I know there are some people like myself who actually like Sense and doing a 'full' root can be daunting, especailly if all you want to do is remove the crud that Vodafone or your Telco install on your branded Legend. But there is no reason this can't be used to remove apps that are in a custom ROM - as far as I am aware! If someone with a custom ROM could confirm this, that would be great!
Righto, as per usual here is the disclaimer - doing this is risky and you do so at your own peril! Don't come crying to me or Paul @ MoDaCo if it bricks your phone (it shouldn't but this is just a warning)
Enough of that you get the idea Now for the fun bit!
First if you are not you'll need VISIONary+ from MoDaCo, at the time of this writing r13 is the latest and is available on page 7.
Please read and check the original post as there may be an updated version. If you are rooted skip to the next step.
This is Paul's guide he done quickly on his G2, it's more of a pictorial guide (same rules apply to the Legend as G2 in this case).
Once installed use the Temproot option, this can take 15 seconds or so to complete, use a Terminal Emulator and type su then return/enter and your $ should change to a # - this means you have temproot.
Go to the market and install SuperUser, Titanium Backup, BusyBox.
Open Titanium Backup allowing it root access when prompted, go to Backup/Restore and scroll to find one of the preinstalled bloatware apps, I chose the Vodafone Music app and the Vodafone Web app.
Long hold on the app you want to remove and scroll down a bit and choose the option "Force remove app (by recovery exploit)"
This will reboot your phone TWICE, you will get the recovery screen up - LET IT RUN IT's COURSE! DO NOT INTERRUPT THIS.
Once it boots back into your normal check that the app is no longer in your App drawer
Repeat for all the Apps that came preinstalled that you don't want, just be careful you don't remove anything that may still be needed!
A huge thanks to Paul at MoDaCo for this ingenious hack and the Titanium Backup, BusyBox and SuperUser developers for their hard work in writing their apps which also allow us to easy do this
Oh and you can use the Temproot on boot to have a sortof but not fully permaroot
Great work. I'll try on CM 6.1 RC1. One thing though...If I'm rooted I presume I need only the Titanium backup not VISIONary or other tools, right?
Yes you need the other apps, but you can remove them afterwards if you want. You'll need SuperUser to be able to grant Titanium Backup access, and Titanium Backup requires BusyBox to be installed - Titanium Backup gives you the option to install BusyBox if you press the 'Problems?' button under the Overview tab.
PS: you can use the free version of Titanium Backup for this exercise.
Yes, thank you. I knew about busybox and the option to install it from Titanium. SuperUser I have it already since I'm using CyanogenMod RC1 and it is included in the ROM (I think it is OK like this). So only Titanium (+busybox) needs to be installed.
I'll give it a try and let you know the results. I'll try to remove a rather large application (for ex Google Maps) and I'll install it afterward on the sdcard (since it is system appl, it cannot be moved directly to sdcard)
Later edit: IT WORKS! So I've tried to (and succeeded) remove 2 "system" applications: Google Maps and Calculator. Both were removed and the free space is now available (before 80 Mb free, after 91.2 Mb free).
There was only one issue with Maps, the icon still showed up in the application drawer and it was working (even after going through all above). After several checks I found the reason. The Maps were installed twice...the version included in the CM ROM (that was deleted by this procedure) AND the updated Maps (it once asked for upgrading the application from the market and I did that). After removing the "system installed" version of Google Maps, the "updates" remained. I went to Settings-Applications-Manage Applications and I found Maps there. I've uninstalled the updates then rebooted the phone. After that the icon was gone completely.
To conclude, for CM ROMS (or for all phones that are already rooted and have already the SU application), the steps to be performed for removing a system appl are:
1. Install Titanium Backup
2. Press (as instructed) "Problems" button. This will install a working version of busybox.
3. Check if the application you want to remove, has also updates (from Market or some other places) installed. If YES, go to Settings-Applications-Manage Applications and uninstall all the updates.
4. Start Titanium Backup and perform the steps indicated in the first post by TheLegendaryJay.
So it is working on custom ROM's as well and you don't need VISIONary or other application/tools.
