Can't uninstall this app

Magicpaper1338 · Dec 3, 2017

idk what to do. It's not an official google app.

dontpanicbobby · Dec 3, 2017

If you have an Alcatel phone it's built-in. I've got the same named app on my LG.
It's handy for me for moving books from the Internal Download folder to my Micro-SD cards Book folder.

Magicpaper1338 · Dec 3, 2017

dontpanicbobby said:
If you have an Alcatel phone it's built-in. I've got the same named app on my LG.
It's handy for me for moving books from the Internal Download folder to my Micro-SD cards Book folder.

It's not a regular file manager. This was an external one. Idk why I downloaded it, and when updated it gives me this generic malaware or whatever phone booster thing. I don't want to factory reset my phone.

And yeah, I have an alacatel.

Hadron · Dec 3, 2017

Check your security settings and see whether it has been set as a device administrator. If it has then you need to unset it before you can remove it.

Magicpaper1338 · Dec 3, 2017

It's not there

Dannydet · Dec 3, 2017

Well then if it has no option to remove it, it's now a system file and cannot be removed unless you root the phone.

Magicpaper1338 · Dec 3, 2017

Dannydet said:
Well then if it has no option to remove it, it's now a system file and cannot be removed unless you root the phone.

This is evil of a shitty app to do.

Hadron · Dec 3, 2017

So what happens when you do try to remove it? Does it fail (with some message?), or does the listing for that app in Settings > Apps have the uninstall button greyed-out or missing? If so, and especially the latter, are you certain it's the same app and not a system app with the same name? I'm asking you to be sure because if an app downloaded from the Play Store has done something like Danny has suggested, used a security hole to install itself to the system, it should be reported to Google, but I'd want to be absolutely sure of my facts before doing that.

Does it have any other options, such as uninstall updates or disable (should only be there for system apps)?

Magicpaper1338 · Dec 3, 2017

It's under running apps. As you can see the purple file manger is different from the default one that came with my system
It also added this 'phone booster' thing to my phone. It's part of the app, not a new one. I can only uninstall updates, and can't disable it.

Magicpaper1338 · Dec 3, 2017

More stuff.

Hadron · Dec 3, 2017

Right, so it's a system app. And you are certain it didn't come with the phone, even though the phone is an Alcatel. Because there's no way something installed from the Play Store should be able to do that.

If you uninstall updates to it (which should presumably remove crap added with that update - obviously turn off automatic updates first) does still look different from the built-in one? I ask because the icon in your downloaded apps list screenshot is different from the icon for this app on all of the other images, which seems odd.

Magicpaper1338 · Dec 3, 2017

Hadron said:
Right, so it's a system app. And you are certain it didn't come with the phone, even though the phone is an Alcatel. Because there's no way something installed from the Play Store should be able to do that.
If you uninstall updates to it (which should presumably remove crap added with that update - obviously turn off automatic updates first) does still look different from the built-in one? I ask because the icon in your downloaded apps list screenshot is different from the icon for this app on all of the other images, which seems odd.

Yes. The one that isn't purple is the normal one. The purple one was the downloaded one. Again I don't know why I downloaded it, but it's there. The yellow application is the default one. I uninstalled its updates and it still looks the same. You can honestly find this app in the play store.

Hadron · Dec 3, 2017

But your screenshot shows the yellow one as "downloaded", not the purple one. That's what has me puzzled.

Yes, I can find the app in the app store, but won't install it on this phone to test as it's not rooted (it's also on November security patch of Android 8, so in principle this thing shouldn't be able to install itself to system this phone, but I'm unwilling to test). I have an older phone which is rooted (so I can remove system apps easily) that I could test with, but don't have that with me.

Dannydet · Dec 3, 2017

The yellow one is the downloaded one.
Uninstall that and you should be good.

Magicpaper1338 · Dec 3, 2017

Dannydet said:
The yellow one is the downloaded one.
Uninstall that and you should be good.

That isn't the case.
It's the opposite

Hadron · Dec 3, 2017

But your screenshot shows "downloaded" apps and lists the yellow one there. So why is that?

Dannydet · Dec 3, 2017

Screenshots don't lie...

Can't uninstall this app

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