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I tried searching the forums and found nothing...
Like a lot of others, i dont like most of the applications that come bundled on my phone and like to get rid of most of them. I cant seem to figure out what .apk file to remove to get rid of the "Kidzone" application. Any ideas?
If any root-level file explorer works, download Absolute System from the Market. It's about two bucks but it's worth it. You can use it to remove any bloatware from your device.
blackknightavalon said:
If any root-level file explorer works, download Absolute System from the Market. It's about two bucks but it's worth it. You can use it to remove any bloatware from your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not in this case. We do not have S-OFF.
Freezing the apps with titanium backup lasts between reboots, luckily. Won't remove them completely but they will be prevented from running or showing in the app drawer.
Only problem is I'm having trouble finding the package names of a couple bloatware apps, namely kidzone, highlight, friend stream and t-mobile mall. If anyone could find the names of those packages it would be great. I'll look up the names of the apps I did find in a little while and post them for you.
vimk said:
Freezing the apps with titanium backup lasts between reboots, luckily. Won't remove them completely but they will be prevented from running or showing in the app drawer.
Only problem is I'm having trouble finding the package names of a couple bloatware apps, namely kidzone, highlight, friend stream and t-mobile mall. If anyone could find the names of those packages it would be great. I'll look up the names of the apps I did find in a little while and post them for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download Absolute System from the Market.
Sent from a Western Union telegram.
vimk said:
Freezing the apps with titanium backup lasts between reboots, luckily. Won't remove them completely but they will be prevented from running or showing in the app drawer.
Only problem is I'm having trouble finding the package names of a couple bloatware apps, namely kidzone, highlight, friend stream and t-mobile mall. If anyone could find the names of those packages it would be great. I'll look up the names of the apps I did find in a little while and post them for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant figure out what process is Kidzone either, but i think the T-Mobile mall was called "AppPack" (MallLite-4.0.92.apk)
Gumpo10k said:
I cant figure out what process is Kidzone either, but i think the T-Mobile mall was called "AppPack" (MallLite-4.0.92.apk)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
also tried removing the app pack, and it does not remove "kidzone"
Kidzone appears to basically be a locked down version of the home screen that only lets you turn on Youtube, Internet, Bejeweled, and T-Mobile TV from that screen. It requires you to setup a password for the lock screen. It appears to be built into sense. It's not really an application. Mostly a replacement lock screen. There's nothing "kid" about it honestly.
Akujin said:
Kidzone appears to basically be a locked down version of the home screen that only lets you turn on Youtube, Internet, Bejeweled, and T-Mobile TV from that screen. It requires you to setup a password for the lock screen. It appears to be built into sense. It's not really an application. Mostly a replacement lock screen. There's nothing "kid" about it honestly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a way to remove the shortcut from the app drawer?
electro_chef said:
Is there a way to remove the shortcut from the app drawer?
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Click to collapse
I second that request!
I made a thread in "themes and apps" about cleaning up bloat - still no luck on kidzone though.
I am fiddling around with dumping sense now, that will probably do it. I'll post back here if I can figure out how to make kidzone go away.
Meantime - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=16739548#post16739548
okay - sorry to post after myself but I got rid of kidzone.
First, I restored a CWM backup I made right after root/busybox installation.
So, my phone state is fresh S-OFF/Root with SU & busybox installed.
It may be important to note that I did a factory reset to my phone just before S-OFF/Root & had a freshly formatted MicroSD card.
I then installed ADW Launcher from the Market, and hit my "home" key. Selected "Use Default" and chose ADW Launcher.
Now my phone defaults to ADW as it's launcher.
I then installed "Absolute System" from the Market, and used it to remove "HTC Sense"
Closed out Absolute System, then scrolled between all 5 ADW desktop screens, powered down the phone, then powered up again. (*NOTE fastboot = off)
Booted fine, was able to ditch sense without issue, and KIDZONE IS GONE!
As always, make sure to do a fresh system backup before messing with anything like this, but Kidzone is linked to sense, and replacing sense with another launcher will remove it.
HTC Sense was the only app removed from the phone, and I haven't checked everything to make sure it works yet, but no HTC crash report to send, and no force close issues. (yet - to be determined)
I've been itching to ditch sense since I got the phone, and this was my first quick test at it. Works good so far.
Edit to add:
Checked the "personalize" option at the top of the "settings" list. This just brings you back to the main desktop, doesn't throw an error.
