How To Uninstall Apps on Android That Won’t Uninstall.
If you’re here, you probably realized that you can’t uninstall one or two of the apps you want to get rid of. There are many reasons for uninstalling unused applications, especially as they take up space and system resources that you might need.
In this article, we will show you how to uninstall apps on Android that won’t uninstall.
Why Can’t You Uninstall Some Apps?
You cannot uninstall a particular application for three main reasons:
This is a system application. They are required for your phone to function. They usually play a critical role and you want them to stay with you. This is a pre-installed application. Pre-installed apps are installed on your device prior to purchase. Even if you reset your phone to factory settings, these apps will remain. A classic example of a pre-installed app that many users are trying to uninstall is Samsung Pay. It is protected by administrator rights. Some applications require administrator rights to work, which can protect them from being deleted.
How To Disable Apps
Some of the pre-installed apps just won’t budge. Instead of going through the lengthy process of removing them manually, you can simply disable them. Disabling an application prevents it from using system resources, but it remains installed and still takes up space on your hard drive.
To disable the application:
Go to settings. Click Applications.
Find the app you want to disable and tap it. If Delete is grayed out or missing, select Disable.
Some apps won’t even let you turn them off. In this case, try the following methods to remove them.
How To Uninstall Apps With Administrator Privilege
Certain apps have been granted Android admin access. They won’t let you remove them unless you revoke their admin rights. Sometimes malware can also use administrator rights to wreak havoc on your phone. If you are concerned that you have malware, check out our guide to remove it.
To do this:
Open settings. Click Biometrics & Security.
Select More Security Options.
Tap Device Administration Apps.
Find the app you want to uninstall and tap the slider to revoke administrator privileges. On some models, you may have to click on the app and select “Deactivate”.
Go back to Settings> Apps.
Find the app you want to uninstall and tap it. Select Remove.
How To Remove Apps with Android Debug Bridge (ADB)
This is the longest running option, but is guaranteed to remove any app from your Android phone. We recommend that you exercise caution if you try this approach because uninstalling the wrong apps can disrupt some of your phone’s functions. Note. You can also use ADB to install applications.
First, you need to enable USB debugging on your phone. To do this:
Open Settings> About phone.
Scroll down and tap software information.
Click on the build number 7 times and enter the security PIN when prompted. You will see the message “You are in developer mode”.
Go back to settings and click on developer options.
Find USB debugging and tap the switch to enable it.
Connect your phone to your computer and make sure USB file transfer is enabled. You may receive the message “Allow USB debugging?” If so, select Allow.
Then you will need to get the Android SDK Platform Tools. Go to the official Android ADB software download page and download the package for your operating system. Android provides software for Windows, Mac OS and Linux. Unpack the files from the downloaded archive.
To uninstall applications using this software, you need to know the package name of the application. Finding the name of a package is tricky, but luckily, the App Inspector can reveal it for you. To install it and find the package name of the application, do the following:
Open the Google Play store. Find the Application Inspector. Install and open the application.
Find the app you want to uninstall and tap on it. Pay attention to the package name.
Then use the command window (or terminal on Mac) to access your phone via ADB. To do this:
If you are using Windows, open the folder containing your ADB files, hold down the Shift key and right-click anywhere on the screen. Select Open command window here. On a Mac, open the Terminal app, type cd, press the Spacebar, and drag the ADB folder into the Terminal window. Finally, hit Enter.
In any window, type ./adb uninstall, press the space bar, type the package name and press Enter.
For example, if you want to uninstall the App Inspector, enter:
./adb uninstall bg.projectoria.appinspector
If successful, the window should display the message “Success”. That’s it – your app will be uninstalled.
Stubborn Apps Begone!
Hope one of these methods helped you uninstall this stubborn app. The ADB tool takes the longest to set up, but after that it is easy to uninstall all unused applications.
How To Uninstall Apps on Android That Won’t Uninstall
How To Uninstall Apps on Android That Won’t Uninstall