[Q] Removing Stock Apps (without editing the ROM & resigning) - Nexus One Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

While I know editing the ROM and resigning the zip file is a method, one I generally use, I get tired of doing it every time since I do the nightly CMs.
Is there an app or something that can be used to remove stock apps? I HATE Amazon MP3 and stock weather and such.
I've heard someone say something about Spare Parts but I don't seem to see any way to remove apps with it....

I use root explorer from the marketplace. It's not free but it's well worth it imo.

trojanz said:
I use root explorer from the marketplace. It's not free but it's well worth it imo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know why I didn't think about that lol.
I have RootExplorer..where exactly would I find those apps though? Looking in the /system folder under apps, I see the system apps but I don't see such apps as Amazon or Weather (though I assume they may be under different names?)

They should be in the /system/app folder, but in their full names. It'll be something like "com.android.MP3.apk"...You just gotta look closely and guess.

wdfowty said:
They should be in the /system/app folder, but in their full names. It'll be something like "com.android.MP3.apk"...You just gotta look closely and guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I found it. Thanks dude.
My question is, how safe is it to remove **** like stock browser (I never use it, only DolphinHD) and stock weather? I know stock weather shows up on the clock so I don't want to like screw it up..

uoY_redruM said:
Yeah, I found it. Thanks dude.
My question is, how safe is it to remove **** like stock browser (I never use it, only DolphinHD) and stock weather? I know stock weather shows up on the clock so I don't want to like screw it up..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I honestly have no idea...Do a nandroid backup and try it. I don't think it should be a problem, but I've never tried

I use gscript app and I have a script that cleans-up all the apps in one click. Since I flash each and every nightly, it would be a pain in the arse to remove the apps one-by-one every day (sometimes several times a day).

You can also use Titanium Backup. Even the free version allows you to uninstall any app including system ones. A more friendly approach would be to use LauncherPro and just hide the apps you don't like

Karolis said:
I use gscript app and I have a script that cleans-up all the apps in one click. Since I flash each and every nightly, it would be a pain in the arse to remove the apps one-by-one every day (sometimes several times a day).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exactly is gscript?
melwan said:
You can also use Titanium Backup. Even the free version allows you to uninstall any app including system ones. A more friendly approach would be to use LauncherPro and just hide the apps you don't like
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I'd rather just dump them completely! lol

what you can do is do 2 things, 1 is do adb pull and pull the app you want to remove then do adb shell then do rm /system/app/<your app want to remove>
if it fails you can push it back in and everything be good
or you can do adb shell
and cp -r /system/app /sdcard*
this should copy the whole app directory and its app in there and then do the
rm command if get FC or any issue jus do
adb push again, or do cp /sdcard/app/nameofapp /system/app
and it puts it back in and things should be good good luck

Titanium will remove the app package for you...very easy & clean.

uoY_redruM said:
What exactly is gscript?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GScript is an app that allows you to execute saved shellscripts.
Here's the script that I use for clean-up:
Code:
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
rm /system/app/Development.apk
rm /system/app/Email.apk
rm /system/app/RomManager.apk
rm /system/app/SpareParts.apk
rm /system/app/SpeechRecorder.apk
rm /system/app/Stk.apk
rm /system/app/Term.apk
Of course you can add or remove any apps you want from the list. Also, if you try it, don't forget to check the box saying that SU is required.
I guess I should add the code to remount the system back to read-only after the execution, but I'm a bit lazy

galaxys said:
Titanium will remove the app package for you...very easy & clean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi!
I have the latest CM6 nightly in my N1, and I don't like some apps included like ROM Manager, Torch, Google Voice (I'm outside of USA), Amazon, etc.
It's safe to use Titanium Backup to delete those apps?
Thanks!

Yes it is.

Related

backup paid games/apps.

