Database Develop

[HowTo] Remove preinstalled apps - no need to flash custom roms or gold card root!

I know there are some people like myself who actually like Sense and doing a 'full' root can be daunting, especailly if all you want to do is remove the crud that Vodafone or your Telco install on your branded Legend. But there is no reason this can't be used to remove apps that are in a custom ROM - as far as I am aware! If someone with a custom ROM could confirm this, that would be great!
Righto, as per usual here is the disclaimer - doing this is risky and you do so at your own peril! Don't come crying to me or Paul @ MoDaCo if it bricks your phone (it shouldn't but this is just a warning)
Enough of that you get the idea Now for the fun bit!
First if you are not you'll need VISIONary+ from MoDaCo, at the time of this writing r13 is the latest and is available on page 7.
Please read and check the original post as there may be an updated version. If you are rooted skip to the next step.
This is Paul's guide he done quickly on his G2, it's more of a pictorial guide (same rules apply to the Legend as G2 in this case).
Once installed use the Temproot option, this can take 15 seconds or so to complete, use a Terminal Emulator and type su then return/enter and your $ should change to a # - this means you have temproot.
Go to the market and install SuperUser, Titanium Backup, BusyBox.
Open Titanium Backup allowing it root access when prompted, go to Backup/Restore and scroll to find one of the preinstalled bloatware apps, I chose the Vodafone Music app and the Vodafone Web app.
Long hold on the app you want to remove and scroll down a bit and choose the option "Force remove app (by recovery exploit)"
This will reboot your phone TWICE, you will get the recovery screen up - LET IT RUN IT's COURSE! DO NOT INTERRUPT THIS.
Once it boots back into your normal check that the app is no longer in your App drawer
Repeat for all the Apps that came preinstalled that you don't want, just be careful you don't remove anything that may still be needed!
A huge thanks to Paul at MoDaCo for this ingenious hack and the Titanium Backup, BusyBox and SuperUser developers for their hard work in writing their apps which also allow us to easy do this
Oh and you can use the Temproot on boot to have a sortof but not fully permaroot

Great work. I'll try on CM 6.1 RC1. One thing though...If I'm rooted I presume I need only the Titanium backup not VISIONary or other tools, right?

Yes you need the other apps, but you can remove them afterwards if you want. You'll need SuperUser to be able to grant Titanium Backup access, and Titanium Backup requires BusyBox to be installed - Titanium Backup gives you the option to install BusyBox if you press the 'Problems?' button under the Overview tab.
PS: you can use the free version of Titanium Backup for this exercise.

Yes, thank you. I knew about busybox and the option to install it from Titanium. SuperUser I have it already since I'm using CyanogenMod RC1 and it is included in the ROM (I think it is OK like this). So only Titanium (+busybox) needs to be installed.
I'll give it a try and let you know the results. I'll try to remove a rather large application (for ex Google Maps) and I'll install it afterward on the sdcard (since it is system appl, it cannot be moved directly to sdcard)
Later edit: IT WORKS! So I've tried to (and succeeded) remove 2 "system" applications: Google Maps and Calculator. Both were removed and the free space is now available (before 80 Mb free, after 91.2 Mb free).
There was only one issue with Maps, the icon still showed up in the application drawer and it was working (even after going through all above). After several checks I found the reason. The Maps were installed twice...the version included in the CM ROM (that was deleted by this procedure) AND the updated Maps (it once asked for upgrading the application from the market and I did that). After removing the "system installed" version of Google Maps, the "updates" remained. I went to Settings-Applications-Manage Applications and I found Maps there. I've uninstalled the updates then rebooted the phone. After that the icon was gone completely.
To conclude, for CM ROMS (or for all phones that are already rooted and have already the SU application), the steps to be performed for removing a system appl are:
1. Install Titanium Backup
2. Press (as instructed) "Problems" button. This will install a working version of busybox.
3. Check if the application you want to remove, has also updates (from Market or some other places) installed. If YES, go to Settings-Applications-Manage Applications and uninstall all the updates.
4. Start Titanium Backup and perform the steps indicated in the first post by TheLegendaryJay.
So it is working on custom ROM's as well and you don't need VISIONary or other application/tools.
All credits go to Paul, CM team and this whole community, the ones which made such things possible for our phones. TheLegendaryJay, thank you also for sharing this with us. Perhaps for rooted phones it is easier to remove applications with adb commands, but some are maybe not so technical to install the SDK or know how to use it (I can be counted as one of them), or they just might want to remove an application when they don't have a pc with SDK nearby.

