S4 Mini, minimize all those apps!

[mdawdy]

I want to minimize the presence in my S4 Mini of all those apps that i currently do not want to use [and probably never will]. Under the App Manager menu, for each app, i see this set of options [Force stop, Uninstall updates, Disable, Show notifications] which looks perfect for my purpose [i would uncheck the last one]. However, the following message is displayed with the Disable choice ...

If you disable a built-in app, this may cause problems with other apps.

I hate this kind of scare message. "They" do not say what kind of problems or what apps may be affected. I am paranoid enough to believe that there will really be no problems and that "they" put this in there just to frighten off noobies.

I expect that it is the same as on my Windows based PC, that there are DLLs etc that are shared, and if one of these is deleted other programs that share it will not work. I have been ignoring the equivalent message on my PC for decades with no problems and i suspect the same will result here. And if a problem with an app does arrive it will be a simple matter to download and re-install it, perhaps with the loss of some not-life-threatening personal data.

So what do you think? Any ideas, opinions, even actual experiences and facts! will be appreciated. Thank you,

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! You can pretty much always Disable bloatware (for example, anything Verizon), since it typically isn't crucial to the functioning of the system. You need to be more cautious with system apps--for example, disabling the Download Manager will make it impossible for you to access the Downloads app, and will interfere with installing apps. To a certain extent, you can use common sense, but if there's any question, doing a search here or elsewhere using Google can be helpful.

And if disabling something does cause problems, it's easy enough to re-enable it.

 

[mdawdy]

Thank you. That is about what i expected. Now for a follow-up question ...
I do not know what is the technical difference between Apps and Widgets, but i extend my question to both. Can i safely remove any of the Widgets?

 

[B. Diddy]

Widgets are usually a component of an app, so if you remove the app, the widget is gone as well. Some widgets are standalone, though, but there shouldn't be any problem removing or disabling them.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[mdawdy]

This is my plan ...

First i have discovered that the Widgets cannot be removed without rooting the device, except for the ones that i downloaded myself. So they are staying put.

For the Apps, I am going to go thru each of them. If i suspect that the App is "used for sign in details by other apps i.e. facebook/twitter/Google+, or ... integral to android such as google search, dialler, keyboard", i will leave it alone. Otherwise, for those that i expect to be not using i will uninstall the updates, clear the data and cache, and disable the app.

Then i will check to see if this process has caused problems for important apps by running those apps - cellphone account, banking, e-mail, weather, software update, internet, and downloads. If there is a problem i will re-enable and update the app [and hope!].

This should minimize their footprints in my phone memory, which is what i want to be able to do.

 

[B. Diddy]

That sounds reasonable. If you find that a certain app should not be disabled, please let us know, because it's always good to have that kind of information. You can be our test pilot!

 

[mdawdy]

So far i have disabled these ... ChatOn, DropBox, HangOuts, TripAdvisor. No probs so far. I'll keep this thread posted as i go along with this.

EDIT: Disabled SamSung Link and SamSung Hub. OK.

 

[mdawdy]

Minimizing the App footprints, what i have been doing so far ...

This is not all done yet. I have more to learn. Any comments etc will be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, i have not kept track of the amount of memory recovered. But for me that is not the main point. I want to learn the tech details of my device, and this process is accomplishing that.

[1] I have disabled and cleared data for these 13 Apps with no issues ...
Chaton, Dropbox, Flipboard, Hangouts, Tripadvisor,
Samsung [Link, Hub, and Books],
Google Play [Books, Games, Newsstand, Movies, and Music]

[2] I found an App that i think is very good for cleanup: CleanMaster and the 1-Tap Boost that it spawns, on Google Play, in the free utilities section. Anyone else use this or a similar app? What do you think?