All credits go to Paul, CM team and this whole community, the ones which made such things possible for our phones. TheLegendaryJay, thank you also for sharing this with us. Perhaps for rooted phones it is easier to remove applications with adb commands, but some are maybe not so technical to install the SDK or know how to use it (I can be counted as one of them), or they just might want to remove an application when they don't have a pc with SDK nearby.
yap, can confirm this. works great on cm 6.1 rc1. thanks for the hint
For you guys who are rooted - why not just flash the overlay filesystem patch, enable it, and then use any file explorer and go to /system/app/ and delete the apps you dont want? just a tip, it's much easier.. (and takes less time)
Because one of the reasons for which I wanted to rip out an application from the ROM is to gain some more space... By using overlay system, as I understood, you're practically duplicate the whole system to make it accessible for writing so I don't know if you gain some more space. Eventually you'll have less. Or, if that space is on the sdcard, that does not suit me also cause as I know, is working slower from there. Anyhow, I don't want to detail this here cause we'll be off-topic.
Rapier said:
Because one of the reasons for which I wanted to rip out an application from the ROM is to gain some more space... By using overlay system, as I understood, you're practically duplicate the whole system to make it accessible for writing so I don't know if you gain some more space. Eventually you'll have less. Or, if that space is on the sdcard, that does not suit me also cause as I know, is working slower from there. Anyhow, I don't want to detail this here cause we'll be off-topic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I understand it, the system folder is only linked so the phone believes it's on the SD-card. This should mean, no extra space is taken (except for the few kB that makes this possible). i could be wrong, but I use system overlay and I see no whatsoever decrease in performance. Not in benchmarks nor in usage.
If you are rooted - and dont want system overlay, I still think there is a better wway - ADB! just mount system, cd to system/app, ls it and rm whatever apps ypu dont want.. no need for multiple reboots - quick and effective
adb way might be quicker but it might prove to be ineffective (at least for me it was). In order to remove an application, you must check its filename (with ls command). I've tried to remove Facebook and Twitter applications using adb remove and guess what...they're still there. I admit I might have done something wrong, what I'm saying is that through this new method described above, someone is able to remove an appl by chosing it from a list. For the ones that don't feel so confortable using adb, this is an alternative
Sent from my Legend using XDA App
Rapier said:
adb way might be quicker but it might prove to be ineffective (at least for me it was). In order to remove an application, you must check its filename (with ls command). I've tried to remove Facebook and Twitter applications using adb remove and guess what...they're still there. I admit I might have done something wrong, what I'm saying is that through this new method described above, someone is able to remove an appl by chosing it from a list. For the ones that don't feel so confortable using adb, this is an alternative
Sent from my Legend using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it comes to ADB, you must write the filename exactly as it is, if you want to remove Facebook.apk you must rm Facebook.apk, not facebook.apk or just rm Facebook*
What I do, I ls all files, copy the filenames I want to remove into into a txt file. ex. "rm facebook.apk Torch.apk voiceDialer.apk AndroidTerm.apk" and so on. When I flash a new rom, i just copy that file string and remove em all with that one command ofc. I ls it after and check if there is anything new I want to remove, but I get rid of most of it in a few seconds. (good tip!)
I understood that. Now I've checked again and I know what happened...the same thing I said above. The appl was removed also with adb command but the updates of that appl were not. I've removed the updates from Settings and after that the whole appl was gone (Facebook in this case). So both metods work, everyone can choose what he likes more
Anyway this was much more to test if it's working on custom ROMs as was asked by TheLegendaryJay and less as of providing an alternate way for rooted owners.
Sent from my Legend using XDA App
You both are wrong. Overlay is just an overlay... it uses several file systems or parts of file systems (directories, files), merge them and show them to us as one new merged file system. The principle is such that if U have one read-only and one read-write file system merged together, all writes are then performed to that read-write one. If you'd like to delete one file from read-only portion, that action is noted on read-write portion and your system doesn't t see that file again through merged file system whereas it is in fact still there...
BlaY0 said:
You both are wrong. Overlay is just an overlay... it uses several file systems or parts of file systems (directories, files), merge them and show them to us as one new merged file system. The principle is such that if U have one read-only and one read-write file system merged together, all writes are then performed to that read-write one. If you'd like to delete one file from read-only portion, that action is noted on read-write portion and your system doesn't t see that file again through merged file system whereas it is in fact still there...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for this, great info. Now I'm glad I use adb and not file overlay for removing files
Why's that? Overlay is really handy thing for testing... U can make the system think that the file is not there but in fact is. If something goes wrong (boot loop) because of that, U just disable overlay and U R back on with origial state. After U are satisfied with changes, U can merge those changes into read-only file system via recovery mode.