Ok, so I just bought my first game from the market and my concern is that I will lose the game because of the amount of times i flash and wipe my phone with new firmwares.
I want to ensure I can back it up properly and would like confirmation if I am doing it right.
Since I can't do a adb pull in the app-private folder, I went into the terminal of my phone and copied the apk from the app-private to the app folder.
I then did a adb pull /data/app/filename.apk file.
So if I wipe and flash my phone and all that jazz, can I merely do a adb push /data/app/filename.apk and then copy it from the terminal in the app-private folder?
or is it more complexe than that?
You do realize that no matter how many times you wipe you can just go back into the market and download again for free?
There are methods of copying and moving files around, but I'm sure most of the developers that make these apps really don't want to talk about it.
flixxx said:
Ok, so I just bought my first game from the market and my concern is that I will lose the game because of the amount of times i flash and wipe my phone with new firmwares.
I want to ensure I can back it up properly and would like confirmation if I am doing it right.
Since I can't do a adb pull in the app-private folder, I went into the terminal of my phone and copied the apk from the app-private to the app folder.
I then did a adb pull /data/app/filename.apk file.
So if I wipe and flash my phone and all that jazz, can I merely do a adb push /data/app/filename.apk and then copy it from the terminal in the app-private folder?
or is it more complexe than that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can wipe as many times as you want. You wont lose your paid apps. They stay in the market as purchased forever and ever. This isnt some crap like EA and their BS DRM limit to 5 installs per owner.
Edit: Even if the dev pulls the app from the market that you have purchased. It will still be available to download for you at anytime. Only time it will vanish is if the dev refunds you at his request.
beautiful
so many new roms to try.
ok so i did my flashing and all and as you all said I was able to redownload robo defense.... but all my saved content is GONE!
So to prevent this in the future, where do the profiles get saved? is there a folder or file? I have managed to backup that zip file that comes with robo defense but it didn't do the trick.
flixxx said:
ok so i did my flashing and all and as you all said I was able to redownload robo defense.... but all my saved content is GONE!
So to prevent this in the future, where do the profiles get saved? is there a folder or file? I have managed to backup that zip file that comes with robo defense but it didn't do the trick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Application Data is stored in /data/data/{packagename}/
jashsu said:
Application Data is stored in /data/data/{packagename}/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beautiful! thanks a lot.
flixxx said:
ok, so i just bought my first game from the market and my concern is that i will lose the game because of the amount of times i flash and wipe my phone with new firmwares.
I want to ensure i can back it up properly and would like confirmation if i am doing it right.
Since i can't do a adb pull in the app-private folder, i went into the terminal of my phone and copied the apk from the app-private to the app folder.
I then did a adb pull /data/app/filename.apk file.
So if i wipe and flash my phone and all that jazz, can i merely do a adb push /data/app/filename.apk and then copy it from the terminal in the app-private folder?
Or is it more complexe than that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont know how i did it but one of my paid apps i do have back-up on my sdcard...the one i have is the snes.apk..in i paid $2.99 for it
Terminal
su
cp /data/app-private /sdcard/ -rf
done.
lbcoder said:
Terminal
su
cp /data/app-private /sdcard/ -rf
done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so what i have to do in terminal cause it tell me not found...more details plz
Do you have apps2sd ?
issue
wel i am having a big issue. i recently flashed my phone. once i installed the cyanogen apk. my market data was one. luckily i downloaded backup for root users. now the problem i am having is when i get to the apps that have backed up as a zip file, how do i install them. extracting leaves me with folders that i cant use. and changing the file extension to .apk doesnt cut it either as it comes back and says installation failed. any clues guys?
To back up private apps
Use Adb pull system/sd/app-private/filename <directory on desktop>
*this is if you have apps to sd
[email protected] said:
Use Adb pull system/sd/app-private/filename <directory on desktop>
*this is if you have apps to sd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
speaking of apps2sd, how does it work exactly?
does it create a link from /data/ to /system/sd or are they seperate folders entirely?
I ask because when i go delete a file from /data/app, it gets deleted from /system/sd/app so i figured there is a link to the SD card, but then when i do a ls -F in /data folder, the app does not seem to be a symbolic link.

