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Help Uninstalled apps

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pdale915

Lurker
I have a Samsung S4 with ATT. Why cant I uninstall many of the preloaded apps to where they stay uninstalled? Each time I do, next time I open phone there they are again waiting for an update..such as Flipboard, GroupPlay, S Translator, etc.. I do not use them and many more.

Thank you
 
That sounds like "bloatware". The junk US carriers pre-install to make money. It's ironic that they show up as "your apps" when you didn't download them, don't use them and can't uninstall them! The best you can hope for without rooting your phone is to disable them. You won't gain any storage space back but at least they won't be running in the background killing your battery.

If you have an app called DT Ignite on your phone disable that first. Here's why.

http://www.droid-life.com/2014/12/02/dt-ignite-verizon-tmobile-bloatware-malware/

I'm not sure if ATT uses it or not.
 
I'm sure S Translator is something that usually comes with Samsung devices, same with anything "S". Other things are probably third-party, partnered with the carrier, e.g. if it's Verizon, it bet it's got "NFL Mobile" bloat.
 
Verizon is particularly bad when it comes to bloatware. I couldn't believe how much junk I had to disable on my Maxx 2. I had sort of forgotten how bad it was because I had been on Windows Phone for years which allowed you to uninstall all the added junk except for My Verizon (which is sort of useful) and Verizon Backup (which I never used). NFL Mobile was always the first to go!
 
There is a paid app at the Play Store called Package Disabler pro that will let you disable most pre installed apps that you normally can't through the Application Manager. Works on non rooted Samsung devices.
I've never used it because I always root and used Titanium Backup to disable them, but from what I've read it works perfectly.

This is free version
 

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I was able to disable every app I wanted to disable within the app manager in 5.1.1. I don't know if that's possible older versions or not.
 
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