How to uninstall default apps

Can anyone explain to me how I can uninstall the default app/widget? (I read something about the “adb” tool but it is not clear to me how to have it and use it).

Can I ask why it is not possible to uninstall a default application by selecting it from the list installed ones and tapping “uninstall” button?

And why is the “Weather app” considered so important that I can’t even remove its widget?

Thank you very much.

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To prevent users from unintentionally destroying core functionalities of their phone, I guess.


This has nothing to do with the App.
/e/'s default launcher Bliss considers the Widget important, apparently. The Android way of showing your disapproval of this is to simply install a different launcher which handles things the way you want. Just search the forum for “launcher”.

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First of all, thanks for your answer: it was very helpful to me.

I understand what you mean, but I do not completely agree with this point: select an application from the list of installed ones and tap “uninstall” button: this is not subjective, this is certainly easy :slight_smile:

Thank you very much. I was able to do all the steps.

Yes, this is very reasonable. Doubt remains about non-core applications, such as weather feature.

I do not disapprove of anything. I am always sincerely grateful for the work done by all free software developers. I asked the question to see if there are any reasons that aren’t entirely obvious at first glance. And for now I remain with my doubt :slight_smile:

Are the default widgets hardcoded into the Bliss launcher? (I removed the weather app but the widget is still there …)

Thank you again.

It did not work after downloading and extracting the zip file. I then searched for “ADB Linux platform-tools” (I use LinuxMint) and found the following:
In the terminal:
sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb
adb start-server

Connect your phone to a computer via USB.

adb shell pm list packages

adb uninstall --user 0 packagename

@AnotherElk suggestions are OK. Every S.O. has its own particularities (e.g. on Ubuntu 18.04 I had to install android-sdk-platform-tools-common and then run ./adb from inside the unzipped directory).

Hi, and thanks so much for your detailed and very helpful instructions AnotherElk!

I’m quite new to all of this, so I wasn’t able to get behind the following issue: I closely followed your steps (Android debugging, connecting my phone to my computer via USB, downloaded the Android SDK platform tools, navigated to the download folder), but when I entered “adb devices”, the reaction was “command not found”. I tried to find a solution for it online, but got lost. So I thought mabye some of you guys can help me :slight_smile:
(I usw a Fairphone 3+ and a Macbook in case that’s relevant)

The downloaded file is a ZIP archive. You need to extract (= unzip) the contents first, and in the folder to where you do that you will then find (and need to execute) the adb command.

I don’t have a Mac, so I don’t know the standard procedure for extracting a ZIP file on macOS, but as every OS tends to offer something to do this job by default I believe macOS shouldn’t be any different.

I had a hard time to find the words to describe you my problem, as I didn’t undestand it myself haha. But I managed to find a solution online.
So in case someone else also just gets command not found over and over again: this did it for me.

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Post a screenshot next time :wink: .

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Or read this thread :wink: ("… run ./adb from inside the unzipped directory")

You were referring to Ubuntu … that this ./ thingy can be applied to every Unix-like OS can be considered advanced knowledge not everybody has :wink: .

You are right. I didn’t mean to tease. I know how much time you could spend searching the web and I just want to suggest that reading posts well can save you a lot of time

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I want to uninstall exposure notifications but I don’t know how. Because in /e/ store we can’t uninstall apps. I have listed with adb all packages and I didn’t find the exposure notification package name

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

If you manually installed the Exposure Notification through Apps, then you can uninstall it. I’m trying to remember the steps.

Try: Settings>apps and notifications>microG Services Core and in the App info window is there a 3 dot menu top right of screen? If so tap it and select uninstall updates.

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Thanks!!! it works!!

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