Samsung devices have been known for a while for the amount of bloatware present on them. Over the years, Samsung, as well as other OEMs, have worked to streamline their software and remove the number of bloatware apps. Still, carrier-locked devices ship with a little more bloatware than even normal Samsung Galaxy devices. Generally, you can’t really get rid of the bloatware without rooting the device. Thanks to the huge developer community behind and Samsung’s reach, that’s not the case with Samsung’s popular devices. There have been ways to disable bloatware on Samsung devices using ADB, without root. We’ve even covered a few of those such as removing bloatware from the Galaxy S8, or even other Samsung devices. Now we’re here with a way to disable bloatware on Galaxy S9, S9 Plus and Note 8.
These methods generally use a package disabler, which disables a number of predefined app packages. This is generally still safer than rooting and removing packages manually, it is still a little risky. The package disabler can possibly disable the wrong packages which could cause your device to act erratically or even freeze up entirely. XDA user BAYmustafa96 has modified and created an XML file which can be used on any package manager app. This XML file removes about 129 apps that are safe to remove according to BAYmustafa96. We’ve previously used this package disabler XML file to get rid of bloatware on the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. It was then edited by another user Xperience Z who reduced the number of apps further down to 120. This file has been edited keeping the Galaxy S9 S9 Plus and Note 8 in mind.
Method 1: Uninstall System Apps on Galaxy S9/S9 Plus Using ADB Commands
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You can easily uninstall, disable or remove the pre-installed system apps on your Samsung Galaxy S9 or S9 Plus by executing the commands mentioned below. All you need is to install ADB and Fastboot tool on your computer and the name of the app’s package name you want to uninstall. This method of uninstalling bloatware works on all Samsung devices.
- Download the setup ADB and Fastboot on your computer.
- Enable USB debugging on your phone by going to Settings> Developer options.
- To know app package names for the apps installed on your Galaxy S9, install App Inspector from the Play Store. [googleplay url=”https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ubqsoft.sec01″/]
- Note down the app package names on a notepad app for future reference.
- Connect your phone to the computer and ‘Allow USB debugging’ if prompted.
- Well, now launch a command prompt window. To do so, place the mouse pointer on the Windows icon and do a right-click on the mouse. Select the Command Prompt option to launch the cmd window.
- Now type the following command in it and hit the Enter key.
adb shell
- On hitting the Enter key, you’ll get the codename for your device (‘starlte’ for the Galaxy S9 and ‘star2lte’ for the S9 Plus).
- Now issue the following command (pm uninstall -k –user 0…….) followed by the app package name and press the Enter key. In the following command “com.samsung.android.messaging” is the app name for Samsung’s stock message app.
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.messaging - Just keep executing the above command with the app package names of the system apps you want to disable until you have removed all desired apps.
- To enable the disabled apps, you’ll have to perform a factory reset.
List of Bloat Apps on Samsung Galaxy S9/S9 Plus
For your convenience, we have made a list of system apps with their app package names.