I knew this one thing would be messed up somehow after ditching sense, but the fact that it doesn't make a problem and just closes the menu is fine by me.
I'll spend the rest of the day testing out my phone without sense to see how it runs. I'll post back how it went tomorrow.
Edit - 11/01/2011:
When I said "without sense" I meant without the sense launcher. I expanded on and clarified that in another thread (that app thread) but never cleared it up here.
To fully remove sense is one heck of a project, and will take much more then just switching your launcher.
This is great info - but with this last method - can you still use the stock/factory camera app? Is the camera fully functional, it might not be a big deal to some but would be cool to retain full factory camera functionality.
Wow, feels like going back in time -
Yep, stock camera app works fine.
It's tied to sense, and there is no true AOSP ROM out there yet, so pretty much no matter what you do you should keep stock camera functionality.
Actually, keeping the stock camera functionality/app is the main reason why there is no AOSP ROM yet, it's been generally decided that losing that would be...undesirable.
Kidzone is part of Rosie.apk, which is the Sense launcher. You lose it once you switch to another launcher (adw, go, etc...) and uninstall rosie.apk
Blue6IX said:
Wow, feels like going back in time -
Yep, stock camera app works fine.
It's tied to sense, and there is no true AOSP ROM out there yet, so pretty much no matter what you do you should keep stock camera functionality.
Actually, keeping the stock camera functionality/app is the main reason why there is no AOSP ROM yet, it's been generally decided that losing that would be...undesirable.
Kidzone is part of Rosie.apk, which is the Sense launcher. You lose it once you switch to another launcher (adw, go, etc...) and uninstall rosie.apk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly.. + 1 for blue.
Sent from my Senseless Doubleshot using xda premium
Guys, I don't know if that also has happened with your kindles, but there's no way to create a folder on my ADW.
No way at all!
When I was using Go launcher EX I could create folders easily, but with ADW it just doesn't work.
Someone is having the same problem? any workarounds?
No, it doesn't work (and ADW Launcher hasn't been updated in a while so I'm not sure if there is a new version in development or not). It's the same with shortcuts and custom shortcuts too. It's a pain, as I quite like folders, but I'm just sitting patiently for CM7, and then at that point, I probably won't care!
lol I just posted a similar problem with apps that use folders. Did you have this problem before the update?
Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk
SikYou said:
lol I just posted a similar problem with apps that use folders. Did you have this problem before the update?
Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, this has been a problem since day 1. Doesn't seem to be just ADW either, Go Launcher Ex has the same problem. Clearly something in the KF stock ROM that disables these things.
I also started a post about the creation of shortcuts ("Car Home") and the lack of the OS recognizing that when I click "Add shortcut" it should give me a list of applications.
I suppose this is related to the lack of being able to create folders. There has to be a way to fix this without resorting to going to CM7. I'd like to be able to keep the Amazon functionality with the vanilla OS feel.
MinionOfEckerd said:
I also started a post about the creation of shortcuts ("Car Home") and the lack of the OS recognizing that when I click "Add shortcut" it should give me a list of applications.
I suppose this is related to the lack of being able to create folders. There has to be a way to fix this without resorting to going to CM7. I'd like to be able to keep the Amazon functionality with the vanilla OS feel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm suspect it's buried deep in the kernel somewhere, and I'm not sure it would be any easy fix. I could be wrong, but bearing it mind it doesn't provide any errors, Amazon must have disabled it as part of providing their custom UI.
I'm with you though, I quite like the overall feel and coloring of the Amazon interface, and it's pretty damn functional with a Launcher enabled despite the minor issues such as this.
For some reason, when I was using Go launcher I was able to create the folders, but not shortcuts. Its really strange...
I side-loaded the ADW apk 1.3.6 but it doesn't seem to work on my Kindle. I know this is off-topic but I was hoping someone could tell me which version is best on the Kindle. Every time I go to install it and open it says the ADW.Launcher stopped unexpectedly :/
ADW 1.3.3.1 is the one I'm using
JvictorSS said:
ADW 1.3.3.1 is the one I'm using
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I d/l it and this version works great. Thank you!
_https://market.android.com/details?id=com.th.android.widget.SiMiFolder&hl=en
Simi Folder Widget has got you covered
true, and it works even though the market says its incompatible.
