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Help adb uninstall failure on Android 4.4.4 (bloatware removal)

B

Bimbumbam

Lurker
Hello,

I am trying adb to remove bloatware, this is the situation:
  • Android 4.4.4, Samsung Galaxy Lite (SM T113)

  • USB cable is connected, can see tablet files

  • USB debugging is enabled on the tablet

  • adb is installed, start-server ok

ex. package to uninstall com.google.android.apps.books :


~$ adb shell pm uninstall com.google.android.apps.books //enter

Failure //output

Why can't adb uninstall this package?
 
Probably because contrary to what some slightly glib tutorials say you cannot completely uninstall everything on all devices without root.

The closest you can get would be "adb shell pm uninstall user 0 com.google.android.apps.books". That won't remove it from the system partition (but you can't use the space in the system partition anyway, and you wouldn't gain any space if you could remove it), but it should uninstall it for the current user (i.e. you). So just give that a try, and then don't lose sleep about the fact that there's still a copy hidden in the ROM because that makes no difference to you.

Of course simply clearing the app's data, uninstalling any updates and disabling it will have essentially the same effect as well, so you could just do that.
 
Indeed I am doing this for the sake of learning, rather than making (little) space on the device.

Tried your suggestion, same result:
~$ adb shell pm uninstall user 0 com.google.android.apps.books
Failure

In some other forum there is a comment about 4.4.4 not supporting multi-user yet.
But the user 0 part of the command did not generate errors.
It did when I typed --user 0 instead (again, command detail from another forum).

So the next step in learning, since you mention it, is to see the system partitions in the tablet. :)
 
Bimbumbam said:
Hello,

I am trying adb to remove bloatware, this is the situation:
  • Android 4.4.4, Samsung Galaxy Lite (SM T113)

  • USB cable is connected, can see tablet files

  • USB debugging is enabled on the tablet

  • adb is installed, start-server ok

ex. package to uninstall com.google.android.apps.books :


~$ adb shell pm uninstall com.google.android.apps.books //enter

Failure //output

Why can't adb uninstall this package?
Click to expand...
why dont you just root the device as u can uninstall the bloatware that way
 
Ethan_the_axolotl said:
why dont you just root the device as u can uninstall the bloatware that way
Click to expand...
There are many reasons people might not want to root.

Also it makes no real difference since even when rooted you couldn't actually use the space freed up in the system partition (OK, Titanium Backup Pro has an option to make an app a system app, but honestly the space it saves is negligible, and it wasn't always reliable the last time I tried it). As long as the app can't run that's enough in reality.

(And for background, I'm speaking as someone who used to edit custom ROMs to his own taste before installing them, and has edited the bootloader of my first android phone. So not someone who is opposed to root on principle, just someone who recognises that it's not for everyone, and would always recommend that anyone contemplating it making sure they know what it involves, what complications it might cause, and have a clear idea of why they want to do it before they start).
 
Hadron said:
There are many reasons people might not want to root.

Also it makes no real difference since even when rooted you couldn't actually use the space freed up in the system partition (OK, Titanium Backup Pro has an option to make an app a system app, but honestly the space it saves is negligible, and it wasn't always reliable the last time I tried it). As long as the app can't run that's enough in reality.

(And for background, I'm speaking as someone who used to edit custom ROMs to his own taste before installing them, and has edited the bootloader of my first android phone. So not someone who is opposed to root on principle, just someone who recognises that it's not for everyone, and would always recommend that anyone contemplating it making sure they know what it involves, what complications it might cause, and have a clear idea of why they want to do it before they start).
Click to expand...
true point but however you can unroot your device after you have removed the bloatware
 
Ethan_the_axolotl said:
true point but however you can unroot your device after you have removed the bloatware
Click to expand...
But the person who finds root intimidating, or too complicated, isn't going to want to do that. And someone who is worried about warranties (which won't apply in this case) doubly won't want to, especially since unrooting may not help with warranty violation (in many devices it leaves traces which may be hard or impossible to remove).

I would actually say that bloatware removal is probably not a good enough reason for doing it, unless you are interested in root for other reasons or already comfortable with it. Compared to what you can (in most cases) do without root I'm not convinced it is worth it.
 
If you have TWRP custom recovery, you don’t need to root. In TWRP go to mount and select system as well. Then go to advanced->file manager, navigate to system/app or system/priv-app and delete the folder containing the app. The app's data should also be deleated (data/data). After that go to wipe, tap advanced wipe and check dalvik/cache followed by swipe to wipe and reboot system.

20210219_060559.png 20210219_060739.png 20210219_060652.png

Screenshot_2021-02-19-06-13-00.png


If you wish to reinstall stock recoery just flash the stock boot.img. using Odin.

Personally, even as a rooted user for many, many years, I would not choose this route. It's definitely not for the novice.


https://www.reddit.com/r/androidroo...ooting_is_not_enough_to_remove_bloatware_the/
 
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