yap, can confirm this. works great on cm 6.1 rc1. thanks for the hint

For you guys who are rooted - why not just flash the overlay filesystem patch, enable it, and then use any file explorer and go to /system/app/ and delete the apps you dont want? just a tip, it's much easier.. (and takes less time)

Because one of the reasons for which I wanted to rip out an application from the ROM is to gain some more space... By using overlay system, as I understood, you're practically duplicate the whole system to make it accessible for writing so I don't know if you gain some more space. Eventually you'll have less. Or, if that space is on the sdcard, that does not suit me also cause as I know, is working slower from there. Anyhow, I don't want to detail this here cause we'll be off-topic.

Rapier said:
Because one of the reasons for which I wanted to rip out an application from the ROM is to gain some more space... By using overlay system, as I understood, you're practically duplicate the whole system to make it accessible for writing so I don't know if you gain some more space. Eventually you'll have less. Or, if that space is on the sdcard, that does not suit me also cause as I know, is working slower from there. Anyhow, I don't want to detail this here cause we'll be off-topic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I understand it, the system folder is only linked so the phone believes it's on the SD-card. This should mean, no extra space is taken (except for the few kB that makes this possible). i could be wrong, but I use system overlay and I see no whatsoever decrease in performance. Not in benchmarks nor in usage.
If you are rooted - and dont want system overlay, I still think there is a better wway - ADB! just mount system, cd to system/app, ls it and rm whatever apps ypu dont want.. no need for multiple reboots - quick and effective

adb way might be quicker but it might prove to be ineffective (at least for me it was). In order to remove an application, you must check its filename (with ls command). I've tried to remove Facebook and Twitter applications using adb remove and guess what...they're still there. I admit I might have done something wrong, what I'm saying is that through this new method described above, someone is able to remove an appl by chosing it from a list. For the ones that don't feel so confortable using adb, this is an alternative
Sent from my Legend using XDA App

Rapier said:
adb way might be quicker but it might prove to be ineffective (at least for me it was). In order to remove an application, you must check its filename (with ls command). I've tried to remove Facebook and Twitter applications using adb remove and guess what...they're still there. I admit I might have done something wrong, what I'm saying is that through this new method described above, someone is able to remove an appl by chosing it from a list. For the ones that don't feel so confortable using adb, this is an alternative
Sent from my Legend using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it comes to ADB, you must write the filename exactly as it is, if you want to remove Facebook.apk you must rm Facebook.apk, not facebook.apk or just rm Facebook*
What I do, I ls all files, copy the filenames I want to remove into into a txt file. ex. "rm facebook.apk Torch.apk voiceDialer.apk AndroidTerm.apk" and so on. When I flash a new rom, i just copy that file string and remove em all with that one command ofc. I ls it after and check if there is anything new I want to remove, but I get rid of most of it in a few seconds. (good tip!)

I understood that. Now I've checked again and I know what happened...the same thing I said above. The appl was removed also with adb command but the updates of that appl were not. I've removed the updates from Settings and after that the whole appl was gone (Facebook in this case). So both metods work, everyone can choose what he likes more
Anyway this was much more to test if it's working on custom ROMs as was asked by TheLegendaryJay and less as of providing an alternate way for rooted owners.
Sent from my Legend using XDA App

You both are wrong. Overlay is just an overlay... it uses several file systems or parts of file systems (directories, files), merge them and show them to us as one new merged file system. The principle is such that if U have one read-only and one read-write file system merged together, all writes are then performed to that read-write one. If you'd like to delete one file from read-only portion, that action is noted on read-write portion and your system doesn't t see that file again through merged file system whereas it is in fact still there...