Phantom Update Notification on Cyan Builds

I've been experiencing an unusual issue on all Cyan builds since the builds requiring the ADP1 image to be flashed prior to the Cyan image. I'll provide as much info as I can along with my own thoughts
Every morning I wake up to my Market notifications and the number of updates available is always one (1) more than the actual number of " new updates available" in the my downloads section e.g. even when there are no new updates in "My Downloads" I get a notification saying "1 new update available".
I found this on t-mobile help which highlights the same problem however iv not had any residual apps left after uninstalling like these people have.
After a full wipe and reflashing the ADP1 and Cyan image respectively, i have not installed anything from Market this is My Downloads list:
Google Maps (installed)
Google Search by Voice (Installed)
SuperUser whitelist [Blackginsoft] (Installed)
Terminal Emulator [HelloAndroid.com] (Installed)
Yet i still get a notification every night.
I think the issue may be one of the latter two on the list as I know in both cases they are not the same apps as Cyan has included in his build although they do have the same named APK's in /system/app
Cyans Terminal has been modded to look black and have additional features and the one on the Market is a rip from the AOSP tree by HelloAndroid.com.
Cyans SuperUser has been modded to be faster and easier to use and has a new icon of the Ninja, but the one on the Market is the old nasty version from JF old builds that have the blue # as its icon.
I know Cyans included Log Collector is out-dated and new version is available but i have removed this from the settings menu because I dont need it so it cant be causing the problem.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Does anyone know if its any of Cyan's included apps causing the problem?
do you have apps2sd? if so then do
Code:
su
rm -r /system/sd/dalvik-cache
reboot
See if that helps
Good luck
Ah of Course!
borodin1 said:
do you have apps2sd? if so then do
Code:
su
rm -r /system/sd/dalvik-cache
reboot
See if that helps
Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never thought about excess data being held in the cache.
Only question before I do so... will doing this wipe any settings?
Thanks
No. It will take a long time for that first reboot though so don't freak out.
And no guarantee that it will fix it neither but it never hurts to clean dalvik once in a while anyway. Let us know... we may have to try something else if this doesn't work.
Still No Luck
borodin1 said:
No. It will take a long time for that first reboot though so don't freak out.
And no guarantee that it will fix it neither but it never hurts to clean dalvik once in a while anyway. Let us know... we may have to try something else if this doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cleared the cache and rebooted. After reboot went into Market and then came out of it and almost immediately after the Market closing I recieved a notification of 1 new update. Checked My Downloads and everything is reporting Installed.
Whats next?
P.s. Thank you so much for your help.
Very lovely....
Well... just to rule this out
Code:
ls /system/sd/app
ls /system/sd/app-private
ls /data/app
ls /data/app-private
ls /system/app
See if there's anything that you might have install at some point but don't use anymore/uninstalled. Basically, anything out of the order.
Do a nand backup and rm any left-overs that may cause problems if you know what you're doing. Otherwise paste a log/screenshot of your findings and let someone else look thru it.
You could also clear data from Checkin Service, Download Manager, Market and Market Updater. Not sure if this would help though since you're coming from a clean install and wiped multiple times.
Try it out. Always back-up your work though.
Stupid Question
borodin1 said:
Very lovely....
Well... just to rule this out
Code:
ls /system/sd/app
ls /system/sd/app-private
ls /data/app
ls /data/app-private
ls /system/app
See if there's anything that you might have install at some point but don't use anymore/uninstalled. Basically, anything out of the order.
Do a nand backup and rm any left-overs that may cause problems if you know what you're doing. Otherwise paste a log/screenshot of your findings and let someone else look thru it.
You could also clear data from Checkin Service, Download Manager, Market and Market Updater. Not sure if this would help though since you're coming from a clean install and wiped multiple times.
Try it out. Always back-up your work though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering if I ask a pretty stupid question that I've been wondering for some time that may help me understand the structure of how android stores its app data.
For example if I set up a program to do something and it remembers those settings, where does it store that data. Does it write it into the actual apk itself? Or does it store it in another directory somewhere?
If I knew this I could make sure I fully backup and remove every trace of Term.apk, VoiceSearch.apk, and Superuser.apk. I'll then wait for the Market to forget that I have downloaded these items previously (Data which i assume is briefly held on the Google cloud under my Google account) Once that is refreshed i'm going to push the 3 files back to /system/app. I'm certain its one of these apk's causing the problem and this is the only way i can think to make Google forget I have downloaded them previously.
So anyway back to the main question... If for instance Term.apk remembers my settings for background color and font size etc, where does it keep this data?
*Update*
I have backed up and removed the 3 apk's VoiceSearch.apk, Term.apk and Superuser.apk from system/app
Next I tried to remove all traces I could find of each:
Code:
adb remount
adb uninstall com.android.term
failure
adb uninstall com.google.android.voicesearch
failure
adb uninstall org.zenthought.su
failure
I don't know why the uninstallation failed. Is this because Package Manager cannot uninstall system apps?
As these failed I manually removed the data from /data/data/:
Code:
adb shell rm -r /data/data/com.android.term
adb shell rm -r /data/data/com.google.android.voicesearch
adb shell rm -r /data/data/org.zenthought.su
Now there is no trace of each app, however My Downloads in Market still says:
Google Search by voice (Installed)
Superuser Whitelist (Installed)
Terminal Emulator (Installed)
Have I missed something out? Or does Market take a while to update/refresh the My Downloads list?

Paid app backup.

