Bloatware in Galaxy S4

[Sdahe]

Hello...

I just got a new Galaxy S4 today and it's great... love the screen. I have one question.. which apps are safe to disable?

Thanks!!!

 

[ironass]

See the spreadsheet in item #10 of the Bloatware removal - Dummies Guide

 

[Sdahe]

I guess that the ones in green are safe to disable... right?

 

[ironass]

I guess that the ones in green are safe to disable... right?

As per item #11 of the guide, they are safe to disable.

 

[The_Ty]

You might want to just 'freeze' them instead of fully removing them. The 2nd option can cause problems updating the firmware in the future

 

[Sdahe]

Hello... would it be ok (safe) to disable these samsung apps from the Galaxy S4?

 

[DragonSlayer95]

As long as you don't actively use the Samsung bloat, there is no harm.

And if it starts to act up, you could always undo it

 

[Sdahe]

As long as you don't actively use the Samsung bloat, there is no harm.

And if it starts to act up, you could always undo it

Yeah, I don't use them...

 

[DragonSlayer95]

Yeah, I don't use them...

Your safe to disable then

 

[lotus49]

I have seen a lot of posts about "bloatware" but I am somewhat unconvinced that disabling or removing it actually makes a material difference.

Is there any evidence that it does?

 

[WalkaboutDavid]

I have seen a lot of posts about "bloatware" but I am somewhat unconvinced that disabling or removing it actually makes a material difference.

Is there any evidence that it does?

What constitutes a "material difference?" I have disable all sorts of crap on my phone. I have had none of the kag of battery issues others complain about.

I can't tell you if disabling crapware is the reason that my s4 sings along so nicely. But there is no downside that I can see.

 

[lotus49]

What constitutes a "material difference?" I have disable all sorts of crap on my phone. I have had none of the kag of battery issues others complain about.

I can't tell you if disabling crapware is the reason that my s4 sings along so nicely. But there is no downside that I can see.

By "material" I mean a noticeable difference and one that is measurable. No-one spends hours doing something and then says it made no difference, it's just human nature.

I haven't disabled anything and I haven't had any of those problems either.

I am not saying it definitely doesn't make a difference but, as I said above, I am sceptical. However, being the scientifically inclined chap that I am, I am open to being proved wrong by some actual evidence. If anyone has seen any, I would be interested to see it.

 

[The_Ty]

Hello... would it be ok (safe) to disable these samsung apps from the Galaxy S4?

View attachment 61133

I'd need to double check but AFAIK freezing/removing Samsung bloatware won't cause any problems, I've done it for a Galaxy S2 and S4 and it went just fine. Removing anything Google related you need to be careful though.

 

[Nick33]

Just be careful. In titanium backup there are apps in red that im hesitant to touch. So far i haven't gotten rid of much. I did however end up uninstalling S-health using TB and cant get it back now

 

[Gomjaba]

By "material" I mean a noticeable difference and one that is measurable. No-one spends hours doing something and then says it made no difference, it's just human nature.

I haven't disabled anything and I haven't had any of those problems either.

I am not saying it definitely doesn't make a difference but, as I said above, I am sceptical. However, being the scientifically inclined chap that I am, I am open to being proved wrong by some actual evidence. If anyone has seen any, I would be interested to see it.

I am in the same boat .. Don't see an advantage in disabling stuff ... my S4 runs nicely, always has some memory free .. I'd see only an advantage if I see some Samsung services constantly causing the phone to consume 100% memory, swapping like crazy and causing the thing to come to a halt .. Never had that though - so I don't bother

 

[APBTx2]

I haven't disabled anything and I haven't had any of those problems either.

Same here, I too am guessing maybe someone has a bad app or two, or feel like their phone runs better since it's not 'stock'. Maybe one does feel they've made improvements? That's fine too.

 

[Sdahe]

Hello guys... I just installed Android 4.3 and would like to know which bloatware is fine to turn off...

Right now these are the ones I have disable...

These are the ones that are running -Which one of these I can disable?

 

[koupe88]

it would be nice to have a bloatware list that is safe to remove for each carrier insted of the guessing

 

[Petrah]

Don't see an advantage in disabling stuff

Until I recently rooted, I had a whole slew of things disabled. Each time an app is updated with new features and additions it gets a tiny bit bigger. Disabling the app uninstalls all of the updates and then disables it from being used. While it may not make a huge difference in freeing up space, it made enough of a difference to make me happy. It's annoying to see persistent reminders to update an app that you never use, and now that you can disable those apps you don't have to be pestered half to death with the notifications anymore.