BlaY0 said:
You both are wrong. Overlay is just an overlay... it uses several file systems or parts of file systems (directories, files), merge them and show them to us as one new merged file system. The principle is such that if U have one read-only and one read-write file system merged together, all writes are then performed to that read-write one. If you'd like to delete one file from read-only portion, that action is noted on read-write portion and your system doesn't t see that file again through merged file system whereas it is in fact still there...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for this, great info. Now I'm glad I use adb and not file overlay for removing files

Why's that? Overlay is really handy thing for testing... U can make the system think that the file is not there but in fact is. If something goes wrong (boot loop) because of that, U just disable overlay and U R back on with origial state. After U are satisfied with changes, U can merge those changes into read-only file system via recovery mode.
Sent from my HTC Legend

BlaY0, you're totally right. Overlay is a great thing for testing (and by the way many thanks you for what you did). But if you're not a tester, just an enthusiast who look for new stuff for his phone, overlay could be much more than he needs.
I'm looking for example to have as much free space in memory as possible. REAL free space. If I'm using overlay, that will not be gained right? The read only files will still be there, only the overlay will show them "deleted". So...what I'm doing instead is that I'm flashing one of the existing ROMs (as per my preferences - CM 6.1 RC1 for ex.) that will not "brick" my phone, I customize it with widgets and applications as I like, than I start deleting what I don't need. For sure I can use overlay for that, but I can do it also without it. This topic presented an alternative for doing that, to the known adb commands. Also from what I've understood, the method in this topic is more aimed to the ones that are not (or don't want to be) rooted. And for those, the adb method doesn't work

You sure are totally right, but then again if you deleted some apk from /system/app that is needed for some other apk and U didn't know about that, you could end up with a so called boot loop. And if this is done by some noob, the simplest way for him to restore would be to wipe and reflash the original ROM. Overay can prevent such accidents. Actually even with overlay you can save space especially where is needed the most, that's on data partition - there's no need for dex in dalvik-cache any more etc. and surely you get more free ram as that app isn't loading any more. For the system partition it actually doesn't matter if it is full in fact why it shouldn't be full. When we get our S-OFF the first thing I will do is to rearange mtd partitions shrinking system and extending data coz now I have like nearly 50 MB free on system partition that I can not use wisely.
Sent from my HTC Legend

Thanks, VF music and web app not banished from my Legend

Okay, I must be doing something wrong, but I have no idea what. I have the same ROM as Rapier on my Desire, I have Titanium Backup and I did everything he said above. The pre-installed apps are uninstalled with TB (Car app, News and Weather, Facebook, Twitter, Google Voice, Maps, Quickoffice 2.0 which I have no idea what really is), I clear the Dalvik cache and many mega are freed. Then if I reboot, they're back. Like nothing happened.
Do you have any idea or should I give more details? Thanks for the help, guys.

Have you checked also if those applications you're removing do not have some updates installed? Because if they do, you'll get them back on the phone. First remove the updates from each application (from normal "Application" management), then remove the application residing in system with TB.
PS. QuickOffice is a suite program similar with MS Office, that allows you to read (and in the paid version also to write) office documents (.doc, .xls, .ppt...etc)

Thank you for your quick reply.
Yes, I have checked and uninstalled all updates. They are all with the basic version.
About Quickoffice, I know what it is It's just that the one that came with CM 6.1.0 RC1 cannot be accessed, it can only be used to open supported file formats (I just found out after posting here ). I'd prefer the normal Quickoffice with which I can access my dropbox and Google docs too, that's why I wanted to uninstall this in the first place.

[Q] Fixing the "process.com.google.process.gapp" error message

After TRYING all kinds of suggestions, none of which work, I found one that says:
- copy all google talk service and google talk app to system/app folder
- Grant all possible privilages to them
- Restart the phone.
In what folder is google talk service and google talk app located?
How do you grant them "all privledges'?
Seems to me the last time I attempted to CUT AND PASTE a file to the system/app folder, it wouldn't let me.
This message has come up EVEN AFTER I have installed numerous ROMs.
I appreciate any help!

Did you flash stock in between flashes?. To move a file rlto system/app use adb or super manager
If I have helped press thanks.

Clean install of ROMs
Every time I flash, I go back to stock and do a Master Clear, so my flashes are clean. I use Titanium BU Pro to reinstall apps, BUT do NOT restore system data, just app data.
I'm thinking that the problem MIGHT be related to the syncing of my calendar with the google calendar I have online. Triied doing the data clear, etc....
Like I said, I've tried everything except what I posted in my first post. Problem is, I don't know where the files are located so that I can transfer them to the system folder. This seems like the only other "solution" I haven't tried at this point.
Hate to do it, but I'm thinking about going back to stock 2.2 and see if that makes a difference.