I was able to create folders in Go Launcher, but only by putting icons on top of each other. You have to be really precise though or the icons just move out of the way. Huge pain, took me a couple minutes for EACH folder I made. Haven't found a way to do this in ADW yet...
Hey Guys,
the new update for ADW solved the issue, besides ADW feels a little bit faster on my kindle.
BTW, folders can only be created by putting icons on top of each other, just like we do using Go Launcher.
Ok, so I've been really getting into theming my Transformer Prime, and like most people I think, get frustrated when I have to redo things after flashing a new ROM. I find using Nova Launcher to be pretty spot on with backup then restoring settings which, most times, will get all your widgets working correctly with little configuration needed from there.
So the only thing I'm really left with is a good way to change, backup and restore app icons. Nova launcher is good at restoring the icons for the home screen, however I'd like something that would change the default app icon for installed apps.
I found this thread on StackOverflow that states that you can change the app icon by just replacing the image for it -without- unzipping the apk. This is great in theory, however when you update the app to a new version you'll loose that customization obviously.
I'm looking for an app, that when run, will present a list of all installed apps, let you choose it, then pick a custom icon. The app would then change the apps -default- icon, meaning that change would propogate everywhere in Android, so you wont have to mess with setting different icons for your launcher, and launcher X widgets, and drawer would also get changed.
When you update your apps and run the app icon themeing tool then it would, again, present you with a list of installed apps and you could just choose the newly updated apps and change the icon again( or better yet the app would do that for you! ).
Anyways, I have no idea if this is possible. I'm not sure if the icon in the apk for an app are all standard named, if it is, this seems possible. If it's not, then if it's in the apks manifest file then you could extract the name of the icon, and copy the new one in it's place under the same name.
If either the icon names are always the same( doubt it ) or if it's in the manifest file this seems pretty doable to me.
What do you all think? Have you seen anything like this app out there? What do you do to change / restore app icons( system wide preferably, not just in a particular launcher ).
Vote above and if it gets enough traction maybe we can convince a dev to look into it. Obviously you'd have to be rooted, but I think most everyone would be ok with that
EDIT: I did find this thread, with a windows tool to do kinda what I'm talking about. If it had / has backup, restore for when you update apps then it would be perfect. Would prefer an on device app, but I'll take what I can get.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=890876
Really, no input here? Am I the only one wishing we had this?
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
RubenRybnik said:
Really, no input here? Am I the only one wishing we had this?
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your not alone, I've been looking for exactly that for a long long time. please pm me if you do find it.
Hello everybody!
I'm interested in buying the Mate 8 but still have a few question I weren't able to find answers to.
I currently own a Nexus 5 and like the clean look of stock Android.
First questions are in regards to themes.
1. Do they still apply when you change the launcher or this somehow linked to the EMUI stock launcher?
2. Can you change the dropdown menu (notifications and quick settings) with these themes, too, in order to make it more like stock Android? Screenshots of the dropdown menu are rarely given.
3. How easy is it to create themes by oneself?
All in all I'd like to have a clean stock look as especially these bubbles around the icons are a pain to my eyes.
I would prefer to NOT have to flash a custom ROM.
The second part of my questions is in regard to Google Now.
1. Do you have the Google Now cards available?
2. Is Google Now on Tap working?
I hope you guys can enlighten me
Thanks in advance! :fingers-crossed:
SCHMANKii said:
Hello everybody!
I'm interested in buying the Mate 8 but still have a few question I weren't able to find answers to.
I currently own a Nexus 5 and like the clean look of stock Android.
First questions are in regards to themes.
1. Do they still apply when you change the launcher or this somehow linked to the EMUI stock launcher?
2. Can you change the dropdown menu (notifications and quick settings) with these themes, too, in order to make it more like stock Android? Screenshots of the dropdown menu are rarely given.
3. How easy is it to create themes by oneself?
All in all I'd like to have a clean stock look as especially these bubbles around the icons are a pain to my eyes.
I would prefer to NOT have to flash a custom ROM.
The second part of my questions is in regard to Google Now.
1. Do you have the Google Now cards available?
2. Is Google Now on Tap working?
I hope you guys can enlighten me
Thanks in advance! :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Do they still apply when you change the launcher or this somehow linked to the EMUI stock launcher?
