Database Info

What are the Unwanted/Useless apps that you removed right away from your Pixel 3a?

Hello,
Thought my phone uses a lot of space for some unwanted/useless apps for me, so i'm wondering which apps did you uninstalled ?

I disabled "Data Transfer Tool", which now shows zero bytes used. Also "Device Health Services", again, it shows zero bytes used. Wallpapers... Sound Amplifier... Pixel Tips... Google Connectivity Services (I use a different VPN)... Chrome (I use Firefox). There's a lot less to delete/disable, and your overall experience may be better to just leave well enough alone. If you do delete or disable, keep track of what you do so you can undo it.
You might be more interested in checking the permissions each app requests. I'm always surprised at the number of applications which want microphone and camera (example: Firefox). I'll turn those permission off whenever I can. I'd like to trust everyone but it seems perhaps that's a naive view of the security landscape in which we live.

After gaining root, I went ahead and removed digital wellbeing, google music, google movies with titanium backup app. Must be a placebo effect, but I feel my phone being snappier and smoother overall. Especially with EX kernel.

zonedgold said:
After gaining root, I went ahead and removed digital wellbeing, google music, google movies with titanium backup app. Must be a placebo effect, but I feel my phone being snappier and smoother overall. Especially with EX kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you remove wellbeing? Ive used titanium back uo but the app returns on reboot.

Unstroofy said:
How did you remove wellbeing? Ive used titanium back uo but the app returns on reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could always just disable usage access. That essentially neuters the app.

nickmv said:
You could always just disable usage access. That essentially neuters the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I've done that. Still would be nice to remove it completely though.

Unstroofy said:
Yeah I've done that. Still would be nice to remove it completely though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically I.
1. Removed Digital wellbeing's updates.
2. Launched Titanium- granted root - made a backup of Digital wellbeing - then uninstalled it.
3. Rebooted.
4. Profit.

zonedgold said:
Basically I.
1. Removed Digital wellbeing's updates.
2. Launched Titanium- granted root - made a backup of Digital wellbeing - then uninstalled it.
3. Rebooted.
4. Profit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt have any updates to uninstall but it still returns after reboot. You sure its gone?

Unstroofy said:
I didnt have any updates to uninstall but it still returns after reboot. You sure its gone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% gone. Doesn't show up in the settings menu either.
How do you personally grant root? I'm assuming that you are using majisk?
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

zonedgold said:
100% gone. Doesn't show up in the settings menu either.
How do you personally grant root? I'm assuming that you are using majisk?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah magisk and i granted titanium root permission so not sure why.
Edit so apparently titanium is trash. Used another basic free app and worked perfectly first time.
Do you know of any more apps thag are safe to remove?

Unstroofy said:
Yeah magisk and i granted titanium root permission so not sure why.
Edit so apparently titanium is trash. Used another basic free app and worked perfectly first time.
Do you know of any more apps thag are safe to remove?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh fair enough glad you worked that out.
Like I mentioned I only took off google music, google video, and I believe google driving (some car thing) and digital wellbeing.
Might uninstall Google Duo as well. Still wondering if I'll ever use that.

I disabled the following apps with the debloater module from Magisk. Even though I checked what these apps do before removing them, I can't remember what e.g. ims is or does.
PAINT.APK
Live Wallpaper
Ornament
StickersSports
StickersMusic
StickersJapan
ims
Google Fi
Drive
Chrome
Google Music
Google Movies
arcore
youtube
android auto
data transfer tool
ok google enrollment
x google enrollment
google support services
pixel setup
live transcribe
pixel tips
pixel ambient
esim manager
digital wellbeing
better together
Things that shouldn't be removed:
settings recommendations, otherwise the settings app will crash occasionally
google photos, if you want to access fotos from the camera app

kmarius31 said:
I disabled the following apps with the debloater module from Magisk. Even though I checked what these apps do before removing them, I can't remember what e.g. ims is or does.
PAINT.APK
Live Wallpaper
Ornament
StickersSports
StickersMusic
StickersJapan
ims
Google Fi
Drive
Chrome
Google Music
Google Movies
arcore
youtube
android auto
data transfer tool
ok google enrollment
x google enrollment
google support services
pixel setup
live transcribe
pixel tips
pixel ambient
esim manager
digital wellbeing
better together
Things that shouldn't be removed:
settings recommendations, otherwise the settings app will crash occasionally
google photos, if you want to access fotos from the camera app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By removing Live Wallpaper are you able to use the wallpaper chooser ?

zonedgold said:
By removing Live Wallpaper are you able to use the wallpaper chooser ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can set wallpapers with the wallpaper app that you access by long tapping empty space on the launcher.