[3] The following i expect to not use, are not in the App Manager, AND can be neither disabled nor uninstalled. I expect to hide these. Comments? ...
Group Play, [Google] Photos, [Google maps] Navigation,
[Google Maps] Local, Google Play Magazines, Story Album, Watchon,
S Memo, S Translator, S Voice, Voice Recorder, Voice Search

[4] I expect i should keep any in the App Manager list with the word "Services" in the name, altho i doubt that i would need either of the print services. Comments? ...
Google Play Services
HP Print Service Plug-in
Samsung Print Service
Samsung Push Service

[5] There is a list of App's that i expect to keep because i will be using them ...
calculator, camera, contacts, Rogers App Zone,
downloads, e-mail, gallery, 100% Games,
Help, internet, messaging, music, my files, phone,
[Google] Play Store, QuickPic, Samsung Apps,
YouTube, Google Settings

I am not at all into computer games, but i am keeping 100% Games in case there is a Saturday nite with nothing to do, bored out of my gourd, almost crazy. The Samsung Apps Free Utilities section may contain some useful apps. I am keeping Google Settings only in case some other app may need it.

[6] These that i do not expect to use, and that can be neither disabled nor uninstalled, i will hide ...
chrome, Google, Google+,
Samsung [account, InApp purchase, print service, push service, and Hub Updater]

[7] I am using some Widgets ...
Software Update, Google Search transparent version, Active Apps, Alarm

[8] I am uncertain about these voice apps, S Voice, Voice Recorder, Voice Search, and Google Text to Speach. Has anyone found these to be useful? Since they cannot be disabled i expect to hide them.

[9] I tried unsuccessfully to use "S Planner". I set in an event, requested 1 day notice by e-mail, no e-mail arrived. Tried again, same result. I do need a small, simple app for event/appointment reminders. Any suggestions appreciated, on either how to use this one or an alternative.

[10] I found a micro SDHC card on sale at BestBuy, 16 Gb, so bought it and installed it. So cheap i do not remember; about $16.00 i think [a buck a giggabyte]. I do not need it but there it is. Backed up the contact list onto it. And this phone will take 64 Gb! I'm an old computer bum from the '60s. Back then i programmed a 32K IBM 7040 and a 4K PDP-8 [that's K = 1024], the latter with a 10 CPS [Characters/bytes Per Second] paper tape reader for input, that cost tens of thousands of dollars and occupied full sized rooms - just like in the old science fiction movies from the '50s. Hard to believe this new stuff. So anyway, now i know how that works.

Let us know what you think.

 

[B. Diddy]

Group Play, [Google] Photos, [Google maps] Navigation,
[Google Maps] Local, Google Play Magazines

Google Photos is part of Google+, and Navigation and Local are part of Google Maps, so they should be disabled once you disable the main app. I think Google Play Magazines has been folded into Google Newsstand.

I don't have experience with S Planner, but did you try it after disabling a lot of apps? It's possible that it didn't work because of some other app that was disabled.

 

[mdawdy]

Further along with Apps disable ...

It is not possible to disable or uninstall any Widgets except for the ones you download yourself. The builtin widgets can be affected only by rooting the device.

Uninstalling a Widget that is an offspring of a main widget causes the parent widget and all of its child widgets to be uninstalled.

None of the builtin Apps can be disabled or uninstalled except by rooting the device. Only the ones listed in the App Manager can be disabled.

I hid the Apps that i cannot remove and do not want to see. Too bad this option is not available for the Widgets.

I uninstalled these Apps with no bad consequences, in addition to one ones listed in my previous post ...

1. HP Print Service Plugin
2. Google+
3. Samsung Hub Updater
4. Samsung In-app Purchase

The In-app Purchase got re-installed with no notification, probably when i downloaded a free app.

FYI ...

I downloaded these free Apps because they may be useful, or at least interesting, to me ...

• The Weather Network
• QuickPic
• Wi-Fi Analyzer
• BMO Mobile Banking
• Clean Master
• TapaTalk
• QR Code Reader
• Barcode Scanner

The Apps list is, to me, much neater with the Alphabetical List view type. Too bad it does not allow the same format for the Widgets - they occupy 9 screens compared to 1 or 2 for the Apps.

I have the device set up now the way i want it - the important stuff on the home screen with one additional screen to the left and right.

I really like the Clean Master and its child the 1 Tap Boost. I like also the Active Apps App for removing the active&unused from memory.

Well i think i am now done with this project. I really like this device a lot. It is a phone and camera, and allows useful internet access and other things.

I especially like that there are some very good apps amoung the free ones [ya hafta look carefully], and that the internet access can all be done, basically for free, at home or wherever else there is available Wi-Fi