Getting rid of unwanted apps

Do you have a "disable" option? That will stop them running or storing data (I'd clear data before disabling: it used to do that automatically, but some android versions no longer do so), will remove them from your app drawer, and be functionally equivalent to uninstalling.

The problem is that the pre-installed software is in a different storage partition to the stuff you install, and one you don't have write access to. That is why you cannot uninstall it. But since it is in a different partition you also would not be able to use any of the space that would be freed in that partition if you did install it, which is why disabling is as good as uninstalling in practice.

However sometimes pre-installed junk also lacks a disable option. Really the only apps that should have neither "uninstall" or "disable" are ones that are genuinely vital, but sometimes carriers decide to prevent you disabling junk that someone has paid them to install, even though it is absolutely unnecessary (and not just carriers: I've known Samsung do it on a non-carrier device I owned).

If you don't have either "uninstall" or "disable" then you can do nothing unless you can root the phone (i.e. modify the system software to allow you to gain administrator access: "root" is the name of the linux admin account, hence this process is called "rooting"). US Samsungs tend to be very locked-down, so I don't know whether that will actually be possible. If you research this it's important to know that US handsets are different from "global"/"international" models, and you need to ensure that any methods you use or software you install is intended for the US model. Unfortunately as I am not American I have no personal experience of rooting these devices, and don't know whether it's possible for this model.

Sheesh, I've never met pre-programmed read-only contacts. US carriers really do have bad control freak tendencies!

What happens if you install a different contacts app? Your own contacts should appear in that anyway (android uses a central contacts database, regardless of which app you use to view it), but if these read-only contacts were programmed into the pre-installed contacts app by ATT they'll only appear in that. Of course if they've messed with the Contacts Storage app to hard-code these things in then it may come down to finding a way of hiding them: going into the contacts app's settings and seeing whether you can set it to display only some types of contacts, either those associated to a particular account (such as your Google account, which I assume these things are not) or by defining "groups" of contacts and only displaying some of those (either putting these in a group you don't display or, if that's not possible, adding all others to a group you do display). The "accounts" method would be better, as it would automatically show any new contacts you add, while if you have to put the contacts you do display in a special group that is something you'd have to remember to do for every new contact.

Anyway, I don't know what will work, but those are the first few things that come to my mind.

FatBear said:

The US seems to have lost all sense of honor and that is reflected in the reprehensible practices not just of our government, but of large businesses as well. It's probably hard to believe, looking from the outside, but must of us individuals are still fairly decent. But we do sometimes feel pretty beleaguered.

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Actually I have no trouble believing it: I've collaborated with Americans for several decades, am currently working on one US-based project and spent a decade working on another around the turn of the century, in addition to having family and friends there. So I have plenty of experience of how decent most Americans are. I'd probably have been out there this Summer but for the current situation.

I looked through the directories on my phone - the ones I could see by plugging it into my PC - and found one called something like ...samsung.contacts... It was empty, but makes me realize that I can download the stock Google Contacts and switch to that. I'm used to it and maybe I can find a way to hide the ATT ones.

Or is there a better Contacts app that I should consider?

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I don't think you'll be able to see the actual contacts database or the installed apps from a PC. You would be able to see any public folders an app creates in the internal storage, but the apps and databases themselves live in an area you won't be able to access that way.

Contacts apps are subjective. The Google one works OK (I have a Pixel, so it's the pre-installed app on mine), the only other one I've tried recently is Simple Contacts, which does what the name implies (but is open source and seems trustworthy, something I'd always consider when choosing a contacts app). But either will do to test whether these read-only contacts are coded into the Contacts app (in which case the alternative app won't see them) or the contacts database.