EMUI themes still apply when you change launchers. You can set your custom icons on the launcher desktop, but the themed icon will still appear in other places like the recent apps screen or in notifications. So you will still see ugly rounded square or circle boarder with your icons outside of your launcher desktop. Fortunately this can be solved by installing custom EMUI theme with stock icons, which you can find here: http://foerster.io/hack-huawei-enable-pure-icons-with-no-borders-backgrounds-etc/
2. Can you change the dropdown menu (notifications and quick settings) with these themes, too, in order to make it more like stock Android? Screenshots of the dropdown menu are rarely given.
Themes can change the dropdown menu to a certain extent, mostly changing the shortcut icons. I've yet to see any theme that can make the dropdown menu look completely stock, I don't think it's possible because they operate differently. To me the EMUI dropdown UI looked decent enough (albeit in a different style) so I don't mind it so much.
3. How easy is it to create themes by oneself?
Don't know, never tried it myself.
1. Do you have the Google Now cards available?
I have the international version of the phone (L29), most google services are pre-installed including google now cards. If you get the Chinese version you'll have to install google services yourself, which I heard is a fairly easy process.
2. Is Google Now on Tap working?
You can turn on the now on tap function in google cards settings, but it doesn't seem to work when I long press the home button.
Please note that I'm still on an early EMUI build (B103) and have not yet received any OTA, I don't know if later updates changes anything.
Overall I did get a fairly decent looking UI running on my mate 8. Some UI elements will remain in EMUI style (most notably recent apps and notification dropdown and settings screen) as you can't change those without a custom ROM or at least some root hack, but I don't mind those too much, in fact I liked some of the EMUI design. The worse part of EMUI 4.0 is the launcher and the forced icon background on 3rd party apps, but like I said earlier these can all be averted with 3rd party launcher and custom theme. If you're a diehard fans for the "stock-look" who won't accept any non-material design element then this may not be good enough for you, but it is good enough for me.
@beachletter
Thank you a million times, Sir!
So did I get this right and you also tried to achieve a more or less stock look?
If so, could you please provide screenshots of your dropdown menu and maybe of your homescreen?
Did you own a Nexus phone before the Mate 8, too?
Regarding the dropdown menu of notifications: if I understand it correctly it's more or less working like a timeline, not like on other phones. This can't be changed, can it? I guess I know the answer as themes are supposed to only change the look and not the way things work, but yeah...
This is what my ui looks like after getting custom launcher and material design icon theme.
Sent from my HUAWEI NXT-L29 using XDA Free mobile app
SCHMANKii said:
@beachletter
Thank you a million times, Sir!
So did I get this right and you also tried to achieve a more or less stock look?
If so, could you please provide screenshots of your dropdown menu and maybe of your homescreen?
Did you own a Nexus phone before the Mate 8, too?
Regarding the dropdown menu of notifications: if I understand it correctly it's more or less working like a timeline, not like on other phones. This can't be changed, can it? I guess I know the answer as themes are supposed to only change the look and not the way things work, but yeah...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like stock icons and stock recent apps screen, but for notification and quick settings drop down I actually liked EMUI's implementation. I used CM and other near-stock rom in my previous phones.
See the post above for screenshots.
Alright, thanks again!
Now I have most of the information I can possibly get to make the right decision. Hopefully I will
Okay, so I've bought a Mate 8 to test things.
While it is really well designed, is nice to hold and snappy as well, I still can't get myself to like the software that much.
I have tried to apply the theme @beachletter provided but it somehow doesn't apply correctly and therefore many icons still have that bubble around it (e.g. Chrome, Play Store). Dialer and Contacts are still the same icons.
Regarding Google Now on Tap: this functionality was added with B152 firmware update which immediately showed up while setting up the device.
Additionally I have to say that the horizontal scrolling in the recent apps menu is even more unintuitive than I've thought it would be.
SCHMANKii said:
Okay, so I've bought a Mate 8 to test things.
While it is really well designed, is nice to hold and snappy as well, I still can't get myself to like the software that much.
I have tried to apply the theme @beachletter provided but it somehow doesn't apply correctly and therefore many icons still have that bubble around it (e.g. Chrome, Play Store). Dialer and Contacts are still the same icons.
Regarding Google Now on Tap: this functionality was added with B152 firmware update which immediately showed up while setting up the device.
Additionally I have to say that the horizontal scrolling in the recent apps menu is even more unintuitive than I've thought it would be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's strange, on my phone the dialer and contacts have separate icons (although I usually don't use contacts because I can quick dial any name in dialer to search my contact list) , and I don't see any icon background/border for chrome or play store.
