verizon cell, factory installed clutter

gcal · Jun 4, 2015

7Too many factory installed unwanted apps on my phone. Seems to be updates every other day. When signal is low and weak, updates can tie up internet access for an hour.

Looking for apps to disable without affecting function of apps I use. Has anyone gotten rid of VZ Navigator, NFL Mobile, ChatOn, Google+, or others without a problem?

c_hasbeen · Jun 4, 2015

yea they all seem to do the blote ware stuff, can you go into settings and then APPs and see if you can turn some of them off?

John_Camping · Jun 4, 2015

You can't delete them, but you can completely disable them, preventing them from running, updating, or appearing anywhere outside the administrative screens.

gcal · Jun 4, 2015

Yes. I can go into Apps Manager and disable them. Same message all the time, that disabling them may affect other functions. I'm going after them, one by one, as they have updates available. Then, I wait for a few days to see if everything still works. I'd like this to go faster and I'd rather not find a problem a month from now and have to figure out what I need to reactivate.

minimotos95 · Jun 4, 2015

A few years back I got rid of all the bloatware that came on the motorola droid without issue. Removing the apps from the stock ROM didn't do nearly as much good as running a custom ROM, assuming your phone is safe to root.
Out of the apps you have listed Google+ is the only one I think may affect other apps since Google decided to combined Google+, youtube, gmail, etc.
If you're phone has nandroid make a backup, then disable all those apps at once, I bet your phone will run fine but it's always nice to have a recent nandroid backup on your SD card.

I typically just run a version of cyanogenmod with google apps, no bloatware except the play store, gmail, youtube etc. which I use.

gcal · Jun 4, 2015

Disabling Google + and Youtube hasn't affected my ability to watch YT videos or get to the regular gmail account. I hate Google+. What a mess.

I have Facebook to keep in touch with family, a yahoo email that I have had for 20 years, and a Gmail acct I was forced to get to buy the phone and sign up for Verizon. That's enough.

LeeRevell · Jun 4, 2015

I actually find VZNavigator quite useful, much better than the two handheld GPSes that I have, and has proven more accurate than my big Magellan Roadmate GPS . I also use a Weather app, that requires I keep the GPS function up. So, I put up with some clutter.

John_Camping · Jun 5, 2015

I'm confident you can disable the 4 you mentioned without problems. Attached are screenshots of my disabled bloatware all of which has been disabled for months.

oldogre · Jun 5, 2015

I noticed on second thumbnail pic that it was when verizon had isis wallet, when I got my first phone from verizon and started playing around with it I was a little freaked out when I saw it, and went to the store and asked them if I been hacked by terrorists, they told me it was one of apps they were in the process of renaming because of the name, I forget what it is for so I guess I never used it, or maybe I did and don't know. But anyway the sales rep found it humorous, and I felt really really even more like an idiot with a phone smarter than me. Just another day in the techno world for me, lol