High battery usage - can anyone help?

Hi everyone,
I'm having some major issues with my s10e. It started draining the battery very quickly and it now needs to be charged 2-3 times a day with very little usage. I'm talking like 1 hour SOT usage. It's loosing over 5% of battery per hour just sitting on the table doing nothing. I turned off syncing, uninstalled some apps that could cause is, cleared cache and finally factory reset it. I even downgraded from android 11 to android 10 to see if that will make any difference. But no success. Still high battery drain. It sometimes gets a bit warm as well while not being used. Better battery stats reports high mmc0_detect activity. I've checked my wife's S10lite and she doesn't even have that kind of wake lock at all. I googled it and it's got something to do with memory card. However, the problem exists with several memory cards I checked as well as without one in the phone.
Samsung replaced the battery last week under the warranty but that did not help at all. I'm getting really frustrated with this phone now.
Does anyone know what could be the cause?
On the ss below you can see that it lost 12% in just 2 hours with 7min SOT. That's definitely not what it should be.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

Turn off wifi. Disable all power management and see what it does.
Disable all cloud apps and FB, WhatsApp etc.*
Disable all Google, carrier and Samsung feedback.
Disable Google Firebase.
Turn off locations when not needed.
You'll toast that battery if you don't tone it down; don't charge past 80% for now to lessen the damage.
*try running in safe mode to see if it's a 3rd party app causing it.

blackhawk said:
Turn off wifi. Disable all power management and see what it does.
Disable all cloud apps and FB, WhatsApp etc.*
Disable all Google, carrier and Samsung feedback.
Disable Google Firebase.
Turn off locations when not needed.
You'll toast that battery if you don't tone it down; don't charge past 80% for now to lessen the damage.
*try running in safe mode to see if it's a 3rd party app causing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All cloud apps and syncing are disabled. FB deleted.
How to disable google, carrier and samsung feedback?
How to disable firebase?
Location turned off.
I've not had any issues for over a year of ownership. I've not installed any new apps or used the phone in any different way than I used to.
Thanks

I think mmc0 refers to your internal memory; my guess is that it doesn't work as it should or that it isn't connected properly.

kierownikk said:
All cloud apps and syncing are disabled. FB deleted.
How to disable google, carrier and samsung feedback?
How to disable firebase?
Location turned off.
I've not had any issues for over a year of ownership. I've not installed any new apps or used the phone in any different way than I used to.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disable Google Backup Transport, Framework and Playstore/Google Play Services (enable as needed). Clear data on all the former except Playstore as needed. Clear System Logs at same time.
Reboots and factory resets are useless for this issue.
Use this Package Blocker*:
Home - Package Disabler
The only NON-root solution that let’s you disable any unwanted packages that come pre-installed / installed with your phone / tablet.
www.packagedisabler.com
Use Karma Firewall (Playstore) to lock it down better.
* you can block all cloud junk, carrier updates and any bloatware as well. Some apks have dependencies so bare this in mind when blocking.

blackhawk said:
Disable Google Backup Transport, Framework and Playstore/Google Play Services (enable as needed). Clear data on all the former except Playstore as needed. Clear System Logs at same time.
Reboots and factory resets are useless for this issue.
Use this Package Blocker*:
Home - Package Disabler
The only NON-root solution that let’s you disable any unwanted packages that come pre-installed / installed with your phone / tablet.
www.packagedisabler.com
Use Karma Firewall (Playstore) to lock it down better.
* you can block all cloud junk, carrier updates and any bloatware as well. Some apks have dependencies so bare this in mind when blocking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So with google play services disabled the battery drain is pretty much the same.
Also disabling google play services results in my phone constantly throwing notifications at me saying that some apps need it to work properly. Also without google play services I can't use Google Pay which is a no no for me.

M1chiel said:
I think mmc0 refers to your internal memory; my guess is that it doesn't work as it should or that it isn't connected properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I managed to find out but I don't understand how would it not be connected properly? Besides, everything works fine, all apps, photos, music, it's all there and works on request.