Sent from my HTC Legend
BlaY0, you're totally right. Overlay is a great thing for testing (and by the way many thanks you for what you did). But if you're not a tester, just an enthusiast who look for new stuff for his phone, overlay could be much more than he needs.
I'm looking for example to have as much free space in memory as possible. REAL free space. If I'm using overlay, that will not be gained right? The read only files will still be there, only the overlay will show them "deleted". So...what I'm doing instead is that I'm flashing one of the existing ROMs (as per my preferences - CM 6.1 RC1 for ex.) that will not "brick" my phone, I customize it with widgets and applications as I like, than I start deleting what I don't need. For sure I can use overlay for that, but I can do it also without it. This topic presented an alternative for doing that, to the known adb commands. Also from what I've understood, the method in this topic is more aimed to the ones that are not (or don't want to be) rooted. And for those, the adb method doesn't work
You sure are totally right, but then again if you deleted some apk from /system/app that is needed for some other apk and U didn't know about that, you could end up with a so called boot loop. And if this is done by some noob, the simplest way for him to restore would be to wipe and reflash the original ROM. Overay can prevent such accidents. Actually even with overlay you can save space especially where is needed the most, that's on data partition - there's no need for dex in dalvik-cache any more etc. and surely you get more free ram as that app isn't loading any more. For the system partition it actually doesn't matter if it is full in fact why it shouldn't be full. When we get our S-OFF the first thing I will do is to rearange mtd partitions shrinking system and extending data coz now I have like nearly 50 MB free on system partition that I can not use wisely.
Sent from my HTC Legend
Thanks, VF music and web app not banished from my Legend
Okay, I must be doing something wrong, but I have no idea what. I have the same ROM as Rapier on my Desire, I have Titanium Backup and I did everything he said above. The pre-installed apps are uninstalled with TB (Car app, News and Weather, Facebook, Twitter, Google Voice, Maps, Quickoffice 2.0 which I have no idea what really is), I clear the Dalvik cache and many mega are freed. Then if I reboot, they're back. Like nothing happened.
Do you have any idea or should I give more details? Thanks for the help, guys.
Have you checked also if those applications you're removing do not have some updates installed? Because if they do, you'll get them back on the phone. First remove the updates from each application (from normal "Application" management), then remove the application residing in system with TB.
PS. QuickOffice is a suite program similar with MS Office, that allows you to read (and in the paid version also to write) office documents (.doc, .xls, .ppt...etc)
Thank you for your quick reply.
Yes, I have checked and uninstalled all updates. They are all with the basic version.
About Quickoffice, I know what it is It's just that the one that came with CM 6.1.0 RC1 cannot be accessed, it can only be used to open supported file formats (I just found out after posting here ). I'd prefer the normal Quickoffice with which I can access my dropbox and Google docs too, that's why I wanted to uninstall this in the first place.
Related
So I haven't found anything so hopefully I'm not creating a duplicate thread, also I hope this is the correct spot to post this.
I have about 500 Sprint Heroes that need to be set up with specific settings and have a few apps installed. Doing this on 500 phones could take forever to accomplish. Would the phones need to be rooted in order to install a image with preset settings/applications? Also, I'm a total noob and its possible this is way over my head and I should just do this manually but is there an (not really easy but...) a tutorial to create an image to accomplish this?
Thanks!
Onyoursix said:
So I haven't found anything so hopefully I'm not creating a duplicate thread, also I hope this is the correct spot to post this.
I have about 500 Sprint Heroes that need to be set up with specific settings and have a few apps installed. Doing this on 500 phones could take forever to accomplish. Would the phones need to be rooted in order to install a image with preset settings/applications? Also, I'm a total noob and its possible this is way over my head and I should just do this manually but is there an (not really easy but...) a tutorial to create an image to accomplish this?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, the only way I can think to do it is to get one phone and set it up exactly how you want it, minus any specific account settings. Here's how I would do it:
Boot in to one Hero. Log in to your account and download all the apps you want. Download Titanium Backup. Use Titanium Backup's "create update.zip" feature to make Titanium Backup zip that you can flash from recovery. Set up all the apps with what settings you need, but only do it for data apps, not system apps (Don't include special log-ins, passwords, etc.). Use Titanium Backup to backup all of the data apps.