Hi.
I´ve tried to backup a couple of paid apps. Astro tells me the apps are private and won´t backup. On Mybackup Pro the apps are not even on the app list.
Is it even possible to make a backup of a paid app ?
Filgaliel said:
Hi.
I´ve tried to backup a couple of paid apps. Astro tells me the apps are private and won´t backup. On Mybackup Pro the apps are not even on the app list.
Is it even possible to make a backup of a paid app ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your paid apps get deleted, the market will still show them as having been purchased. All you need to do is re-download them.
Wow, I forgot posting this..
The problem is that I paid for a couple of apps while running an Android 2.0 ROM. Now i´m running a hero 1.5 based ROM some of the apps I paid for don´t show up in market.
Did you try to back them up with "Backup for Root"? It should backup every apk without bothering you with protected ones, I think.
Otherwise you can backup all your apps with a single command using adb (I personally do it that way) :
assuming you want to put them in the same folder as Astro...
adb shell cp -r -f /data/app/*.* /sdcard/backups/apps
Hope this helps
Edit : I forgot that the protected apps were put in the app-private folder so to have all apps you have to do two commands, here is the second one
adb shell cp -r -f /data/app-private/*.* /sdcard/backups/apps
I'll try both methods. Thanks a bunch.
swissp said:
Did you try to back them up with "Backup for Root"? It should backup every apk without bothering you with protected ones, I think.
Otherwise you can backup all your apps with a single command using adb (I personally do it that way) :
assuming you want to put them in the same folder as Astro...
adb shell cp -r -f -p /data/app/*.* /sdcard/backups/apps
Hope this helps
Edit : I forgot that the protected apps were put in the app-private folder so to have all apps you have to do two commands, here is the second one
adb shell cp -r -f -p /data/app-private/*.* /sdcard/backups/apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SwissP
Must the phone be rooted to execute this ? I'm running a Droid on 2.0.1 - TIA
swissp said:
Did you try to back them up with "Backup for Root"? It should backup every apk without bothering you with protected ones, I think.
Otherwise you can backup all your apps with a single command using adb (I personally do it that way) :
assuming you want to put them in the same folder as Astro...
adb shell cp -r -f -p /data/app/*.* /sdcard/backups/apps
Hope this helps
Edit : I forgot that the protected apps were put in the app-private folder so to have all apps you have to do two commands, here is the second one
adb shell cp -r -f -p /data/app-private/*.* /sdcard/backups/apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the adb method and after i type out the "adb shell cp -r -f -p /data/app-private/*.* /sdcard/backups/apps"...it says multiple values entered or something along those lines and gives me a list of option with the definition of each -r -f etc. I dont know if that is supposed to happen and if it is...whats the next step.
As well i tried the backup for root users and i had one paid app "crystallight" that i was experimenting with...the crystallight app was backed up as a .zip while majority of the other apps were .apk...
How can i reinstall the crystallight on to my phone...i tried the restore function in backup for root users and nothing happens.
I also tried the method as stated here: http://theandroidsite.com/2009/11/2...ns-for-root-users/comment-page-1/#comment-517
And i get errors with this method too.
I have a HTC Hero rooted and running firmware 1.5
Thanks in advance
Sorry I forgot this thread.
Yes, you will need root as I think you wouldn't be able to access the content of the /data folder without it.
I just tested and found that you cannot use the -p parameter with the app-private folder (I don't think it's needed for the app folder either so you can remove it on both adb commands), sorry for that. I don't know what could be the problem on the Hero though. It should work the same.
About the app in .zip, I'd just try to rename it to .apk and install as usual
Filgaliel said:
The problem is that I paid for a couple of apps while running an Android 2.0 ROM. Now i´m running a hero 1.5 based ROM some of the apps I paid for don´t show up in market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the app require 2.0 (or more likely 1.6) as a minimum OS level then they are not going to show up, or work, if you are now running 1.5. Your phone tells the Market what version of OS you are running, and the Market filters the available apps, based on that.
Titanium Backup
You can use Titanium backup on the market, if your phone is rooted and has SQLite and busybox, to backup/restore all of your apps, and market data for them - just search for it.
But, I dont know how to recover paid apps without buying them again, unless you use this.
Hope this helps.
HunteronX said:
You can use Titanium backup on the market, if your phone is rooted and has SQLite and busybox, to backup/restore all of your apps, and market data for them - just search for it.
But, I dont know how to recover paid apps without buying them again, unless you use this.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what is and how do you know if you have SQlite? is it an app?
Filgaliel said:
Hi.
I´ve tried to backup a couple of paid apps. Astro tells me the apps are private and won´t backup. On Mybackup Pro the apps are not even on the app list.
Is it even possible to make a backup of a paid app ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium backup will work for all paid apps. I just tryed it myself. It makes it nice....
bjtheone said:
If the app require 2.0 (or more likely 1.6) as a minimum OS level then they are not going to show up, or work, if you are now running 1.5. Your phone tells the Market what version of OS you are running, and the Market filters the available apps, based on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, based on your explanation, the above is exactly why you cannot see them in the market. Apps are filtered by version. Even if you have the apps backed up, it doesn't mean you can run the 2.0 apps on 1.5.
SQLite
DeSim said:
what is and how do you know if you have SQlite? is it an app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you open titanium backup and it says YES to SQLite on the opening screen, then its in your rom. I think SQLite is for queries and databases, but is not an apk, but a system binary - sorry if i'm wrong.