Question Keyboard locking up

I'm having an issue on my a52 where the keyboard is hanging a lot. I installed g- keyboard and it's a bit better but also hangs.
Anyone else have this issue and know of a fix?

Clear the system cache.
System instability and lagging are a bad signs... the only warnings you may get before a crash.
Make sure your data is backed up.
Find the root cause, suspect malware as a possibility as well.
If you did an OS upgrade a factory reset is needed.

Thank you for the reply.
I just received the phone yesterday and went through setup. I did check for updates and there was an update available so I ran it which brought the phone up to the latest June security patch. This morning after reading your message I did a factory reset to see if that would help but the keyboard still hangs. It's like it just can't keep up with typing or something? Everything else seems to work perfectly fine it's just typing on the keyboard that seems to hang?
"System instability and lagging are a bad signs"
Do you mean to say that it's possibly defective?
I have the 8GB / 256GB model.
If I switch between Google keyboard and Samsung Keyboard it will work ok for a little bit but them it starts hanging again. Very strange behavior.
Sure would suck to have to send it back

This a new phone?
Is there carrier bloatware present?

New to me, open box, unlocked SM-A525F/DS. Doesn't appear to have carrier bloatware.

I don't know... my first inclination be to return it.
Check for updates including the Samsung Galaxy store and Playstore. Make sure it's not a 3rd party app causing it.
My S4+ do that crap sometimes and I think was internet connection related.
The native keyboard is one of the best, it's the only one I use.

Yeah, I would think that the native Samsung keyboard app would work flawlessly but for some reason it hangs much more than the G-Keyboard.
Like I said I did a factory reset it and only loaded a new google account so I could test it out fresh and it is still doing it. It doesn't do it when I first open the phone but then after using it a bit the keyboard hanging issue starts to happen.
When I google the problem I only came across someone having the issue on a A51
the software update page says that it is up to date: Current version : A525FXXS2AUE2 / A525FOJM2AUE1 / A525XXS2AUE2
Security patch evel: June 1, 2021

Crap... that sucks. It maybe a mobo issue or a corrupted flash. I say return it if you can.
Almost sounds like a memory leak... is the ram usage steadily climbing?

So I got back from a dentist appointment and had left the A52 at home and I go to test the Samsung and Google keyboards and now they are working perfectly fine, smooth as butter, and I can't make it hang/freeze anymore?!?!?!
New to Samsung, coming from my PH-1 with custom ROM.
Where would I check that ram usage?

Yay!
Power management can cause erratic device behavior, I never use it.
Activate Developer options. Also you can see ram usage in Samsung Device Care.

Interesting, I do have power management on, I will keep that in mind if it starts acting up again.
I now have developer options on and I checked Device care:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

Try disabling it and see what happens.
You need to weed out misbehaving apps one by one on a case by case basis.
3rd party apps that demand to run at startup deserve special attention.
Some apps like Brave browser continue to run in the background even after you close them. I finally ended up firewall blocking it when not in use to stop this behavior... nothing else worked.
Firewall blocking apps that don't need internet access also helps to move things along.

I do not have Brave browser on my A52? Was it a pre-installed app on yours that you can't uninstall?

SirDigitalKnight said:
I do not have Brave browser on my A52? Was it a pre-installed app on yours that you can't uninstall?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just an example. I keep it because of it's ad blocking ability plus no malware has ever breached it.

ok. Well it looks like power saving mode was already off. it must have reset to off when I did the factory reset. Under more battery settings there is a Adaptive battery setting which is on? Would this effect it?

SirDigitalKnight said:
ok. Well it looks like power saving mode was already off. it must have reset to off when I did the factory reset. Under more battery settings there is a Adaptive battery setting which is on? Would this effect it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Adaptive battery, kill it. That could induce this kind of behavior. Android manages its self well without it. Simply close out apps when done with them. This works well with most apps except for poorly coded ones like Brave
Go to running apps in Developer options to view some of what's eating up the house.
Sometimes cache apps like Brave are still running in the background even though it's not shown as a current running service. Killing it off the cache list will however shut it down.
I found it's easier to just close Brave then firewall block it until needed again
Hey, it could be worse... it could be an iphone

Thanks for you help! I just killed Adaptive battery. I found "Running services" , Im guessing it is what you mention? I do see a lot there: KLMS Agent, Video call effects, Samsung Pass, SmartThings, Bixby Voice, etc..... Samsung Keyboard and One Ui Home seem to be using the most memory.

