Weird Apps on new Galaxy S4

[jcordery]

Just bought the new Galaxy S4. After turning it on, connecting to my wifi and google account I noted weird apps on the phone. These aren't your standard camera, email, Play store, etc. kind of apps, but specific apps that would need to be download by a user from the Play store. Things like game apps are my brand new phone and I didn't download them! They are apps I've never seen before so it isn't my Google account doing this. And here's the kicker: when I try to uninstall them, they are uninstallable...I even did another factory reset but no success, they are still there. The company I bought the phone from assured me it was a brand new phone (no refurbished crap). It's driving nuts, please help!

 

[DonB]

Without knowing which apps they are it is hard to say, where did you buy the phone from, what version is it, and what carrier are you on ??

Welcome to the site

 

[lunatic59]

Welcome to Android Forums, jcordery.

Most likely they are apps installed by your carrier in the system partition. That is why they cannot be uninstalled or a factory reset doesn't get rid of them. You can remove the shortcuts on the home screen and ignore the apps in the app drawer, or you can look into rooting your phone to completely remove them.

I would caution you about app removal from the system folder. Sometimes these seemingly unnecessary apps share services with other parts of the OS which could disable certain features you wouldn't want disabled. If you do go that route, it would be best to check back here before you do anything permanent.

 

[jcordery]

Several of the games seem to be trial downloads from Gameloft. Here are the names: Brain Challenge 4, Little Big City, Littlest Pet Shop, Shark Dash, Wonder Zoo, Uno. The rest are what I consider normal apps that should be there but which I didn't download, like Trip Advisor, S Health, and YouTube. As you can see these "weird" apps are certainly not carrier apps. I can't even suppress their function by turning them off. They are just there.

 

[lunatic59]

Carriers often strike deals with game developers to include trial versions of the games as promotion. YouTube is actually part of the Android Package, so I would guess that's where they came from. You should be able to ignore them without consequence.

 

[jcordery]

I bought the phone from a company is the US and had it shipped to Australia where I live. The carrier is Dodo. Here's the deal: I have two galaxy phones in my house both on Dodo. The other phone that doesn't have these "weird" apps was bought here is Australia. Do you think the company I bought the phone through had made the deal and that's why they are on the phone and uninstallable?

 

[lunatic59]

Yep. That's the most likely scenario. For an app to be "uninstallable" is must be in the system partition. This way, you can't remove it without rooting and a factory reset will put it back. It's really just annoying bloat and nothing to worry about.