Cannot reinstall several apps; Help needed

After rooting, I backed up all apps and bloatware with Titanium Backup Pro, and then uninstalled the bloatware. I want to revert back to my stock state by reinstalling all bloatware, unrooting, reformatting, and rerooting and then using Psouza4's script method instead.
Obviously, I was unaware that I wasn't going to be able to reinstall several of these apps even though they are backed up.
I've been on this for HOURS. I obtained ALL the .apks of the bloatware from the Droid 3 System Dump that was posted here a while back. I moved all the .apks and .odexs of the corresponding apps into system/apps by using Root Explorer.
1.) When I use Root Explorer to try an install an app (DLNA or Flickr Authenticator, for example), it simply says "Application not Installed." It can install other apps such as Kindle and Books, but it cannot install the same ones that Titanium Backup has a problem installing as well So I tried Droid Explorer.
2.) Droid Explorer: Same thing. It can install most apps but not DLNA, Flickr Authenticator, and a handful of others. Crashes whenever I try to. "Droid Explorer has stopped working." So I learned how to use ADB.
3.) ADB: Whenever I try to install the app by "adb install DLNA.apk", it shows the progress and then gives me the error of [INSTALL_FAILED_DEXOPT].
Like the others ADB can install anything else except for the "problem child" list. Here's the list of the ones I cannot find a way to install without an error or a crash --
DLNA 0709.69
DLNASystemService 1.0
GoToMeeting 1.0
Guided Tours 2.3.4
Help Center 2.3.4
IM 3.0.4.6
IM Presence 2.3.4
News 2.3.4
Picasa Authenticator 2.3.4
Social Messaging 2.3.4
Social Messaging Service 2.3.4
Social Networking 2.3.4
Social Sharing 2.3.4
Social Status 2.3.4
Twitter Authenticator 2.3.4
Please help...and thank you in advance.

Forgot to mention; I've tried the method where you long-press the .apk and .odex using Root Explorer and then changing the permissions and then rebooting, but even after a reboot the app does not appear in my drawer.

Solved. Took me forever to figure it out. Thinking I should write a guide on how to do this for all the unfortunate souls who uninstalled apps instead of freezing or using Psouza4's script.

Lyxdeslic said:
Solved. Took me forever to figure it out. Thinking I should write a guide on how to do this for all the unfortunate souls who uninstalled apps instead of freezing or using Psouza4's script.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind sharing your solution? I have the same issue and am leary of trying Psouza's app because my carrier is Bell not Verizon (he's warned be this could cause a boot loop!). So I only tried replacing system apps that I deleted with no success.

Use psouza4 safe bloat remover in the Dev section, it will also recover your missing apps, make backups, symlink them correctly and more.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1238472
-smc

somemadcaaant said:
Use psouza4 safe bloat remover in the Dev section, it will also recover your missing apps, make backups, symlink them correctly and more.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1238472
-smc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just realized his ONE-CLICK method is what allows system/app to be restored if you have the System Dump available. People kept telling me "yea use his script, it'll put everything back to normal." No, it won't. His script can rename all apps on the list from .apk to .bak, but the script itself will NOT restore anything. His ONE-CLICK method, however, will, assuming you have all the system files available.

UnhappyDroid3User said:
Would you mind sharing your solution? I have the same issue and am leary of trying Psouza's app because my carrier is Bell not Verizon (he's warned be this could cause a boot loop!). So I only tried replacing system apps that I deleted with no success.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.) Download Root Explorer
2.) You need to get the .apk's and their corresponding .odex's into system/app. If they are on your computer, connect your phone via USB and drag them into a folder on your SD card (I made one called System Dump).
3.) Use Root Explorer to browse to the folder you put all the .apk's and .odex's in, and press the menu button and click "Multi-Select", and select all the apk's and odex's you want to install, then click "Move" or "Copy"
4.) Browse back into the system/app folder and click "Paste." (If it doesn't let you, make sure you have "r/w" clicked at the top right or you won't have permission to make alterations to that folder)
5.) Now find the .apk you want to install that you just pasted. For example, DLNA.apk. Click the file, and press "Install." It should give you a list of the permissions that the app needs. Hit ok/install, and it should say "App was not installed" or "Installation unsuccessful."
6.) Now, press and hold the .apk file you just tried to install. A menu will pop up. Click on "Permissions." Make sure ONLY the following boxes are checked - Owner: Read and Write, Group: Read, Others: Read. Everything else is to remain unchecked. Press "OK"
7.) Now, press and hold the .apk file again, but this time scroll down to "Change Owner." Change both Owner and Group to "0 - root" (it's the top-most option). Click "OK."
8.) Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the apk's corresponding .odex file.
9.) Change back to "r/o" at the top right of Root Explorer and exit.
10.) Reboot your phone.
11.) Once booted, your system file should be installed properly.

