Applications are an important part of the Android ecosystem. With so many options to choose from, you might have downloaded an app for a trial purpose. But, what if you are unable to uninstall the application. Fret not, as this article will help you out. Here is how to remove apps on Android that the phone won’t let you uninstall. Try these following simple steps.
To understand the applications that are unable to uninstall, we must know the reason and which specific applications can’t be removed. There are 3 cases in which your Android smartphone will not let you uninstall a particular application.
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- System application – If the application is a system app the smartphone will not let you uninstall it. These are required and essential to run Android. You need some necessary files/software and these apps are among those.
- Pre-installed applications – Some companies allow you to uninstall a few pre-installed apps. On the other hand, there are few which come from the factory and cannot be uninstalled even if you try to factory reset your smartphone.
- Apps with Admin Privileges – You might have installed some application or some important pre-installed applications have admin privileges. If any app has admin privilege on your smartphone, then it won’t allow these applications to be uninstalled.
In the first two cases, users can disable the application and then they will not be bothering you. For the third case, users can take the privilege away from the application and uninstall it, simple as that. Here is how you can do it.
Table of Contents
Disable the Application
Few of the unnecessary pre-installed apps can be annoying with their push notifications or ads in some cases. Though it cannot be completely uninstalled from your device without rooting it, there is a way you can disable them so they don’t bother you anymore.
Step 1 – Long press the application to find App info.
Step 2 – An information screen will pop up in front of you.
Step 3 – Tap on the disable option.
Once disabled the application will no longer show up in your library and won’t run in the background. This will also save some space on your smartphone as the application will be reset to its factory settings.
Read Also: Top 5 ways to force uninstall programs in Windows 10
Take away administrator privileges
Few applications require administrator privileges in order to perform a specific task. Fetching something from the lock screen is a prime example of this. While using these applications, one might have given admin rights to them in a hurry and do not remember it. With these rights given, the smartphone won’t uninstall the application. In such a case, first we have to take the privileges back and then try to uninstall them. Here is how.
Step 1 – Head to Setting.
Step 2 – Go on Security settings.
Step 3 – Choose Device admin apps. (This feature might be called something else in your Android mobile)
Step 4 – Toggle off the applications to take away the administrator privileges.
After completing these steps uninstall the application following the normal way and this time it should uninstall.
Read Also: Best ways to fix if Steam is not downloading games on your PC
These are the steps you can follow to fix remove apps on Android that the phone won’t let you uninstall. If none of them work for you there are 3 methods you can consider. First , rooting your smartphone, which is kind of a tricky task and voids the warranty of the company (and we will not recommend it). The other method is resetting your phone to the factory settings. The last option is using the ADB command line in Windows Powershell, which again is not recommended as it requires professional skills and may result in bricking your phone.
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