Maybe you should check out the newest version of the theme here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/rooting-roms/hack-enable-pure-icons-borders-t3315731
and FYI the launcher I use is NOVA Prime
Good to know google now is back in B152. Unfortunately my phone doesn't get any OTA update above B103 yet. But at least there's no camera focusing issue on my phone, even with B103.
beachletter said:
That's strange, on my phone the dialer and contacts have separate icons (although I usually don't use contacts because I can quick dial any name in dialer to search my contact list) , and I don't see any icon background/border for chrome or play store.
Maybe you should check out the newest version of the theme here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/rooting-roms/hack-enable-pure-icons-borders-t3315731
and FYI the launcher I use is NOVA Prime
Good to know google now is back in B152. Unfortunately my phone doesn't get any OTA update above B103 yet. But at least there's no camera focusing issue on my phone, even with B103.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not that bad anymore. I installed Nova Prime as well and added icon packs to fit my preferences.
But with the new theme it's working, even in the status bar! Thanks for providing the link!
SCHMANKii said:
It's not that bad anymore. I installed Nova Prime as well and added icon packs to fit my preferences.
But with the new theme it's working, even in the status bar! Thanks for providing the link!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I just switched to this theme which seems to have a more comprehensive set of material design icons:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-7/themes-apps/theme-material-emui-predaturd-p-kulkes-t3265917
You may want to give it a try.
I'm on a Pixel 3 XL with the latest Android update (not rooted, no custom ROM, or anything like that). I am using Nova Launcher. When I try to switch to a recent app, there is a long lag time. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens more often than not.
In the video link below, I have the "show taps" on so you can see what is going on. I clear all the recent apps. Open just 4 apps. And then try to switch to the most recent app. I tap two times, and nothing happens. But the screen is not frozen since I can still scroll through the recent apps. I tap one last time and there is still no response. And after a while, the app finally opens.
Is this a common issue on Pixels. Is there anything that can improve this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
https://youtu.be/Z37r_Vd32sg
IamNe0 said:
I'm on a Pixel 3 XL with the latest Android update (not rooted, no custom ROM, or anything like that). I am using Nova Launcher. When I try to switch to a recent app, there is a long lag time. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens more often than not.
In the video link below, I have the "show taps" on so you can see what is going on. I clear all the recent apps. Open just 4 apps. And then try to switch to the most recent app. I tap two times, and nothing happens. But the screen is not frozen since I can still scroll through the recent apps. I tap one last time and there is still no response. And after a while, the app finally opens.
Is this a common issue on Pixels. Is there anything that can improve this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a pretty common issue with third party launchers. Try using the stock launcher to see if the issue persists
crixley said:
It's a pretty common issue with third party launchers. Try using the stock launcher to see if the issue persists
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried it with the stock launcher and it did not happen. This is super frustrating. Pixel phones are becoming iPhones now, limiting our choice. I don't know how they haven't fixed this issue yet, despite having Android 10 out for so long.
IamNe0 said:
Tried it with the stock launcher and it did not happen. This is super frustrating. Pixel phones are becoming iPhones now, limiting our choice. I don't know how they haven't fixed this issue yet, despite having Android 10 out for so long.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has to do with everything being built into the launcher now, including animations. If it makes you feel better this seems pretty much completely fixed in Android 11. Are you rooted? There is a magisk module that fixes this completely on Android 10 as well.
Edited to add: it's called quickstep switcher I believe in case you're wondering
crixley said:
It has to do with everything being built into the launcher now, including animations. If it makes you feel better this seems pretty much completely fixed in Android 11. Are you rooted? There is a magisk module that fixes this completely on Android 10 as well.
Edited to add: it's called quickstep switcher I believe in case you're wondering
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I'll look into it. This is the first phone I haven't rooted or had a custom ROM on, mainly because of the ease of monthly OTA updates. But now I am leaning towards rooting. I'll have to research a bit about how to deal with monthly updates while rooted.
IamNe0 said:
Thanks! I'll look into it. This is the first phone I haven't rooted or had a custom ROM on, mainly because of the ease of monthly OTA updates. But now I am leaning towards rooting. I'll have to research a bit about how to deal with monthly updates while rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root it but keep the old boot image. Flash the original boot image before taking the OTA. Then download the fastboot files for the new OTA from the Android site, patch that new boot image and flash that.
Feel free to PM me anytime you need any help, I'll even patch the boot image for you if you like.