Lyxdeslic said:
I just realized his ONE-CLICK method is what allows system/app to be restored if you have the System Dump available. People kept telling me "yea use his script, it'll put everything back to normal." No, it won't. His script can rename all apps on the list from .apk to .bak, but the script itself will NOT restore anything. His ONE-CLICK method, however, will, assuming you have all the system files available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He provides links to Verizon's system files in one of the posts.... so if you're with Verizon you're golden.... not so lucky if you're with Bell Canada like I am.

UnhappyDroid3User said:
He provides links to Verizon's system files in one of the posts.... so if you're with Verizon you're golden.... not so lucky if you're with Bell Canada like I am.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Additionally, the program has several menu items and links in the text that you can use to download these files. But again, only for Verizon users because we have different apps.

UnhappyDroid3User said:
He provides links to Verizon's system files in one of the posts.... so if you're with Verizon you're golden.... not so lucky if you're with Bell Canada like I am.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unhappy, did you try out the steps I wrote out for you? They work like a charm. A bit time consuming, but it gets the job done regardless. Let me know if you need help or if you can't figure it out.

[Q] Contacts process force close after removing some bloatware

Would really appreciate some help.
Removed some bloatware via Titanium Backup, and of course, I got trigger happy.
process com.motorola.contacts (Contacts force closes)
process com.motorola.conversations (text messaging force closes)
So I have Root Explorer and got a hold of a system dump for Bionic.
I started by moving YahooContacts.apk (one of the apps I guess I shouldn't have uninstalled) back to the /system/app folder...but it doesn't show up anywhere as an installed app (just that the .apk was moved). If I try to actually select the .apk and try to install it says "Application did not Install" but the .apk IS moved.
Processes still don't work after moving.
I would appreciate any help, at this point I can't text or place calls. Thanks in advance, this forum helped me with the entire root process.

You cannot freeze/remove ANY of the other authenticator apps, it will cause contacts to freeze. I ran into that on the Droid 3.

First off there is no need to delete/remove, Freezing them accomplishes the same thing but most importantly it allows you to reverse what you have broken by Defrosting it. Do yourself a favor stop deleting and start freezing. If 16GB is not enough internal storage for you then you might consider an external HD from Seagate!!!!!!! LOL

I realize I made a big mistake. That's totally on me But it's in the past
Do I have any options to get this working again? I am definitely going to freeze apps in the future.
If I did delete an authenticator process, is there any way I can get those back? Would they be available through a system dump?

I believe that you need to make sure the permissions are correct after reinstalling an apk to the system/app folder. I've never done this, so I'll let you do the research. I've heard you can use root explorer to do this or a script with terminal emulator. Sorry I can't help more

I have the exact same problem, and am attempting to troubleshoot this issue on a different forum, however I am not allowed to post links but I'll try and keep you updated.
Edit: It's not a problem with permissions, I've made sure that they're correct with root explorer. It seems to be a Bionic-specific issue. I might just return it at this rate.

Thankfully, there's an unroot to use. I think im in the same boat. re-added all the yahoo related .apk and .odex and set permissions/owner, still nothing. Unroot and hope the Verizon dude is in a good mood!

Except now ADB is throwing "ERROR: ADB could not be granted root access" when trying to unroot
excellent.

Someone in the thread I was talking about had some success, its on droidforums dot net, droid bionic forum, bionic support, HELP! accidentally deleted IMSCServer from Droid Bionic thread. Maybe you can try something I haven't.

just do a factory reset thats what i had to do as I had the same problem.

I tried that, it didn't work... Did you actually get your system apps back? Did you do it through settings or the recovery menu?

i froze my bloat thats prob the difference and it was yahoo that caused the problem for me...

