A big problem with modern smartphones is the amount of bloatware installed on them. Bloatware is the term used to describe apps that are pre-installed on smartphones and ready to use out of the box. The trouble with bloatware is that, although they can be disabled and hidden, you can’t delete them if you don’t want them on your phone. This clogs up a phone’s internal memory, which means you’re not really getting the storage space manufacturers advertise.
But there is a way to unclog your phone of all this bloatware and free up its precious memory. Our guide breaks this process down into simple steps you can easily follow.
Removing bloatware on an iPhone is more difficult than on Android. Each stock app is tied heavily to iOS and deleting them creates the risk of bricking your iPhone. A bricked iPhone is a device that can’t boot up properly. If you don’t want to risk that happening, we recommend just shoving your unwanted iPhone apps in folders.
Before you can get rid of bloatware from your device, you’ll have to root it first. Rooting a device will give you enhanced privileges and access to hidden settings.
ROOTING YOUR DEVICE CAN VOID ITS WARRANTY. DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK.
1) Download any Android rooting software onto your computer. We used Kingo Root, but there are plenty of free alternatives knocking around the internet.
2) Launch the software once downloaded.
3) Enable your phone’s USB debugging mode. To do this, go to ‘Settings’ > ‘About phone’ > tap ‘Build number’ several times to enable developer options Go back to ‘Settings.’
4) Head to ‘Developer options’ and make sure ‘USB debugging’ is checked. Plug your device in. Make sure it is on and has at least 50 per cent battery.
5) Wait for automatic driver installation. Click ‘OK’ when prompted.
6) Wait for the software to do its magic and then click ‘ROOT’. This takes several minutes and will restart your device several times. Click ‘Finish’.
7) Install Root Checker to see if your phone has been rooted. Once rooted, its time to remove that bloatware.
8) Head to the Google Play Store and downloaded any bloat software. We used No Bloat. Open it up. Click on ‘System apps.’
9) Go through the list and choose apps you want to delete. Click ‘delete’. It can be very difficult to download any deleted app again, so make sure you 100 per cent don’t want that app. Repeat with any app you don’t want. Done. It’s as easy as that.
