It sounds like a simple thing to just delete one or more apps. Which it is, if you know how to proceed. Which is exactly what we’re going through here!
Deleting apps that are no longer used is usually a pretty sensible idea. Not just because it frees up more storage space. Many apps are also active in the background and use system resources for, among other things, notifications. Something that could potentially slow down your phone or tablet.
Not all apps can be deleted
When it comes to deleting apps, there are actually a few different ways to do it. The procedures differ slightly depending on whether you have one Androidphone from Samsung, Sony, OnePlus, Huawei or any other manufacturer. But basically, the process is about the same.
Worth keeping in mind is that not all apps can be deleted. Many of the apps that come pre-installed on your phone or tablet are either not possible to remove because the manufacturer has chosen it to be so. Alternatively, because the apps are needed for certain functions to work. In most cases, however disable these apps. Disabling an app does not free up storage space, but can at best provide a small performance boost as the app is no longer allowed to work in the background.
Delete apps from your Android phone or tablet
As I said, there are a few different approaches to deleting apps from one Android-unit. The pictures below are from one Samsungphone so it is possible that your particular model differs slightly when it comes to how the different functions are called and the like. Basically, however, the process should be largely the same.
Method 1: Delete an app directly from the app overview
The fastest way to delete an app is probably to navigate to the app’s icon and tap it. Continue to hold your finger down for a few seconds until a small menu appears. Select here Uninstall followed by OK to delete the app.
Depending on the model and manufacturer, it is also common that, in order to delete an app, you need to drag it to a certain part of the screen. Usually to one of the upper corners of the screen where the app is then released at a text that says for example Uninstall.
Method 2: Delete an app via Settings
You can also delete apps via Settings menu. Navigate to Settings (Gear) and select Appar a little bit down the list. If you want to uninstall apps in order to save space, this may be worth taking a look at how many Megabytes (MB) the different apps take up of the storage space. In the case below, for example, the selected app takes up 259 MB of storage space. An ordinary photo from a mother smartphoneCamera is usually between 2-8 MB in size.
Once you have found the app you want to delete, select Uninstall followed by OK when the question of whether you want to uninstall the app appears.
Method 3: Delete an app through the Google Play Store
One last way to delete apps is to uninstall them directly via Google Play Store (Google Play Store). To do this, open Google Play Store (sometimes just called Play store) and searches for the app you want to get rid of. Go to the app page and select Uninstall.
Method 4: Disable an uninstallable app
As I said, some apps cannot be deleted. Exactly which apps this includes differs between manufacturer and model, but the most common is that it is about the apps for phone, camera, messages and other programs that are needed for the phone or tablet to work properly. Sometimes many manufacturers choose – unfortunately – to install other apps, and even games, which can not be removed.
However, these apps can usually always be disabled.
Disabling an app does not free up storage space as the app remains on the phone. On the other hand, it can, at best, make a device less tough if it is the case that the app that is deactivated is usually active in the background or similar.
Disabling an app can be done both directly via the app overview or via Settings> Apps. In the picture below we see that Uninstall-text replaced with just Disable. We point to Disable a warning appears (If you disable this app, other apps may stop working properly). Something like can sue depending on which app you want to disable. However, it is completely harmless to deactivate an app as it is just as easy to reactivate it if something goes wrong.
Reactivate a disabled app
If you want to activate an app you previously deactivated, e.g. if you want to start using the feature again or if something stopped working when the app was deactivated, this is as simple as that.
Start by navigating to the app you want to activate. Suggested via Settings followed by Appar. At the bottom, tap Activate, whereupon the app jumps up again.
Bonus: Delete or add an app shortcut to the home screen
The apps that are on the phone or home screen of the tablet (that is, the different screen or screens you can scroll left and right between after you unlock the device) are only shortcuts to the actual apps. These shortcuts do not take up space or system resources per se. However, it can sometimes be nice to clean up a bit among all the icons on the home screen.
To remove an app from the home screen (home screen), tap the app and hold your finger until the app starts bouncing gently up and down. Then select Remove to directly delete the app from the home screen.
Conversely, if you want to add an app to the home screen, just navigate to the app’s icon in the app overview. Touch the icon of the app you want to add and hold your finger until a small menu appears. Select here Add to home screen to add a shortcut to the current app directly on the home screen.
If you encounter any problems or thoughts, you are as usual welcome to share them in the comments below.