GLIMMERMAN76 said:
i froze my bloat thats prob the difference and it was yahoo that caused the problem for me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really begs the question why anything with Yahoo is required by the system. Furthermore, why did they make it so frustratingly hard to reinstall system apps on the Bionic? Really disappointed in Motorola for this.

Here is the fix for Contacts, restore these files and set correct permission, reboot and presto Contacts fixed

That did it.. I have been looking for the YAHOO Contacts.apk file for 3 days with a bloody wortheless phone that I spent 300 shells on!
BTW I agree with Glimmerman, WHY DID YAHOO get involved in contacts? Talk about a sneaky way in integrate them.

0mie said:
Here is the fix for Contacts, restore these files and set correct permission, reboot and presto Contacts fixed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry if I'm newbtastic here but what do I do with these APKs and odex. I tried installing with ES explorer but it would not install. Am I supposed to move these files somewheres? /system/app then try install ? Thanks

answered my own question. I WAS newbtastic afterall. LOL. Thanks anyways. This did it. Dang Yahoo!

lol yep my girlfriend did this yesterday fortunately i have a bionic too so i just pulled the files from my phone and pushed to hers.
damn you yahoo.
also, apparently go contacts EX will 'fix' the problem (you must use their app however)

phil7280 said:
Sorry if I'm newbtastic here but what do I do with these APKs and odex. I tried installing with ES explorer but it would not install. Am I supposed to move these files somewheres? /system/app then try install ? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait - WHERE are we putting the Contact fix and do we extract it once we've moved it?

0mie said:
Here is the fix for Contacts, restore these files and set correct permission, reboot and presto Contacts fixed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm confused as to where to put this. I downloaded it and it downloaded into tapatalk downloads. Where do I move it and do I extract it?

[Q] Deleted SecCalendarProvider.apk and now calendar doesnt work on M8

Before I state the problem, I would like to say this is self inflicted and I should have been more careful. But hindsight is 20/20.
I recently got an M8. Rooted, TWRPd it, and deleted a bunch of bloatware (or so I thought) using the TWRP File Manager. In the process, I think I deleted the Calendar Provider service apk. Now my calendar doesnt work and I randomly get this message your Exchange service has stopped unexpectedly eventhough, my exchange email is coming through.
I was a dummy and didnt do a backup thinking I am only deleting a bunch of unwanted stuff. What can I do now. I tried downloading some version of this SecCalendarProvider.apk from the internet and put it in the system/apps folder but nothing has changed. I dont think it even got started.
What can I do at this point? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

luxinseattle said:
Before I state the problem, I would like to say this is self inflicted and I should have been more careful. But hindsight is 20/20.
I recently got an M8. Rooted, TWRPd it, and deleted a bunch of bloatware (or so I thought) using the TWRP File Manager. In the process, I think I deleted the Calendar Provider service apk. Now my calendar doesnt work and I randomly get this message your Exchange service has stopped unexpectedly eventhough, my exchange email is coming through.
I was a dummy and didnt do a backup thinking I am only deleting a bunch of unwanted stuff. What can I do now. I tried downloading some version of this SecCalendarProvider.apk from the internet and put it in the system/apps folder but nothing has changed. I dont think it even got started.
What can I do at this point? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This section is for HTC One (M7)

go to the M8 forum and request an apk for that file and see if you can copy it back to your phone. you will need a file explorer with root access.
For future tinkering, use a program like Titanium Backup that allows you to "freeze" and backup apps, in addition to deleting them.
You can freeze suspect apps which will remove them from being seen in the OS, but it won't delete them. If no problems occur after a while, you can safely delete it. But if you discover a problem, you can "defrost" the file and you are good again. you can also make backups of apps before deleting them.

mike-y said:
go to the M8 forum and request an apk for that file and see if you can copy it back to your phone. you will need a file explorer with root access.
For future tinkering, use a program like Titanium Backup that allows you to "freeze" and backup apps, in addition to deleting them.
You can freeze suspect apps which will remove them from being seen in the OS, but it won't delete them. If no problems occur after a while, you can safely delete it. But if you discover a problem, you can "defrost" the file and you are good again. you can also make backups of apps before deleting them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I will do just that.