Today we’re going to cover some simple ways of removing bloatware from the One M9, whether it’s carrier bloatware or HTC’s own creations.
Hide unwanted apps
If you just don’t want to be bothered by unwanted apps, but you don’t feel you actually need to remove them, then you can rapidly remove them from your app drawer. Just tap the menu button (the three dots) and choose ‘hide / unhide apps’. Then, tick the apps that you don’t want to appear. You can return here to make these apps visible again if you ever need to use them.
Disable or remove apps from Settings
The Apps menu in Settings is quite useful. Simply visit it, then click on the app that you’d like remove. If you’re allowed, you’ll be able to uninstall the app; otherwise you’ll have an option to disable it. Note that the apps installed and your permissions here may be different to others depending on your exact model and carrier. Still, with a bit of activity you can disable or remove the vast majority of unwanted apps on your One M9.
Got root? Use Titanium Backup
Titanium Backup is a clever way of removing apps for good (and backing them up, to make sure you can put them back if necessary). Unfortunately, it does require root access, so you may have to go and get that if you don’t already have it set up. (There’s a good guide here to rooting the One M9!)
Once you are rooted, you can install Titanium Backup from the Google Play Store. Tap Backup / Restore, then press the menu key. Click ‘batch actions’, then select the apps that you’re planning to remove, and back them up.
Once this is done, you can actually proceed to neutralising them. You can use ‘freeze’ to stop apps from running without actually removing them (which means they’ll still take up disk space, but they won’t take up your RAM or CPU). This requires the Pro version of the app, but it’s a nice option to have.
If you’re willing to play riskier, then you can also simply uninstall the apps. Pay attention to what you’re doing here, as you can render your One M9 unusable if you remove the wrong thing.
Reclaim some space with CCleaner
Another good step to follow after you’ve removed some apps is to ensure that there’s no cruft left over. Try using an app like CCleaner to remove unused files, saving disk space and speeding up your device. I was able to free about 3GB of space on my One, so it’s well worth trying!
For more space-saving tips, check out our article on increasing your storage space on Android!
Questions? Comments?
Let me know if this helped you in the comments below. Of course, if you have further questions then be sure to let me have those too. You can also reach us on Twitter @mobilefun!