Yay
Yeah a lot junk. I use Package Disabler and Karma Firewall as well as settings to knock it down.
Home - Package Disabler
The only NON-root solution that let’s you disable any unwanted packages that come pre-installed / installed with your phone / tablet.
www.packagedisabler.com
Typically those apps use a lot of ram but not much battery or CPU cycles.

Holy cow thats a lot, I have very few running compared to yours!
Adaptive battery seems to have been slowing the phone down as everything now is much more snappy.

SirDigitalKnight said:
Holy cow thats a lot, I have very few running compared to yours!
Adaptive battery seems to have been slowing the phone down as everything now is much more snappy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, that's not all of them
Isn't it amazing how much better it runs with power management out of the way?
Power management was a mess 2 years ago... some things don't change

Launcher with the ability to show frozen/disabled apps

Since years i was quite baffled that even most third-party launchers were refusing to offer a way to display frozen apps in a distinguishable way but i was never bothered to do any actual research into why and if there might be something out there that does it.
Today i was finally having enough and tried searching google for a solution with no avail. Only a stackexchange question that resulted in a definition war rather than pointing to solutions and a reddit thread from 9 months ago with no upvotes and no answer.
Thanks to the mentioned stackexchange question i downloaded Nova Launcher today and tried that, but although i really like the design, performance and customizability it does not seem to offer the key feature i was looking for.
What the launcher i'm searching for should offer:
A toggle to enable showing frozen apps in the app drawer (Like actually "pm disable" frozen, not some kind of workaround island type or greenified "hibernated")
When device rooted, tapping a frozen app will unfreeze and start it
When device unrooted it should just open the manage app screen for that device where android itself will offer an unfreeze button
Customizability; Show frozen apps semi-translucent, Show frozen apps in grayscale, Move frozen apps to the bottom of the list or in its own section/group
I forgot to mention that Lucky Patcher actually offers custom widgets to toggle apps but that has to be done manually for every app and is quite lacking in terms of looks and comfort
One last thing; I was even thinking about manually syncing the shortcuts via something like Tasker or Automagic4Android. But to be honest, even if it worked it would still be jank and more of a workaround than a solution

Bluscream1 said:
Since years i was quite baffled that even most third-party launchers were refusing to offer a way to display frozen apps in a distinguishable way but i was never bothered to do any actual research into why and if there might be something out there that does it.
Today i was finally having enough and tried searching google for a solution with no avail. Only a stackexchange question that resulted in a definition war rather than pointing to solutions and a reddit thread from 9 months ago with no upvotes and no answer.
Thanks to the mentioned stackexchange question i downloaded Nova Launcher today and tried that, but although i really like the design, performance and customizability it does not seem to offer the key feature i was looking for.
What the launcher i'm searching for should offer:
A toggle to enable showing frozen apps in the app drawer (Like actually "pm disable" frozen, not some kind of workaround island type or greenified "hibernated")
When device rooted, tapping a frozen app will unfreeze and start it
When device unrooted it should just open the manage app screen for that device where android itself will offer an unfreeze button
Customizability; Show frozen apps semi-translucent, Show frozen apps in grayscale, Move frozen apps to the bottom of the list or in its own section/group
I forgot to mention that Lucky Patcher actually offers custom widgets to toggle apps but that has to be done manually for every app and is quite lacking in terms of looks and comfort
One last thing; I was even thinking about manually syncing the shortcuts via something like Tasker or Automagic4Android. But to be honest, even if it worked it would still be jank and more of a workaround than a solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never heard of or seen anything like that in my almost 10 years on this site and other sites, I'm pretty sure you won't find anything that can natively do what you want, you will probably have to end up settling for "janky workarounds".

interesting...and I was happy with Shortcut Maker apk lol
SDmaid still needs 4 taps to freeze/unfreeze apps while Andoid does that in about same number of taps. There is so much more customization that can be asked from Andoid.

