[WARN]Android Central or my self do not take any responsibility for what you do to your phone. You follow these steps to disable apps at your own risk. Follow the listing of apps that should be disabled here and you should be fine, deviate from the listing of apps and I cannot say if you will have issues with your phone or not.[/WARN]
[INFO]Now that that's out of the way... Welcome to you new RAZR HD!
This guide will give you a listing of all the apps that can be disabled via the settings menu running stock ICS. Even without being rooted, there is one way to disable apps with ICS and this is a good thing since ICS gives us the ability to disable the majority of bloatware apps that most people wont use. I say most because there are some people who will use them. This is the list of apps that I personally have disabled... if you have more to add and you have been running stable since then please feel free to post them here and I will update the list as this goes along.[/INFO]
[NOTE]Congrats! You just disable a bunch of bloat apps! Simple wasn't it? That's the beauty of Ice Cream Sandwich. Eventually (hopefully soon) when these phones get Jelly Bean this will be the same process. However, upgrading to Jelly Bean to get the OTA you might need to re-enable these apps. Don't know that for sure yet, but when Verizon announces (or its leaked here) that the update is rolling out might want to re-enable them to be on the safe side to ensure that you will get your update. Until then, enjoy your unbloated phone![/NOTE]
[INFO]Now that that's out of the way... Welcome to you new RAZR HD!
This guide will give you a listing of all the apps that can be disabled via the settings menu running stock ICS. Even without being rooted, there is one way to disable apps with ICS and this is a good thing since ICS gives us the ability to disable the majority of bloatware apps that most people wont use. I say most because there are some people who will use them. This is the list of apps that I personally have disabled... if you have more to add and you have been running stable since then please feel free to post them here and I will update the list as this goes along.[/INFO]
How to Disable Apps:
In order to disable your apps you must go here on your settings...
Settings > Apps > All
Once you go there you will see a very long list of apps. The majority of them you DO NOT want to touch. Disabling something you shouldn't may cause instability with your phone, force closes etc. All you need to do to disable and app is select the app that you want to disable and click the disable button. If you see "Uninstall Updates" instead, you will need to click that to restore the app back to the factory default version to disable it. Once that is done, you should be able to disable the app but selecting the "Disable" button.
If the button is grayed out, then you are unable to disable the app without having root privileges.
Anyway... the juicy stuff. Here is the listing of apps that you can disable safely:
- Amazon Kindle
- Circles
- Color
- Google+
- Help
- Home Screen Tips
- MC3
- Movie Studio
- Music
- My Verizon Mobile
- NFL Mobile
- Quickoffice
- Real Racing 2
- Setup Wizard
- Slacker Radio
- Swype
- Sync Services
- V CAST Tones (Verizon Music if updated)
- Verizon Video
- VZ Navigator
Questions:
Why should I disable these apps?
That question is one that can only be answered by yourself. I can give you the reasons why I disable them, such as I will never use them so I disable them in order to keep them from running. If you don't plan on using any of those apps listed, you can disable them to stop them from ever running on your phone. It is also very easy to re-enable them so its not like its a permanent delete.
Will disabling these apps save battery or make my phone faster?
Simple answer, possibly. Disabling apps like these in the past I have seen a slight increase in battery life simply due to the fact that it will be less apps that have the ability to run. As far as speed, I have never seen a bump in performance for every day use. Disabling these apps mostly will give you a VERY slight increase in battery life. Don't expect hours extra, but you could expect something back.
If I want to re-enable them what do I do?
Same process as disabling an app, but now the "Disable" button will be gone and it will be replaced with an "Enable" button. That easy.
There are some apps that I want to disable but I can't. What are my options?
This is where root comes in. You can root your device and use apps like Titanium Backup to "freeze" apps which essentially disables them. In order to root your phone follow the instructions here: ROOT for Razr HD - xda-developers
[NOTE]Congrats! You just disable a bunch of bloat apps! Simple wasn't it? That's the beauty of Ice Cream Sandwich. Eventually (hopefully soon) when these phones get Jelly Bean this will be the same process. However, upgrading to Jelly Bean to get the OTA you might need to re-enable these apps. Don't know that for sure yet, but when Verizon announces (or its leaked here) that the update is rolling out might want to re-enable them to be on the safe side to ensure that you will get your update. Until then, enjoy your unbloated phone![/NOTE]
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