Great features and well worth using in my book.

 

[Goodspike]

Until I recently rooted, I had a whole slew of things disabled. Each time an app is updated with new features and additions it gets a tiny bit bigger. Disabling the app uninstalls all of the updates and then disables it from being used. While it may not make a huge difference in freeing up space, it made enough of a difference to make me happy. It's annoying to see persistent reminders to update an app that you never use, and now that you can disable those apps you don't have to be pestered half to death with the notifications anymore.

The other option is to just turn off automatic updates and only update the things you use. But you will get those notifications that updates are available and have to pick through the list to find the ones you really want to update. I consider that a minor annoyance.

I'm not a fan of disabling things unless they are causing an issue. For example, I made the mistake of signing up for Verizon's NFL thing, and it kept sending me scores which I didn't want because I DVR games. Disabling the app was the easiest solution. And with that app I wasn't worried it would be doing something else that I wanted that related to some other app I did use.

 

[Goodspike]

it would be nice to have a bloatware list that is safe to remove for each carrier insted of the guessing

The reason there's no list is probably because you're not really accomplishing much. The programs will still be taking up storage space on the phone and even when allowed to be active those programs are not doing much, if anything. If they're in memory, they're probably not taking up many CPU cycles, and if memory is needed they'll be unloaded if they're not doing anything.

 

[Petrah]

The other option is to just turn off automatic updates and only update the things you use. But you will get those notifications that updates are available and have to pick through the list to find the ones you really want to update. I consider that a minor annoyance.

I considered that option, and then chose the one I previously mentioned because it suits my needs better. I'm just thankful that the options are there for me.

I'm not a fan of disabling things unless they are causing an issue. For example, I made the mistake of signing up for Verizon's NFL thing, and it kept sending me scores which I didn't want because I DVR games. Disabling the app was the easiest solution. And with that app I wasn't worried it would be doing something else that I wanted that related to some other app I did use.

This is where choices come in again. I like having them, and being able to set my phone up in a way that makes me happy. My S4 wasn't rooted then, but it is now and thankfully I can just uninstall the extra apps that I don't need instead of disabling them.

I enjoy reading about how others do things with their phones.

 

[Goodspike]

This is where choices come in again. I like having them, and being able to set my phone up in a way that makes me happy. My S4 wasn't rooted then, but it is now and thankfully I can just uninstall the extra apps that I don't need instead of disabling them.

I enjoy reading about how others do things with their phones.

If you are rooted and can actually uninstall an app, then there's a point to doing it. Absent that though, it just seems like a waste of time (with a chance of unintended consequences) . Yes, people can choose to waste their time, but most won't if they understand that an Android phone is not a Windows PC.

 

[Petrah]

people can choose to waste their time

But this is not about opinions or what you and I perceive to be best. This is about the OP and offering suggestions to help him/her achieve what they want. Then they can peruse the suggestions and make an informed decision based on their needs.

 

[Goodspike]

But this is not about opinions or what you and I perceive to be best. This is about the OP and offering suggestions to help him/her achieve what they want. Then they can peruse the suggestions and make an informed decision based on their needs.

If we're just talking about the OP making an informed decision, then the first answer that was a good answer was Lotus49, who in post #10 suggested that disabling apps was just a waste of time and doesn't provide a material difference. Someone should have given that answer a lot sooner, so that the OP could have made an informed decision. I'm a bit surprised I didn't jump in with that type of advice sooner.

I've disabled four apps:

1. NFL Mobile, because after I signed up it started sending me unwanted information about games I had not yet watched. Disabling it was easier than figuring out how to turn off that feature of an app I found I have no use for.

2. S-Voice, because I want to use the Google voice feature and didn't want to worry which voice feature I was using.

3. Multimedia UI Service Layer, because it would sometimes turn on the wrong music play when connecting to bluetooth.

4. S-Health, because I was probably being stupid. I remember reading something about that app, but don't remember what.

Note none of this was to speed up my phone. It was all to deal with a specific issue. A list of apps you can disable won't really help you with that sort of thing.

But again, people can do whatever they want. I don't have a problem with that. But to the extent someone claims that they got some sort of speed increase by doing that, I would attribute that to a placebo effect, as explained by Lotus49.