But if I ever did run into a hardware issue (not likely because I don't overclock) its nice to know there is a way to return the phone to stock before returning for replacement.

I love the HTC Incredible. I just find it interesting that its OK for Verizon to give problems by installing worthless garbage that will never be used but still runs in the background sucking the life out of the battery at a faster rate. But its not OK for customers to root and delete the unwelcome spam and unwanted programs.
 
danfrance Thank you so much! That does seem like a much better solution. I will try this.

GrenW, thank you as well. Very helpful information to add.

I appreciate all the quick responses.

In looking up this VISIONary app, I am also seeing recommendations for z4root. Is one better than the other?

Also, what about setCPU? Would I need to have my phone rooted all the time to use it? Or could I temp root, set it up, and it will stay that way even if I reboot?
 
z4root permroots. And it doesnt work, for that affect you need unrevoked but if its simply dealing with system apps, its overkill.

Also, I'm not sure if visionary permroot option works, so avoid that
 
Got a crazy question. Is there a way for root users to completely disable all vibration on the HTC Incredible?

When calls connect it vibrates.
When the phone starts up or powers down it vibrates.

I have everything vibration disabled that can be disabled. At least I think I do?
 
danfrance said:
Although you need root access to remove system apps, you can actually now do this without rooting. Rooting will not allow OTA updates.

What I will suggest is simpler.

1) Download 19/Nov r14: VISIONary + one click root - Android @ MoDaCo

2) In that app apply temp root (Lost at reboot)

3) Download titanium backup

4) In titanium, go to the Backup / restore tab. Find tehapps individually and press them to uninstall.

5) Reboot.

Simple. No warranty voided. No Recovery changed. OTA not affected.
Click to expand...

I tried this last night. Worked smoothly, no problems except for in step 4.

After I rebooted, the apps are still there. So, in case anyone else has this probem, you have to long press on the app you want to remove, then choose the last option to force delete. Your phone will reboot.

Is there anyway to use multi select for this? I killed a few apps this way and it worked well, it's just annoying to have to reboot for every single one.
 
Wasnt aware of that. I suppose a wipe of dalvik cache would do t but not having custom recovery, only a factory reset could do that
 
GrenW said:
Deleting these apps won't get you back any space
Click to expand...

This is of interest to me. One of the reasons why I want to delete some of the stock apps is to use those extra spaces for other apps that I'll actually use. So if I delete them, what happens to those extra spaces? And if I don't get them back, how would I be able to utilize those free space?
 
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