I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2016) that I am planning to Factory Reset, then I want to remove some of the built-in apps that cannot be removed the normal way. I know I need to Root the tablet & I was hoping someone can give me some help?
Tablet Rooting
- Thread starter Spyder*
- Start date
- Jun 16, 2012
- 2,831
- 977
Samsung Galaxy Tab A series
This is a unified discussion forum for the Samsung Galaxy Tab A series. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A series is a budget-friendly line of tablets, offering various screen sizes. The latest Qualcomm Snapdragon variants offer a 1.3GHz quad-core CPU, an Adreno 306 GPU and 1.5GB of RAM. Internal storage...
forum.xda-developers.com
From personal experience, removing apps isn't a sound strategy as you really don't gain anything from it. After rooting, use an app like SD Maid or Titanium Backup and freeze the apps instead. You get the same result in the app is no longer visible in your app drawer or running in the background, without having to dig through the /system/app and /system/priv-app folders.
- Thread starter
- #3
Thank you for the link, I'll take a look & hope to find rooting instructions.Samsung Galaxy Tab A series
This is a unified discussion forum for the Samsung Galaxy Tab A series. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A series is a budget-friendly line of tablets, offering various screen sizes. The latest Qualcomm Snapdragon variants offer a 1.3GHz quad-core CPU, an Adreno 306 GPU and 1.5GB of RAM. Internal storage...
From personal experience, removing apps isn't a sound strategy as you really don't gain anything from it. After rooting, use an app like SD Maid or Titanium Backup and freeze the apps instead. You get the same result in the app is no longer visible in your app drawer or running in the background, without having to dig through the /system/app and /system/priv-app folders.
I've never heard of SD Maid or Titanium Backup, I'll look into them; thank you.
- May 9, 2014
- 560
- 72
Welcome to the forum, Spyder.
Removing apps done give you additional space on your device, and unless you know what you're doing, Rooting has the ability to convert your tablet into an expensive paperweight.
My two cents here is to simply disable them in the settings menu.
Removing apps done give you additional space on your device, and unless you know what you're doing, Rooting has the ability to convert your tablet into an expensive paperweight.
My two cents here is to simply disable them in the settings menu.
- Jun 16, 2012
- 2,831
- 977
@PitCarver That's what I've been doing on my devices for some time now. Much safer that way. With Android 11 and up, some units have their system partitions set to read only and locked, preventing modification. This I expect to shortly be the norm.
- Thread starter
- #6
After some reading (& reading & reading...) I've decided NOT to Root the tablet for my specific reason (removing apps I don't use & don't want).
So can anyone show me how to go about making certain apps no longer visible in the App Drawer or running in the background? Completely "dead", for lack of a better word, & not able to be used or even found.
So can anyone show me how to go about making certain apps no longer visible in the App Drawer or running in the background? Completely "dead", for lack of a better word, & not able to be used or even found.
- Jun 16, 2012
- 2,831
- 977
Keep in mind that not every system app can be disabled. Also, any disabled app can still be found in the apps list in Settings, since you may need or want to reactivate the app at some point. If looking to hide an app from the app drawer you cannot use the stock launcher as the stock launcher doesn't have that capability. You would need to use a third party launcher from the Play Store such as Nova Launcher.
- Thread starter
- #8
I have not looked into Nova Launcher or any other third-party launcher, but I did find a way to disable the apps I don't need/want.
If I press & hold on an app, I get 3 choices:
1. Select items
2. Add to Home
3. Disable
Choosing Disable, I get the message:
"(app) & all functions related to it will be disabled. To enable the app again, go to Settings>Apps, then select (app)."
This does remove the app from the Drawer, does it also completely stop all background resources & updates?
If I press & hold on an app, I get 3 choices:
1. Select items
2. Add to Home
3. Disable
Choosing Disable, I get the message:
"(app) & all functions related to it will be disabled. To enable the app again, go to Settings>Apps, then select (app)."
This does remove the app from the Drawer, does it also completely stop all background resources & updates?
- May 9, 2014
- 560
- 72
You've got nice notifications Spyder*.
Mine always tell me that it may cause my device to not work properly, too, but yes, disabling the app will remove it from the app drawer and stops it from updates and activity.
I will suggest that before you disable it that you clear the data first. That's just me though. I'm a bit more than paranoid at times.
- Jun 16, 2012
- 2,831
- 977
Perhaps I should have been more clear and note that apps that cannot be disabled can only be removed from the app drawer using a third party launcher. Disabling an app stops all activity. If the app was updated the update is uninstalled and replaced with the factory version. The Play Store will no longer notify you of updates to such an app. The one thing disabling an app does not do is remove its data. You have to do that manually, and like @PitCarver it's something I do when disabling an app.
AlexPhilip
Member
- Oct 19, 2021
- 1
- 0
If its running older android than android 5, u might can try luck with some of those shoddy one-click-root apps, for ur use it will be probably fine, also if u want u can do factory reset first, to make sure all ur data are gone 
. The root method might vary for the same device depending on the current update installed on the phone.
Kingroot is one of many root apps that can be used in any number of devices. The better question you should ask is, "which root method is safest for my specific device". And again, that depends on your device and its firmware. To answer this question, I would recommend starting at XDA.
If you must know which is the "safest", then it's probably going to be the Nexus Toolkit, as rooting Nexus devices is typically the easiest out of all Android devices.
. The root method might vary for the same device depending on the current update installed on the phone.Kingroot is one of many root apps that can be used in any number of devices. The better question you should ask is, "which root method is safest for my specific device". And again, that depends on your device and its firmware. To answer this question, I would recommend starting at XDA.
If you must know which is the "safest", then it's probably going to be the Nexus Toolkit, as rooting Nexus devices is typically the easiest out of all Android devices.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #13
I decided NOT to root my tablet, but disable the apps I don't want/need instead.If its runing older android than android 5, u might can try luck with some of those shaddy one-click-root apps, for ur use it will be probably fine, also if u want u can do factory reset first, to make sure all ur data are gone
Kingroot is one of many root apps that can be used in any number of devices. The better question you should ask is, "which root method is safest for my specific device". And again, that depends on your device and its firmware. To answer this question, I would recommend starting at XDA.
If you must know which is the "safest", then it's probably going to be the Nexus Toolkit, as rooting Nexus devices is typically the easiest out of all Android devices.
- Jun 16, 2012
- 2,831
- 977
The fine folks at XDA - I am a member there - usually do not recommend one-click root solutions like KingRoot or KingoRoot, mainly because, as you note, they are shady AF. They frequently have malware packaged with them, which makes them a non-starter. At the same time, I personally do not recommend the Nexus Toolkit either. One, it's a one-click root solution, even though it made its first appearance on XDA. Second, it's not as safe as you think it is because no root solution is 100% safe. Lastly, it wouldn't work on the OP's device. Samsung devices do not support fastboot commands, which the Nexus Toolkit requires.If its runing older android than android 5, u might can try luck with some of those shaddy one-click-root apps, for ur use it will be probably fine, also if u want u can do factory reset first, to make sure all ur data are gone
Kingroot is one of many root apps that can be used in any number of devices. The better question you should ask is, "which root method is safest for my specific device". And again, that depends on your device and its firmware. To answer this question, I would recommend starting at XDA.
If you must know which is the "safest", then it's probably going to be the Nexus Toolkit, as rooting Nexus devices is typically the easiest out of all Android devices.
Should the OP in the future decide to root his device, he would need to use Odin (Windows) or Heimdall (Mac), flash the TWRP custom recovery to the unit, and from there root using Magisk.
