How To Automatically Hide unused Android Apps to declutter your Smartphone

It is not the new generation of smartphones, we have been seeing pre-installed apps, or bloatware as many would know, has been coming preloaded on smart devices, since their inception along with smartphone. Without smart apps, there is no smartphone that is for a fact. If you’re not new to Android devices, then I assume you’ve installed and used lots of apps on your handsets. As more time goes by your smartphone starts to lack, since you have grown fond of apps and start to download more and more of them.

One day you saw that there is no storage left on your device to install a new app and you have end up with a handset that is filled with all the clutter. Now you have been searching for the easiest ways to get rid of the garbage on your device and make your smartphone clutter-free. If so, you’re on right path. Below we have few instructions for you to follow if you want to declutter your smartphone.

Uninstalling Vs Disabling Apps

Uninstalling Android apps on your smartphone is the foremost method you can follow to get rid of all the unused apps. Moreover, it is extremely easy to do so, not to mention there are different ways to do it as well. For instance, if you’ve downloaded apps from the Google Play Store, all you have to do is head over to the same page in the app. Now you’ll see two buttons, form right side, first is Open, and second is Uninstall. Tap on the second button and you’ll be asked once to confirm whether you want to uninstall it or not. Or you could go to Application manager on your smartphone, which can be found in the Settings app. Scroll through the list of apps on your device and find the one you want to uninstall. All you have to do is tap on it and you’ll see an option to uninstall that app.

It might have been the easiest way to hide the unused apps, but not the best way to do it. Moreover, you can only do that for the apps that you newly installed on your device, while the pre-installed apps can’t uninstalled on most of the devices that easily. For that to happen you’ll have to get root access of your device, which is not everyone’s game. If you reside in the United States, then you’d probably see carrier specific apps on your devices, Verizon Wireless and AT & T are the few examples those install a ton of bloatware on their serviced handsets. Note any app that you have downloaded can be uninstalled easily, while that can’t be stated for pre-install apps, which can only be hidden. We have explained both the procedures using examples to understand it clearly step-by-step.

Instructions for Uninstalling Apps

Starting with uninstalling apps, and you know why, well, because we all have probably friends, family or kids who have installed unnecessary apps on our devices, which you’d like to remove. It isn’t the quickest way, but rest assured it’s the most efficient way in the long-term.

1. Find the gear-shaped icon, which is meant for the Settings app. Tap on it once you find it in the app drawer. Or can open the notification bar and hit the icon there.
2. Scroll down the menu and find the Apps option if you’ve Stock Android), or Application manager if you’ve Touch Wiz UI, while other Android users need to find something similar to that.

   

   

   

   
   
3. Once you have tapped and open the new window, scroll down to the app that you want to uninstall. It wouldn’t cause problem to system if that app you’re trying to uninstall is not running at the current moment.
4. Here we have Airbnb, which I only need when I need to travel to different city and book a place. Now that I don’t need it, I can declutter by smartphone by removing such apps. It can be any app that you don’t plan to use recently or haven’t even used it for long time. Best way to make sure the app is not using any space on your device is to clear data and cache and then tap on uninstall.

It will take a moment to uninstall and then you’re done. It’s gone forever! Unless you want to install it back. Clearing cache and data isn’t required but this should keep things clean and your device running smooth for longer time.

Instructions for Disabling Apps

Next set of instructions is for users who all are not fond of bloatware and wants to hide the apps. If you’re a user of Android smartphone or a tablet filed with pre-installed apps, you have been probably frustrated by the pile of unnecessary apps on your app drawer. Remember that this won’t remove them, but will hide them from the app drawer. So, here’s how you can hide them.

1. Head over to the Settings app, which can be found in the app drawer or accessed through notification bar.
2. Now scroll down the list and tap on the Applications (might vary depending upon the custom OS).

   

   

   
   
3. Find the apps that you want to disable. Note that we don’t recommend disabling the apps that are important for system updates as well as other purpose. For instance, Verizon might have a main app pre-installed on your device for software updates and accessing accounts info.
4. Apart from system default apps like Gallery, File Manager and others you can disable almost any pre-installed apps. We have selected MS Excel app, which comes preloaded on Samsung Galaxy S7.

   

   

   
   
5. Tapping on MS Excel will open a new window, there you would have to tap on Disable option and confirm it as well by again tapping on disable.

The procedure will show that the app uninstallation is finished, but rest assured, the app is only hidden, but not completely uninstalled. For that, you would have to get root access of the device as we mentioned above. This is a great way of stopping automatic updates for those apps because this way those disabled apps won’t bother the system as well. It is called killing two birds with one stone.