How to delete preinstalled apps on Android phone and get rid of bloatware for good

Nowadays, Android smartphones come with so many apps pre-installed and as a user, you may find them either useful or useless. Well, bloatware has a bad name attached to it and for many reasons. As we proceed, we'll talk about all those reasons throughout this article. But let me make one thing very clear at the beginning. Not all bloatware is bad. Sometimes, apps come pre-installed for a reason - To enable certain functions of your smartphone. For example, many Xiaomi phones feature IR Blaster (Infrared) and Xiaomi bundles IR Blaster app that lets users turn their mobile phone into a remote control for TV, AC, etc.

However, in many cases, bloatware can be annoying. They cause the battery to drain faster or interfere with the wireless network performance. At times, it only eats into your phone's storage and does no good. Whatever the reason may be, you may want to exercise ultimate control over what apps can or cannot be present inside your Android smartphone. In this article, we show you how to delete preinstalled apps on Android.

What is bloatware?

To put it simply, apps and software that is pre-installed out of the box are called bloatware. There are two ways bloatware gets into your phone: Your phone manufacturer or network service provider. For example, strategic partnerships lead phone manufacturers to preinstall certain apps on their devices. For example, e-commerce apps like Amazon and Flipkart or web browsers like UC Browser are mostly found preinstalled on certain Chinese smartphones. Almost every Android phone offers certain Google apps or services preinstalled like Chrome, Gmail, Maps, YouTube, etc. Now that you have understood the concept behind bloatware, let's discuss ways to get rid of these preinstalls.

How to disable bloatware in Settings

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First things first, you need to see how much bloatware can be removed. All you need to do is go to your phone's settings > General settings > Apps and notifications. Well, these steps may be different for different manufacturers. When in Settings, tap the app name. Upon expanding its details, you will come across two buttons: Uninstall and Force Stop. Press the option 'Uninstall' to remove the app. For apps that you can't delete, it will show you a different option called 'Disable' or the 'Uninstall' option will be greyed out. It's very important to limit the risk of security loopholes by disabling bloatware.

Once you disable certain apps, all the app activity including background processes shuts down. We show you how to disable bloatware in any Android smartphone:

1. Go to the Settings app and then navigate to the Apps and Notifications. As I said earlier, these steps may be different for different manufacturers.
2. Now, tap the app you want to disable. Tap permissions and disable all the permissions it may have access to. Now, tap the disable button.
3. Once you disable the app, you will receive a warning that disabling the app may affect the function of other apps. Press OK and the app will be disabled.

How to uninstall bloatware in Google Play Store

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There is another way to uninstall bloatware and if you don't prefer to go through your phone's and apps' settings, you can simply remove apps through the Google Play Store.

1. Go to Google Play Store and open the hamburger menu at the top left corner.
2. Tap 'My apps & games' and then 'Installed.' Tap the app you want to remove.
3. On the app listing on Google Play Store, tap the option 'Uninstall.'