Once you have all those apps backed up how you like them, reboot into recovery and do a complete wipe (not SD card). Flash the ROM you want to load onto all of the phones and flash Google apps. Now flash the Titanium backup ZIP you made earlier. Boot up but when you are asked to set up your account, don't. skip everything. Go into Titanium Backup and restore all of the apps+data (use batch install). This might take a while if you're on Titanium Backup free). Change all of the settings on the phone you'd like, then uninstall Titanium Backup (unless you want it on every phone). The phone should be 100% how you want it to appear on all of those phones.
Reboot into recovery and make a nandroid backup. Make two, just in case. When it is done, reboot and connect your phone to your PC. Mount the SD card. browse to /nandroid/ on your SD card and you should see something like HTC9494952954 as a folder. Copy that onto your PC. That folder is what contains your "install image" (You can name the folder something like 'install-image').
All of the phones would have to be rooted, unfortunately, but all you'd have to do at this point is copy the folder to sdcard/nandroid/ on each SD card and do a nandroid restore using that image.
It sucks that this is for so many phones... It's the easiest way I can think to do it. :S Maybe ask a few buddies to help?
This is definitely the wrong place to post this. What kind of settings are you talking about?
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
I need a screen time out of 15 seconds with a preset gesture lock on it, also gps off. Also need 3 applications installed, advanced task killer, astro, and one company specific application that we created. Its not a lot, but it adds up when you have 500 heroes you need to do it on, its a slow process to log into the market on each phone under the same gmail login to download the 2 apps from market.
Onyoursix said:
I need a screen time out of 15 seconds with a preset gesture lock on it, also gps off. Also need 3 applications installed, advanced task killer, astro, and one company specific application that we created. Its not a lot, but it adds up when you have 500 heroes you need to do it on, its a slow process to log into the market on each phone under the same gmail login to download the 2 apps from market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download the 2 market apps as apk's (they're free), since you're using the same gmail account for all the phones, email the apk's to that account. When you turn each phone on you will have to log into gmail and just download them onto each phone. I'm not sure how to get all the settings the way you want them without rooting or doing them individually, If you root the phones, you can make a custom ROM and have all the settings you want and how you want them, plus have the apps you want on them pre-loaded. Again, you will have to flash the ROMs to each phone and know how to make a ROM.
I don't know, man. It sounds like a big order for what you want to do and how you want it done. In the end it will be your decision on how you do it.
Is there any way or any command which can save my installed set of applications to a Text file or PDF. My applications are growing and I cannot remember every one of them and I require all of them at one point or other. Can anyone give me some guidance?
You could use titanium backup, it does have an option to create an update.zip file for your backups which I haven't used but I assume it backs up your apps to the zip so you can reinstall apps from recovery, would need someone to clarify this though
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I was using back up pro but it is no use. Suppose you flash a new rom, and if you restore most of them end up with Force Close errors. Since most of my applications are free, I don't mind spending some time installing them. But since many roms are changing so fast, I have to flash to keep up with the times, you know.
I don't know if there is such an option to save a list of installed apps, but it would be kinda useful.
I soon realized such a list would help and I am just manually creating my own in a text file, and all of the non-stock apps I have (thus far) added are in appbrain.com and I have ensured I have added each to "Apps on the phone" which then appears under "My Apps".
A list no but as all my apps are via AppBrain that's my list .
I use Root Explorer to copy all the APKS to a folder on the external card + a copy on PC . New firmware just open APK folder and install .
jje
For the time being, I am using Titanium free version and it backed up my applications and after I flashed the new rom I was able to restore all the applications via it's batch run commands. I do hope that I don't get force close errors. Upto now everything is working fine.
Thanks to all for your kind replies
Okay. I don't have a lot of knowledge on developing/tinkering on Android, but I think I've figured out how to integrate apps into the ROM (updates of system apps and/or downloaded apps). I used:
A stock cricKet 2.2.1 ROM, rooted (of course) w/Universal Androot
Root Explorer, and
ROM Manager (more on this later)
First thing is first, I did a TI backup; don't want to lose anything
I then opened Root Explorer
Mounted R/W, and
did a search for .apk.
