Deleting preinstalled apps and bloatware.

BKenney

Member
Dec 10, 2010
138
5
How to remove unwanted apps and services:

You need the google marketplace installed and your device must also be rooted!

Search the marketplace for "Terminal Emulator" and download the first result in the list. (ANDROID TERMINAL EMULATOR)

Start up the emulator, at the prompt hit the kyros menu button and choose to bring up the "soft keyboard".

The keyboard will pop up of course and then you must type

"su"

Then hit enter. This will give the terminal emulator super user access. Once completed type the following command

"ls /system/app"

Hit enter. This will bring up a list of all apps installed on the device. To remove an app simply type the following command,

"rm /system/app/(APPNAME).apk"

Don't just type in an app name however, browse the list and identify the corresponding .apk file name.

For example: to remove the google goggles app that is installed with the google marketplace you need to enter this command,

"rm /system/app/GoogleGoggles.apk"

(And then of course press enter)

THERE IS NO PROMPT IDENTIFYING THE FILE WAS DELETED.

More command examples:

Remove Amazon mp3 app: "rm /system/app/com.amazon.mp3.apk"

Remove AppsLib: "rm /system/app/AppsLib_413T.apk"
(In order to remove Appslib through the terminal editor you must first uninstall any updates for the app through the "manage applications" menu)



What to do if you remove something and have problems with the Kyros:

Like I mention below I have found a solution for reverting any bad mistakes you make if removing applications. Simply download the Coby update file, unzip it and pull out the related .apk file you need; then store the copied .apk on the root of your Kyros internal storage or "nand". The "mv" command in the terminal editor will not work because the directories are treated as two separate devices ("system" and "nand"), therefore you must use the "cp" or copy command to copy a brand new file into the "/system/app" directory. Then of course you need to delete the .apk on the root of your "nand" as its now a duplicate.

For example, if you delete the "Phone.apk" and realize there are problems with the youtube app you would simply download the official Coby update- unzip the file- copy the "Phone.apk" from the "system" file in the unzipped update and then transfer it to the "nand" of your Kyros (after mounting it of course). Then in the terminal editor you would input these commands:

"su"

"cp /nand/Phone.apk /system/app/"

Of course you need to reboot the device after copying over the .apk. This only works for stock applications, and not applications that are added with the Google Marketplace.

If the application came from the google marketplace, then you can simply follow the same procedure using the apk files from the Google Marketplace zip.




The files I have successfully removed from my Kyros device are as follows:

A great list of what each Android app and .apk file does can be found here.

Amazon MP3 Store (com.amazon.mp3.apk)- No side effects

Appslib (Appslib_413T.apk) - No bad side effects. Note: First I had to remove an update I installed by removing the app using the manage applications menu under settings.

Stock Internet Browser (Browser.apk)- No Bad Side Effects. I had Opera Mini AND Skyfire installed prior to removing. If you removed the Browser and don't have an alternative installed, obviously you're going to need one. :)

Android Error Reporting (BugReport.apk)- No Bad Side Effects so far. I wouldn't recommend removing this package, back it up (just in case).

Car Dock (Google Car App)- No Bad Side Effects

Stock POP/IMAP E-mail Client (Email.apk)- No bad side effects. Other E-mail clients work fine.

Google Goggles (GooglesGoggles.apk)- No bad side effects.

GoogleVoiceProvider.apk- With No Bad Side Effects however there are two voice apps, when one is removed so is the stock keyboard which means you will need an alternate keyboard installed and selected as default.

Google News Provider (Don't remember the .apk name)- I never check the news so I got rid of it. No bad side effects.

Google Talk Service (Talk.apk, gtalkservice.apk, TalkProvider.apk)- No Bad Side Effects. Seems to speed up the OS and boot times and cut down on random screen turn-ons.

Google Maps (Maps.apk)- No Bad Side Effects. Why did I remove this? No GPS on the device, only way to use maps is through wi-fi. Wi-fi is not always available so I'd never use maps on my tablet. For on the go maps and navigation I'll use my cell, that's what smart-phones are for.

Default Youtube Link Which Brings You To The YouTube Website, Not The Google App (MyVideoPlayer.apk)- Removed with no bad side effects. Pointless having the YouTube app which is installed with the Google Marketplace and this useless link.

Pre-installed Live [Smoke] Wallpaper (MagicSmokeWallpapers.apk)- No Bad Side Effects.

(Phone.apk)- After removing this the Youtube app would not work and neither would the stock video player. I downloaded the Coby update file pulled the Phone.apk and copied it back into the system/app directory and everything works fine like before.

Google Maps Navigation Support (Streets.apk)- No Bad Side Effects. If you remove Google Maps remove this too.

(TelephonyProvider.apk)- With No Bad Side Effects

Text to Speech (TtsService.apk)- No Bad Side effects as of yet. This will however disable the voice commands and prompts for any navigation programs. I never use my tablet for navigation as I have a phone and a GPS so...yeah.

I have removed the ringtones located in "System > Media > Audio > Ringtones" (which was a very length process through the terminal emulator *phew*). The "notifications" folder located in the same directory IS needed, DO NOT TOUCH.



Note: Once you get familiar with the terminal emulator and basic commands its much easier to use the "cd" command to change directories so that you don't have to keep repeating file names.

