Protect Your Android Phone By Killing All Its Crapware

jfruh writes "Like Windows, Android has built a dominant market share because any hardware manufacturer can license it — and as they did with Windows, those manufacturers are loading up Android devices with their own proprietary crapware. Although the process is a bit convoluted, you can get this crapware off your phone — and in doing so you'll actually make the device more secure."

Disable is disabled

[Russ1642]

On my Galaxy S3, which is loaded only with genuine Samsung crapware, disable is disabled on those apps.

The news is that the MSM realizes it

[tepples]

Not every article published with a date has to be news. Sometimes the news is just that the mainstream media have come to realize something that the geeks have known for months or years. In this case, the news is that the mainstream media has realized that 1. Android has preinstalled crapware, 2. this crapware has vulnerabilities, 3. this crapware can be disabled since 4.0 so as not to cause any damage, and 4. it's enough of a problem that the ad impressions are worth writing and editing a story about it.

Re:Overprivilaged Apps Security Risk...

[egr]

It is possible to root the phone, remove the crapware and then remove the root. No need to keep it.

Re:O'rly? No wai!

[gstoddart]

Title should have read: "Disabled apps are disabled."

But there's still likely several you can't actually uninstall.

On my HTC phone, I can't uninstall Facebook, but I can disable it. On my Google Nexus, I've had Google re-enable some apps I've specifically disabled because I don't want them.

They all try to put their crapware on the devices, and can make it awfully difficult to remove or disable them. Because they like to pretend they still own the devices, and they figure their desire to monetize your device outweighs your desire to lock it down.

I specifically went with the Google branded Nexus so I wouldn't have to worry about the crap from a 3rd party, but that doesn't mean Google has made it any easier to strip out the shit you don't want -- I disabled the YouTube app altogether when the first time I launched it to look at it Google automatically signed me up for an account without asking.

Welcome to the exciting future, where you don't own the stuff you buy, and the company who made it has embedded everything possible to give them access to your information.

It's why I stick with Nexus devices

[metrix007]

Stock Android. Nothing disabled, I can tether my phone at no charge, no crapware...

Other phones may be faster, but not enough to justify the headache of crapware.

It's the same reason I stick with Asus for laptops. Well built machines with minimal crapwear that are pretty easy to open up if you need to.

Re:Disable is disabled

[Vaakku]

Uninstall updates on those apps first. Then it will let you disable them.

Re:Disable is disabled

[Russ1642]

Correction. A few will let you disable them. Many will not, whether you uninstall updates or not.

Re:Disable is disabled

[Timothy Hartman]

Root it and put CyanogenMod [cyanogenmod.org] on it.
That was the first thing I did with my phone. Also, the Verizon S3 is fully loaded with Verizon Crapware, not just the Samsung crapware.