removing stock apps

I used the apps flash update for plainjains rom to remove stock stuff but still leaves it in the installed programs list so when I click on it will fc on me so how do I remove then from the programs list
found it thanks
I have found the right file to edit to remove them from the installed list
Will you share what you did, or is it a big secret?
you need to edit the packages.xml in the /data/system folder i think it was if you need help let me know
wouldn't it be easier to just cd to /system/app or /data/app and remove them with "rm -r" in adb
I've never had any problems with leftover icons after removing them that way.
mixedlemon said:
wouldn't it be easier to just cd to /system/app or /data/app and remove them with "rm -r" in adb
I've never had any problems with leftover icons after removing them that way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the issue is not left over icons its when you go to see your installed apps when you go to settings, appications it will still show it there and when you click on it makes it fc
Oh, I see. I misread the post

Removing app icons after uninstall

Hi guys,
I just rooted my new phone using this method -> http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/how-to-root-backup-drm-keys-t3013343
Everything went smoothly so after that I decided to uninstall some sony bloatware I have no use for, such as Albums and what not. After doing so though, I noticed the icons are still in the app drawer, is there a way to actually remove them from there? Or hide them or something?
Cheers!
If the icons are still there, you did not uninstall them.
Because I DID uninstall them (via Titanium) and they disappeared right after the operation completed. Maybe you should just restart the launcher (soft reboot).
davebugyi said:
If the icons are still there, you did not uninstall them.
Because I DID uninstall them (via Titanium) and they disappeared right after the operation completed. Maybe you should just restart the launcher (soft reboot).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's odd then. Because whenever I uninstall one of Sony's apps with Titanium, if I reboot the phone it shows up again in the list as if I did nothing... I've got the PRO version of course. I don't understand what's happening here, root is fully working though.
If I freeze the apps they do disappear. I don't get it :s
Just did a quick test.
Unfroze the app "Album" and wiped cache and data. Uninstalled in Titanium. It shows successful. Rebooted the phone, go into Titanium, it shows it's there installed.... What the hell?
I never had any kind of issue like this with other android devices.
You probably did not go to the root process correctly and the /system is mounted as RO instead of RW.
Did you flashed NUT's dual recovery? And also this:
hi , if you cant ger xposed to work and titanium back up . please go to giefroot folder > files , then open ''cmd'' by holding shift + right click and then copy/paste these following codes one after another.
adb push systemrw.sh /data/local/tmp
adb push modulecrcpatch /data/local/tmp
adb push wp_mod.ko /data/local/tmp
adb shell
chmod 777 /data/local/tmp/systemrw.sh
chmod 777 /data/local/tmp/modulecrcpatch
chmod 777 /data/local/tmp/wp_mod.ko
su
cd /data/local/tmp
./systemrw.sh
i hope it helps , goodluck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
davebugyi said:
You probably did not go to the root process correctly and the /system is mounted as RO instead of RW.
Did you flashed NUT's dual recovery? And also this:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did. I followed the link at my original post. Followed everything and everything went successfully. Titanium has root permissions, it's just the uninstalling of certain Sony apps that are always coming back to life.
What apps are doing this?
Just tried to copy paste a file onto system and indeed it doesn't work. It's mounted as RO apparently. I'm going to try the fix from the first link.
davebugyi said:
What apps are doing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Album, Video Unlimited, Sony Select, all the xperia bloatware
I have tons of bloatware removed, but I tested Sony Select now. Uninstall via TB PRO, reboot, check. App's gone from launcher, TB and system.
I am pretty sure, that your /system partition is not mounted as writable.
davebugyi said:
I have tons of bloatware removed, but I tested Sony Select now. Uninstall via TB PRO, reboot, check. App's gone from launcher, TB and system.
I am pretty sure, that your /system partition is not mounted as writable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're absolutely right. Apparently it's a not so rare issue, I tried to flash a fix from the OP from the thread I posted and it did nothing
Really don't know what to do next

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