Notice that the only directories the actual .apk files for INSTALLED apps should appear in (outside the SD card) are:
/cache
/data/app
/data/app-private (possibly)
/data/FLEX/app
/system/app
Ignore the following:
/cache
/data/FLEX/app
Now, you may already know this, but the system apps you're looking for are located in the /system/app directory, and downloaded apps (for the updated system apps) are located the /data/app directories that aren't being currently ignored (if you're following my instructions). Based on icon, filename, and common sense, I found which .apk files were the updates of already existing system apps (IE Market, Google Maps, Voice Search, etc.) in the /data/app directory, and the corresponding system app they updated in the /system/app directory. I then:
Copied the filename of the system app I was going to replace (rename copy all)
Moved over to the /data/app directory
Located the corresponding updated app
Renamed it what its corresponding system app was renamed (rename, delete existing name, paste)
Hit the 'move' option
Navigated to the /system/app directory
Deleted original system app (you may want to backup this file beforehand)
Pasted the updated system app
Within 30 seconds or so, you should get a (blah.blah.blah has unexpectedly shut down force close/report) popup. Just hit force close and you should be fine (Google Maps seemed to be a recurring FC). If you try to open the app before rebooting, it will force close on you. When you're finished, open ROM Manager. I know you're thinking 'This app is no good on the ZIO'; so stop. Hit 'Fix Permissions'. The reason for this is that it fixes a few rare force close issues. I don't know the mechanics of it, but it works, so I don't question it. Listen to the notification you'll see and reboot your phone after it finishes fixing the permissions. Now go into settings and manage applications, and you'll see that you can no longer uninstall whatever apps you moved to the /system/app directory.
FYI Renaming .apk files doesn't seem to make a bit of difference either way.
(Forgive my horrible perspective descriptions: I/you)
I haven't tested it yet, but I believe unrooting the device should make any apps moved to the /system/app directory that require root access would become non-functional (right?). The reason this thread is a question is that I'm wondering if i did this correctly, and if so, I want to find out if unrooting and factory resetting my phone would somehow delete the apps in the /system/app directory that weren't included in the stock ROM. (I'm not really willing to do that yet; I still have to download the SDK to my new computer so I can do a NANDROID backup.) Any help answering these from a more experienced developer would be great.
If you want to incorporate apps into a rom, the apps have to be free or you must get consent from the developer to include in your rom
Sent from my Zio using XDA Premium App
Only if it is a Public rom. Even free app developers should be credited in a public rom
Mattix724 said:
If you want to incorporate apps into a rom, the apps have to be free or you must get consent from the developer to include in your rom
Sent from my Zio using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm operating under the assumption that you're using Google developed updates of system apps. I suppose I should have said something to that extent up top.
[UPDATE]
Okay, so I did a NAND and then factory reset my phone. Killed everything not in the /system/app directory. I'm sure you knew that would happen, but I guess I'm posting for the noobs. Easier to find, I guess.
Hi,
I've tried to integrate some apps using Titanium Backup but it stuch at 0% for more than 5mins so I cancelled the process. Is it normal that it was that slow? Does Titanium generate odex files too?
I've tried integrating updates for GoogleMaps, StreetView and Youtube using a recovery mode and ADB on my linux machine.
After the backup system data I've deleted original apk and odex files from /system/app/ and moved newer versions from /data/app/ to /system/app/.
I renamed the files from com.google.android.blah.blah.apk to old names (ie. Maps.apk, etc). I haven't generated the odex files.
Rebooted the phone (HTC Desire, 2.2, Orange UK) and these apps were not available. I couldn't run either GoogleMaps or Youtube. They weren't on the "All apps" list, but still were in the system app manager/uninstaller, but couldn't uninstall them as they were in system obviously.
Tried to clear Dalvik cache but no difference.
Then I've copied them with my user backed apk files (it went to /data/app and installed the newest versions) and all is fine - could launch them as usual.
Now using "adb push" method I copied my old system versions of these apps in the /system/app/ and all if fine. I could updated them to newer versions, but this obviously went to /data/app/, so didn't free the phone memory.
Any idea why integrated apps were not visible in the system?
Perhaps I shall just delete the old system apps and copy the ones from /data/app/ without renaming...
Much appreciate it.
