uninstalling pre-installed apps without modifying /system or loosing ota-updates

[speeduploop]

Hi people!

Now that we have temporary roots (like GerdaRoot or my adbroot-script) we can uninstall pre-installed apps without loosing ota-updates...

Because: all apps are installed on the /data-partition - even the pre-installed.

(the app-copies on /system are only the 'installation-media'...)

So the simpliest way to get rid of unwanted apps (in my opinion) is:

-- get temporary root:

--> you can use my 'adbroot'-script (https://www.magentacloud.de/share/sojjvrui22 in 'root-scripts'-folder) or 'GerdaRoot' (http://r.gerda.tech/)

-- now:

adb pull /data/local/webapps/webapps.json

--- open webapps.json with a 'not-to-stupid' text-editor (on Linux nearly everything will do - on Windows you can use Notepadd++)

--- It should be an editor which preserve the line-endings.

--- now for every app you might want to uninstall, change the field/line

"removable": false,

to

"removable": true,

-- now:

adb push webapps.json /data/local/tmp

---> we now have a modded copy of webapps.json on device's temp-folder...

-- now to replace the 'real' one:

adb shell
cd /data/local/webapps
cp webapps.json webapps.json_bak
rm webapps.json && cp /data/local/tmp/webapps.json . && chmod 600 webapps.json && chown root:root webapps.json

-- now check permissions

ls -la webapps.json

should respond with something like

-rw------- root     root        57563 2019-03-23 15:58 webapps.json

(date and time may differ - but the '-rw------- root     root' - part needs to be exact!)

---> if so, and no errors until this point, you may

adb reboot

After the reboot the apps are still there --- but the 'options'-menu of the app-drawer now allows you to uninstall them in a clean way like any other app...

Because we didn't modified the system-partion:

-- ota-updates are not prevented

-- pre-installed apps will re-install on factory-reset

But until factory-reset the apps are gone and the space on /data is freed.

happy hacking,

speeduploop

[Ivan]

YOU'RE GREAT!!

[MeMC]

Thank you very much!

Only one small addition for newbies. After succesfull checking permissions before "adb reboot" it's needed to exit the shell:

---> if so, and no errors until this point, you may

exit
adb reboot

[speeduploop]

Yes - sorry.

It's either:

exit
adb reboot

or simply:

reboot

(without the 'adb' in front)

Thanks for mentioning it.

mfg, speeduploop

[Veera B]

Legend..worked flawlessly 

[Ivan Alex HC]

Here the guide with a video:  https://sites.google.com/view/bananahackers/customizations/uninstalling-pre-installed-apps

Il giorno mercoledì 26 giugno 2019 10:48:34 UTC+2, Veera B ha scritto:

Legend..worked flawlessly 

[speeduploop]

so you link your copy of my guide under my original guide... :D

--> BTW: the easiest way now would be to use my 'adbroot' app - or even better: my 'ftpd' app combined with 'Filezilla'...

(Filezilla has a remote-edit feature for files... this way no manual down-/upload of the file or adjusting of permissions needed)

On Wednesday, June 26, 2019 at 12:39:38 PM UTC+2, Ivan Alex HC wrote:

Here the guide with a video:  https://sites.google.com/view/bananahackers/development/customizations/tweaks-and-tricks/root-tweaks/uninstalling-pre-installed-apps

[Joe Hu]

Is there any method to remove hidden apps ?

All apps are available on WebIDE, but some of them, may be by the region policy, e.g. google assistant, youtube, dangerdash are completely hidden on menu screen, so I cannot even right click the "Options" to remove them.