Which Apps are OK to disable without impacting other apps or phone functionality

[o0Grinder0o]

New Note 4 (Verizon) owner here... First time getting into the Note family as previous phone was SG3. I was tinkering with options and customizing features and was wondering if people generally disable apps that they do not use. I uninstalled some of the apps that came preloaded on my device like Candy something or other, Uber, etc, but was hesitant to disable some that I do not use once I saw the notice pop up that there could be impacts on other apps running in background if I continued. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[SpookDroid]

Usually if the system lets you disable the apps, they're safe to do so. And usually, if you don't use them at all, it's safe to disable.

For instance, if you disable the Flipboard Briefing app but you use TouchWiz as your launcher with that part active on your homescreen, then yeah, that'd create a problem. But if you still use TouchWiz and disable the Briefing part of the Homescreen or just use another launcher, disabling that app will have no impact at all.

 

[LaTuFu]

Generally speaking, if it is a Carrier based bloat app, you can disable to your heart's content without an issue.

If it is a third party app installed by the carrier (Amazon, Slacker Radio, etc), you can uninstall all updates back to factory settings, and then disable the app, if you have no intention of using it.

 

[SpookDroid]

Generally speaking, if it is a Carrier based bloat app, you can disable to your heart's content without an issue.

If it is a third party app installed by the carrier (Amazon, Slacker Radio, etc), you can uninstall all updates back to factory settings, and then disable the app, if you have no intention of using it.

Not necessarily. SOME phones and SOME carrier apps do use that for critical functions like encryption or Voice Mail, even Caller ID. So yeah, be careful which carrier apps you disable. Sure, you can re-enable them, but just don't get rid of them if you root unless you are 100000% they're 'safe' to remove.

 

[turtlebear]

I disabled or uninstalled one of the google play service apps and ended up having to reinstall it, clear cache and restart phone to be able to download any apps from the store.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[SpookDroid]

Yeah, never disable anything Google.

 

[LaTuFu]

Ok, if we want to drill it down that narrow, sure. But most people don't want to disable their voicemail. To the point not many would consider that bloat.
And rooting is a completely different conversation from disabling.