OldNoobOne said:
interesting...and I was happy with Shortcut Maker apk lol
SDmaid still needs 4 taps to freeze/unfreeze apps while Andoid does that in about same number of taps. There is so much more customization that can be asked from Andoid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing i settled for (for now) is using IceBox to create the shortcuts and just let it re-create them manually from time to time. Still needs some automation from Automagic though

Try to download Aurora Launcher
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

Bluscream1 said:
The thing i settled for (for now) is using IceBox to create the shortcuts and just let it re-create them manually from time to time. Still needs some automation from Automagic though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried Icebox, AppOps & Automagic ; the phone got stuck at Starting Andoid screen repeatedly so I abandoned. I'm okay with MAT & SDmaid Pro for now.

Question Weird launcher behavior on UIS7862 machine

Lately i have installed my first Android HU - UIS7862 4+64 model.
In the beginning i thought its like any other Tablet / Phone, that i could install any Launcher from play store. So i tried Nova, Vivd launcher. Every thing works, but very soon i found it retrieve back to the stock launcher randomly (it does really random, sometimes when i click back, some times home button).
At this point i thought may be these Chinese unit does not works right with 3rd party launcher? so i uninstalled all 3rd party ones. Now i am on the stock Launcher.
i selected a theme call 'UI16" in factory settings menu, and here comes the weird part. This stock launcher also has random reset to another theme, which i recognize is 'UI13' in factory settings. i have been stuck with this issue since then, being so frustrated with it...
Here's what i have tired and didn't resolve the issue.
1. Select UI in factory settings (UI16, UI13 etc..)
2. Settings > apps > default apps > launcher (from here i see multiple Launcher 3)
3. Settings > apps > Found all 'Launcher 3' > wipe their data (i see all my app Icons, widget settings are gone)
4. Tried to flash a launcher via USB script according to 4PDA (eventually this one show as 'UI08' in factory settings; And added another 'launcher3' in App list)
i ran out of ideas, did someone had faced the same situation? all i want is a stable launcher, do not jump around on me randomly..
Thanks.
Here are the info of the HU
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Here are the Apps screens, see there are four 'Launcher 3', include the one i flashed in

Read forums and enjoy

OP,
If you have the Vivid launcher or any other known launcher, it should appear in the Android settings as an option to choose as the default launcher. You may like to try the Microsoft launcher. That launcher - from memory - will ask if it wants to set as default launcher on first run.
Microsoft Launcher also has a shortcut to Android settings in it's settings.
Post back on how you get on.

Try modifying your config.txt to specify the launcher you want as ro.fyt.launcher. Or maybe comment it out / remove it altogether. You can find it at /oem/app/config.txt. If you're rooted, you can modify this in-place. Otherwise, you'll need to research how to flash it: see 2nd post, section VIII https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...unisoc-ums512-q-a-mods-tips-firmware.4396339/
I only just set mine to nova a few hours ago, but so far it's persisted across a reboot.
I don't recall this behavior in the past, but just updated the firmware on mine and it's been driving me crazy.

All, Thanks for the reply. appreciate the help!
I don't have Root and i am in the process of asking for original firmware from the seller. Before that, honestly i am afraid to modify / delete anything via adb.
Current situation is, i have "factory reset" the HU from factory menu, that wipe all 3rd parties apps, but not the 'UI08' i flashed.
Since then the launcher seems to be able to stay at UI08.
@ludditefornow, I think i have did that somehow. apart from 3rd and 4th pic i posted in the original post, also tried to use some sort of 'hidden menu' apps to open up Android's default setting page. From there it basically gave me the same setting page of pics that i posted.
Also i have tried to ADB "am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN", that would call a pop up window on the screen let you select defauly home app. If i remember corrently Nova has similar step during install. Apparently none of mentioned worked.
@ziddey, thanks. i will see what my config.txt looks like. changing "ro.fyt.launcher = xxxxxx" seems promising.
in my observation, in /oem/app, other then "com.android.launcherxxx" apk files that came with the firmware. There is also another item called 'launcher3'. Which i suspect this 'launcer3' is a scheduled task running in the background and trying to keep whatever theme (like UI08) that user selected in factory settings alive.
Other then that, from all my screen pics there is an extra icon on the right of home button (screen's top left). That i have not seen in other Android unit. i kept thinking this what 'launcher3' do as well.

Nice. For what it's worth, I can confirm that changing ro.fyt.launcher resolves the issue. Next time I update/wipe, I'll try just removing that prop entirely.