Samsung Message
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.messaging
Samsung Keyboard
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.inputmethod
My Files
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.app.myfiles
Voice Service (S-Voice)
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.svoice.sync
Samsung Voice Input
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.svoiceime
Voice Service Framework (S-Voice)
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.svoice
Galaxy Apps
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.app.samsungapps
Galaxy Essentials Widget
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.widgetapp.samsungapps
Samsung Themes
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.themestore
Link Sharing
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.simplesharing
Smart Things
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.easysetup pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.beaconmanager
Carmode Stub
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.drivelink.stub
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.email.provider
Configuration message
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.wsomacp
LED Cover Service
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.cover.ledcover pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.ledcoverdream
Samsung Dex Home
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.app.desktoplauncher
Samsung Dex
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.desktopmode.uiservice
Secure Folder
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.knox.securefolder
Smart Switch Agent
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.easyMover.Agent
Smart View
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.smartmirroring
withTV (Samsung TV)
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.withtv
Finance (Yahoo)
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.widgetapp.yahooedge.finance
Sports (Yahoo)
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.widgetapp.yahooedge.sport
Photo Screensavers
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.dreams.phototable
Gear VR Service
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.hmt.vrsvc
Health Service
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.service.health
Yelp Edge Panel
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.yelp.android.samsungedge
Samsung Internet Panel
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.sbrowseredge
CNN for Edge Panel
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.cnn.mobile.android.phone.edgepanel
Workspace
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.knox.containeragent
Samsung Mirror 1.1
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.mirrorlink
Samsung Pass
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.samsungpass
Autofill with Samsung Pass
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.samsungpassautofill
Samsung PaymentFramework
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.spayfw
Samsung Billing
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.app.billing
Dual Messenger
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.da.daagent
Emergency Information
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.emergency
Emergency Manager Service
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.emergencymode.service
Chrome
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.chrome
Google VR Service
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.vr.vrcore
Samsung Cloud
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.scloud
Facebook App Installer
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.facebook.system
Facebook App Manager
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.facebook.appmanager
Briefing
pm uninstall -k --user 0 flipboard.boxer.app
Hancom Office Editor
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.hancom.office.editor.hidden
Game Launcher
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.game.gamehome
Game Optimizing Service
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.enhance.gameservice
Game Tools pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.game.gametools
ANT + DUT
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.dsi.ant.sample.acquirechannels
ANT RADIO Service
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.dsi.ant.service.socket
ANT + HAL Service
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.dsi.ant.server
ANT + Plugins Service
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.dsi.ant.plugins.antplus
EasyOneHand
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.easyonehand
Android Easter Egg
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.egg
Keyguard Wallpaper Updater
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.keyguardwallpaperupdator
T-mobile Name ID
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.tmobile.services.nameid
Visual Voicemail
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.tmovvm
Google Print Service
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.printservice.recommendation
Google Print Spooler
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.printspooler
Android Daemon
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.daemonapp
Provision Manager
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.managedprovisioning
Push Notification
pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.spp.push
Method 2: Disable Bloatware on Galaxy S9 Using Package Disabler Pro
Download
- Modified XML for Galaxy S9: bloatware-remover.xml
Install BK Package Disabler for Samsung
BK Package Disabler for Samsung by WakaSoftware is not a free app and will cost you $2.49. Don’t launch the app as soon as you install it though.
Install BK Plugin 2
Due to changes made by Samsung, BK Package disabler cannot work on its own anymore and requires a separate plugin. Fortunately, the plugin, called BK Plugin 2 is free to install and use.
How to safely disable bloatware on Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus
- Once you have the two apps installed, and the XML file downloaded, you will need to grant administrative privileges to BK Plugin 2. This needs to be done before BK Package disabler is launched.
- To do that, launch BK Plugin 2 and tap on ACTIVATE IT. This will take you to the device administrator page where you have to tap ACTIVATE. You can now go ahead and launch BK Package disabler.
- You will see all your apps listed on the main page of the BK Package Disabler. Tap on the three-dot menu button in the top-right corner in the BK Package disabler app and select Import/Export XML.
- A popup appears allowing you to choose between IMPORT FROM XML and EXPORT TO XML. Select IMPORT FROM XML then tap on SELECT PATH.
- Navigate to the downloaded XML file, which should most probably be in your Downloads folder, and tap on it to select it.
- Tap on IMPORT now.
- The XML file will now automatically disable 120 useless bloatware apps for you while you sit back and relax. It doesn’t really take that long though so you won’t be relaxing much, if at all. You’ll be taken to the BK Package Disabler’s main page once it is done.
- As you scroll down the list of apps you should notice a few of them, 120 exactly, have been checked off. This means these apps have been disabled.
Note
It is important that you do take a good look at which apps have been disabled. The process is automated so you’re not asked whether you would prefer to disable a certain app. The list of disabled apps could possibly contain an app that you use. In that case, you can simply check the box next to the app on the list and it will be enabled.
Alternative
If you think BK Package Disabler is a little too expensive at $2.49, you can try using Package Disabler Pro by policedeveloper which costs $1.49. It also needs a plugin of its own called PDP Plugin. We’ve linked both the apps below so you can disable bloatware at a slightly cheaper price. Using the app is very similar to using BK Package disabler albeit a little less complicated. If you still need more assistance, you can follow the instructions to remove bloatware under the How to disable bloatware heading.
Package Disabler Pro
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