Please read carefully. Bloatware is the name given to in-built app's that carriers and, or, handset manufacturers add to the stock Android firmware. At best, some of them can just clutter up your app drawer and at worst they can slow your phone down and use up your battery by running in the background constantly. Remember... one persons bloatware can be another persons, "must have" app. Some bloatware can be got rid of by rooting and flashing a generic, (non-carrier), stock firmware. This can rid you of a particular operators app's that you may not use or want. Also, you can flash custom ROM's that are, "Lite", or, "Super Slim", and have a lot of bloatware removed by default. Alternatively, there is some bloatware that can be disabled in... Settings > More > Application Manager > ALL (see screenshot) However, you cannot remove all the built-in app's that carriers and manufacturers include in their firmwares by using Disable or Uninstall. To prevent these from running you will need to do the following:- 1. This guide is for rooted phones. To root your phone, see here:- Rooting Galaxy S4 - Dummies Guide 2. If you haven't already, you will need to download and install Titanium Backup, free, from the Google Play Store, here. 3. You will also need to download and install Titanium Backup PRO Key, about
oh man its so good to be back in the rooting business. I havent purchased a good external SD card yet so my storage is minimal. (about 1 gb remaining of the 9gb internal). So this is a godsend.
Hi, I am trying to decide whether to freeze certain apps I don't need or install a custom DjeMBeY ROM and getting rid of them permanently. Maybe someone here can help me decide what to do? Is there any difference in speed when between a custom Super Slim ROMs and the stock one? More bloatware (frozen or not) does in my thinking slow the device, but then, I have quite limited knowledge when it comes to freezing and such so don't know if that's true. I was also thinking about Titanium Backup. Let's say I do a backup with Titanium on my device as it is now where I haven't frozen any bloatware at all. Then I decide to install a custom ROM but first wipe the device clean (by the way is there any necessity wiping it?) and then restore the device with that backup. Does it install all off these Samsung bloatware again? Because when I made this backup those apps were installed on my device? If I don't wipe my device before installing this Slim ROM what happens then? Does my settings on all apps stay the same when reinstalling them? And then I must ask about installing apps that DjeMBeY have got rid off, for example, Dropbox. Is it ok just to install it via Play Store? Many questions, I know, but I'm a newbie when it comes to Android Thanks in advance. Edit: I came up with yet another question. Installing a custom ROM vs freezing apps on the stock ROM. Is it easier to update the phone to the newest Android firmware with the stock ROM? (I have no need doing this since I'm very happy with 4.2 but I believe it's worth taking into consideration when deciding what to do next).
Only you can decide as only you know which, and how many, of the deleted apps you need. I find the DjeMBeY Modified ROM faster than the stock ROM. You should download the Deleted Apps file for whichever DjeMBeY Modified ROM you wish to use, I am on MGA and it shows 61 apps = 416MB, removed. Of these, I only use DropBox which I downloaded the later version from Google Play Store. In addition to the removed apps, I have also frozen a further 60 system apps that I personally do not use. A Titanium Backup is for apps/data only, 3rd party and system, so you would have to load a firmware/ROM first, which would contain fresh copies of the system apps that come with it, bloatware and all. It is not a good idea to replace a system app in another firmware/ROM. For instance, replacing system apps from Firmware ABC to Firmware, XYZ and certainly not across platforms such as ICS to JB or Android 4.2.2 to Android 4.3. Third party, Play Store apps, are usually OK between different firmwares/ROMs but may not be so between platforms unless they have been updated themselves. As for wiping, there are 2 distinct sorts of wipes... 1. The Recovery wipe of the cache partition and dalvik cache that I always recommend when installing anything new. This does not affect the firmware/ROM/data. (There is a 1.5 option of just doing a Factory Reset but this depends on where you have your apps and their data stored) 2. The Full Monty wipe, whereby everything needs to be backed up and then the SD card and Internal memory are formatted, particularly if you have installed apps on these, and the phone is Factory reset. You can then use Titanium Backup to restore the apps but not the data and certainly not any system, (red), apps as these can cause problems. This wipe is usually recommended if... (a) You are switching platforms, say, 4.2.2 to 4.3... or, if you have a persistent problem with your phone that cannot be resolved by using the first method. The majority of problems on the forums tend to be caused by people who do not wipe and whilst some may get away with it, others will be posting about screen freezes, lags, shutdowns, apps not working, etc: The first thing that is usually recommended in these cases is to do step 1 and, if that fails, move to step 2. If you are flashing, say, DjeMBeY Modified ROM MGA over the top of the stock Samsung firmware, MGA, you should be OK to leave it as a No Wipe installation, apart from cache and dalvik, that will leave your remaining apps and settings OK. See above. I have. Plus, as mentioned in post #1 of the DjeMBeY Dummies Guide, you can add from the deleted apps folder, any system apps that you need. When switching platforms I always flash the stock Samsung firmware first, as a known, good, base, before flashing a custom or modified ROM for that platform.
Thank you for your thorough answer Lord Ironass! I've decided to just freeze the apps since I don't really understand how to install a custom ROM and don't want to accidentally brick the phone either. The phone is fast as lightning anyways so I'm happy
Is it me or did somebody change the spreadsheet and get rid of all the colors? My view shows none of the colors mentioned (and it used to!). What gives?
Yes... some clot has removed the colours in the latest revision. If you click on File > Show revision history... you can bring up the colours again by restoring the 4th March version. Hopefully, this will be rectified soon. EDIT: Rectified. Colours are back!
