How to Ditch the Sense launcher!

[kingp]

So I have been flip flopping between CM7 nightly builds and the Sense ROM on my EVO for the last few weeks, and while I like CM7 I also like the stability of the Sense ROM, but wanted to run a different launcher than the one Sense gives you, without having to run two launchers at once, and kill my battery.

I finally found a way to do this, without having to lose the stability of HTC drivers by switching to a different ROM. However there are a couple of things needed first.

1. Your EVO needs to be rooted.
2. Get SystemApp Remover from the market (it's not free but man is it useful).
3. The launcher of your choice (I use LauncherPro)
4. Home Switcher for Froyo (free).
5. Beautiful Widgets (this is optional, but you will lose all Sense widgets and this provides a nice alternative to them).

Once you have done all of these things, you are ready to get started.

Launch your preferred launcher and set it as default, and then launch SystemApp remover and grant it root permissions. Click on System Apps and look for Rosie.apk and press it. You will be presented with 3 choices of "Yes", "Other", and "No". You want to choose "Other". You will then see two more options of "Backup" or "Disable". Choose "Disable" and then wait. It may take it up to 5 minutes to finish, but it eventually will.

Once it has disabled Rosie.apk you can reboot your phone and your new launcher should load. You can open SystemApp remover and check to make sure that Rosie.apk is still disabled (it should be).

You are now able to run your favorite launcher but still retain access to the HTC drivers for 4G, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, etc. all without having to run the HTC launcher at the same time!

I hope you found this post informative and stimulating.

 

[akazabam]

That is, indeed, one way to go about it. I would add, though, that you should make a nandroid backup before doing something like this. As this requires root, and those who have root *should* be making regular backups (especially before doing stuff like this), it shouldn't be a problem, but it still is a valid point. Also, if you want to do this without an extra app, you can flash this mod from calkulin in recovery. It will remove the Sense launcher entirely. Again, make a nandroid backup, first.

One other very important point is that when you do this, you leave yourself with only one launcher, and that launcher is uninstallable. That means if something happens to your apps on /data (or you use a2sd, and there is a problem with your card), not only will you have issues with your normal apps, but your phone will basically be unusable without a launcher. That being said, for anyone who decides they want to do this, you should push your launcher replacement of choice to /system/app *before* removing Sense (to make sure it all works, first).

So, if you use Launcher Pro, copy the apk out of /data/app, uninstall Launcher Pro, reboot, push the apk to /system/app, then reboot again. That way, you can't possibly accidentally uninstall Launcher Pro, and it would take an entire system failure before you'd lose your launcher. None of this is required, but it's a very good idea.

 

[mecampo]

That is, indeed, one way to go about it. I would add, though, that you should make a nandroid backup before doing something like this. As this requires root, and those who have root *should* be making regular backups (especially before doing stuff like this), it shouldn't be a problem, but it still is a valid point. Also, if you want to do this without an extra app, you can flash this mod from calkulin in recovery. It will remove the Sense launcher entirely. Again, make a nandroid backup, first.

One other very important point is that when you do this, you leave yourself with only one launcher, and that launcher is uninstallable. That means if something happens to your apps on /data (or you use a2sd, and there is a problem with your card), not only will you have issues with your normal apps, but your phone will basically be unusable without a launcher. That being said, for anyone who decides they want to do this, you should push your launcher replacement of choice to /system/app *before* removing Sense (to make sure it all works, first).

So, if you use Launcher Pro, copy the apk out of /data/app, uninstall Launcher Pro, reboot, push the apk to /system/app, then reboot again. That way, you can't possibly accidentally uninstall Launcher Pro, and it would take an entire system failure before you'd lose your launcher. None of this is required, but it's a very good idea.

can i just freeze it by titanioum backup? and if i do, do i need to freeze anything else?

 

[akazabam]

Yes, you should be able to do that too, but it comes with the same warnings as any other method of disabling or removing it. If you lose your replacement launcher, you'll have a heck of a time getting Sense back even if it was just frozen, not removed. As for other things you can remove or freeze, calkulin's remove sense update zip removes the following apks from either /system/app or /data/app, and skips whatever is already gone:

com.htc.FMRadioWidget.apk
com.htc.FriendStreamWidget.apk
com.htc.MusicWidget.apk
com.htc.NewsReaderWidget.apk
com.htc.StockWidget.apk
com.htc.TwitterWidget.apk
com.htc.WeatherWidget.apk
HtcAddProgramWidget.apk
htcbookmarkwidget.apk
HtcCalculatorWidget.apk
htccalendarwidgets.apk
HtcClockWidget.apk
htccontactwidgets.apk
HtcCopyright.apk
HtcFootprintsWidget.apk
htcmailwidgets.apk
htcmsgwidgets.apk
HtcPhotoWidget.apk
HtcProfilesWidget.apk
HtcRingtoneWidget.apk
htcsettingwidgets.apk
HtcSyncwidget.apk
HtcWeatherWallpaper.apk
PluginManager.apk
Rosie.apk
WidgetDownloadManager.apk

No matter what you do, make a nandroid backup, first.

 

[mecampo]

Yes, you should be able to do that too, but it comes with the same warnings as any other method of disabling or removing it. If you lose your replacement launcher, you'll have a heck of a time getting Sense back even if it was just frozen, not removed. As for other things you can remove or freeze, calkulin's remove sense update zip removes the following apks from either /system/app or /data/app, and skips whatever is already gone:

com.htc.FMRadioWidget.apk
com.htc.FriendStreamWidget.apk
com.htc.MusicWidget.apk
com.htc.NewsReaderWidget.apk
com.htc.StockWidget.apk
com.htc.TwitterWidget.apk
com.htc.WeatherWidget.apk
HtcAddProgramWidget.apk
htcbookmarkwidget.apk
HtcCalculatorWidget.apk
htccalendarwidgets.apk
HtcClockWidget.apk
htccontactwidgets.apk
HtcCopyright.apk
HtcFootprintsWidget.apk
htcmailwidgets.apk
htcmsgwidgets.apk
HtcPhotoWidget.apk
HtcProfilesWidget.apk
HtcRingtoneWidget.apk
htcsettingwidgets.apk
HtcSyncwidget.apk
HtcWeatherWallpaper.apk
PluginManager.apk
Rosie.apk
WidgetDownloadManager.apk

No matter what you do, make a nandroid backup, first.

im using adw launcher, so should i also copy its apk on the /system/app from /data/app or wherever it is?

 

[akazabam]

im using adw launcher, so should i also copy its apk on the /system/app from /data/app or wherever it is?

I would highly recommend it. Backup your launcher settings (I'm sure adw has an option for that), copy the adw apk from /data/app to your sdcard, uninstall adw, reboot, then push the adw apk to /system/app. You can use adb, root explorer (should work, but make sure permissions are the same as other apks in /system/app after the copy), or make a flashable zip if you know how to. Once you do that, reboot again, and make sure you can use adw again. Assuming you can, you can then remove the Sense launcher. Like I said, you don't have to do this, but I highly recommend it. Just be aware that if there is an update to adw, you'll have to remove it from /system/app, install adw from the market, then go through process all over again. You'd also have to have a different launcher installed at the time, such as Launcher Pro. You can uninstall it when you're done.