For instance, to copy "Phone.apk" from "/nand" to "/system/apps" using the tutorial above you would have to input the following:

"su"
"cp /nand/Phone.apk /system/app/"

But if you use the "cd" command you would use the following commands:

"su"
"cd /nand"
"cp Phone/apk /system/app"
 
Last edited:

probbiethe1

Super Moderator
Staff member
Jun 30, 2010
1,838
139
Try titanium back up

Sent from my ADR6300 using Android Tablet Forum App
 

BKenney

Member
Dec 10, 2010
138
5
Thanks probbie.

I installed titanium backup and after choosing to force remove certain apps the device reboots as it should. After it reboots though it goes to the stock recovery menu and stops there. So in simpler words... it doesn't work.

Any more methods to try folks?

Sent from my MID7015 using Android Tablet Forum App
 

teegunn

Member
Nov 28, 2010
78
2
My opinion.... you shoulld have just frozen the apps one at a time with Titanium backup. Completely removing them can brick things leading to a complete reset. Wiith TiBu you should have the abiltiy to do a factory reset then reinstall apps saved to SD and get your unit back to where you were.
 

BKenney

Member
Dec 10, 2010
138
5
Hey Teegun, thanks for the info butttt I don't mean that the device is bricked or won't boot. My Kyros boots up fine even after trying to remove the apps, no problem there- besides I know by now how to completely recover the device if I make a big mistake. ;)

I just meant that the device reboots into the recovery menu and won't go any further. Titanium Backup actually displays a prompt when you choose to delete the preinstalled apps and it says the device will reboot twice- on the second time obviously the app in question will be gone. However, it doesn't make it that far... reboots just the once and thats it. When I start the device back up, the application in question is still there.

No problems with backup or anything and I don't need a factory reset. Just can't figure out how to actually get this bloat-ware off here.
 

Ridgeland

Member
Dec 14, 2010
285
9
I'm still green with this but installed the Android SDK and some debugging tools.
In Ubuntu I copied update.zip to /tmp then used nautilus to say "extract here". Then in /tmp/update/system/app are the default apps. Just need the right zipper app to rebuild the zip after you change it. I have not yet tried such. Post your progress if you try it.
Eventually I'll try to create a customized update.zip. The first thing I will try is to delete and add packages. Then I'll install my customized update.zip.
Should be kinda like building a customized live-CD for Ubuntu.
Here is an interesting thread:
http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...custom-firmwares-rockchip-rk2808-rk2808a.html

EDIT:
DON'T DO IT!
doesn't work.
when trying to install the modified update.zip the Coby will refuse with the failure message:
E:signature verification failed
Installation aborted.
Fortunately the installation process only wipes out all you have installed and resets the unit. The aborted update.zip does not brick the unit.
 
Last edited:

BKenney

Member
Dec 10, 2010
138
5
So basically you need to build a custom rom, pretty much by stripping the stock update.

Hm, I'll give it a try and see what I can do.

Sent from my MID7015 using Android Tablet Forum App
 

teegunn

Member
Nov 28, 2010
78
2
Sorry Bkenney I misunderstood what your issue was. I was considering deleting a few bloatware apps from my kids Coby, but there isn't much bloatware installed so I didn't bother.
 

Ridgeland

Member
Dec 14, 2010
285
9
I tried my experiment with changing the update.zip file.
The MID7015 refused to use my modified copy.
Back to the drawing board!
 

Ridgeland

Member
Dec 14, 2010
285
9
Since the Koby ships open:
http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/coby-tablets/5353-coby-kyros-ships-rooted.html
you can use the adb to modify anything on the Coby without "rooting"

rm is remove - which is a one-way street. Delete something then realize you shouldn't have and you're screwed. It's better to use mv to rename the apk as done here:
http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/coby-tablets/5754-whata-your-battery-life-like.html
Then you can put it back if you need to.

Explore some more with the apks. I think /system/app is what you've downloaded and the default apks are in /data/app. Maybe both should be tweaked.
 

BKenney

Member
Dec 10, 2010
138
5
I've deleted everything I don't want so far and have had no problems. Maybe I'm a little too confident but I'm sure I can recover the device if I screw something up. Besides I definitely research what I'm deleting and what it does before I do so- more likely to save myself problems later.

If you're interested I'll start a list on all the apps/services I successfully removed and anything I encounter after doing so.

After removing some of the useless apps both my boot time and battery life have increased. My device does wake up by itself every now and then still when in standby. :(
 
Last edited:

Clancy

Member
Jan 11, 2011
37
0
EUREKA!

I found out how to remove unwanted apps with a little forum reading.


More commands:

Remove Amazon mp3 app: "rm /system/app/com.amazon.mp3.apk"

To remove Appslib you must first uninstall any updates for the app through the "manage applications" menu.

Enjoy!

Sent from my MID7015 using Android Tablet Forum App


Yeah, make a list of what you've done so far.

thanks-

Clancy
 

Trauma

Member
Dec 12, 2010
15
0
have you tried disabling googlegoggles and cardock? or is cardock the car home app?
 

retroman80s

Member
Jan 17, 2011
5
0
I've downloaded a program called Root Uninstaller from Market and uninstalled Amazon mp3 with no problems. It even gives you an option to backup the .apk to your sdcard before uninstalling, but you need to buy the pro version to restore it..
 

BKenney

Member
Dec 10, 2010
138
5
have you tried disabling googlegoggles and cardock? or is cardock the car home app?

Car Dock was the car home app, I edited the post accordingly.

Google Goggles was removed successfully with no bad side effects.



Sent from my Kyros using Android Tablet Forum App
 
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