Greg
edit:
All went fine now. Just deleted old files in the /system/app and moved newer version without renaming to from /data/app
use titanium backup and choose integrate updates into rom for the app
I don't want to pay for TB premium. I'm poor.
Sent from my Zio using XDA App
TB integrating not working on some phone (including mine) anyway.
As mentioned in the title, I know there are mainly Cricket users here, I have been reading for a while, but just joined. I am a dev, but am just now getting into Android development, and have just a couple questions. Before I start, I would like to point out that I do have the Sprint images that are available, and will explain my situation. Because Sprint shut down the 2.2 updates, I am currently on 2.1.
I am on my second Zio at the moment, as I loaded the wrong images onto it. (I have both Cricket and Sprint images, and wasnt paying attention). I rooted and started clearing out bloatware, but, I uninstalled a few things that I shouldnt have...I put them back, of course.
Well, I put them back in the /system/app folder, put it back to r/o permission, restarted my phone, and poof...all those apps were missing from both my SD card and the /system/app folder. So now, I cant open my market, load my Google account for syncing, add contacts, etc. In essence, if it doesnt pertain to Google directly, it works. Factory reset does not reload everything.
I wanted to reload the system.img, but I cannot find a decent ROM backup app that I dont have to use the market for- any suggestions?
Second, is there a way I can reload these specific apps, as to get things working how they should? A .zip file, or anything packaging these apps?
I am sorry if these are answered elsewhere, I just have not come across them. Also, sorry for this being so long.
OK, I'm gonna guess you have root explorer or similar and root access... You probably need to change the permissions of the system apps back to 0644 or rw r r then reboot. I personally mess with system apps and their permissions alot. If your phone gives you too much trouble but still boots the system and you have the Android SDK you can do adb shell then chmod 0644 /system/appnamehere.apk then reboot.
Sent from my Zio using XDA App
Yes, I do have Root Explorer. I havent messed a lot with the SDK, but, based on what youre saying, it contains the apps I need to replace? For a bit more insight, the apps that are missing are Google Talk, Google Apps, and Gmail. I tried keeping my system apps as r/w, but that did not help. I also got the .apks of the aforementioned apps, but the installs do not work. I got Google Talk to at least crash, instead of immediately closing, which is what Gmail and the Market do. From what I have been able to do, as I havent been near my system with the SDK on it, changing the permissions does not make a difference. I will keep playing with it and get back with the results.
I'm looking for a way to replace the system apps with their AOSP counter part.
E.g. dialer, email, contacts etc.
Does someone know if it's possible for all apps or are their any problems to be expected?
And second question, is there probably a flash able zip for this?
I'd be curious to know as well. Coming from a Nexus device I hate Sony's attempts to "improve" the basic apps like dialer and messaging. They all look like they were designed in 1998.
That should be possible....
Nebucatnetzer said:
I'm looking for a way to replace the system apps with their AOSP counter part.
E.g. dialer, email, contacts etc.
Does someone know if it's possible for all apps or are their any problems to be expected?
And second question, is there probably a flash able zip for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think at the moment there is no available zip. You need CWM for your idea - do you have your phone rooted ?
If so there should be a possiblity to create such a flashable zip , that erase the not needed apps and install the new apps...
If your phone is not rooted maybe a batch file could do the trick via ADB for you - in a first step it should block the not wanted apps and in a second step it should install the new apps.
So you need the Names of the packages / apps that should be erased and before that, you should find the AOSP-Apps that run on the Z3C.
pipspeak said:
I'd be curious to know as well. Coming from a Nexus device I hate Sony's attempts to "improve" the basic apps like dialer and messaging. They all look like they were designed in 1998.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My favorites are
Textra for messaging
Quickpic for album
MX Player for Videos
Rhonin86 said:
I think at the moment there is no available zip. You need CWM for your idea - do you have your phone rooted ?
If so there should be a possiblity to create such a flashable zip , that erase the not needed apps and install the new apps...
If your phone is not rooted maybe a batch file could do the trick via ADB for you - in a first step it should block the not wanted apps and in a second step it should install the new apps.
So you need the Names of the packages / apps that should be erased and before that, you should find the AOSP-Apps that run on the Z3C.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it's rooted.
I would be happy too, to replace the dialer & contact apps with AOSP ones.
Regarding messaging, i'm using this one : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.slvn.mms
Collecting of required information
Hi folx,
in this post i try to get all required information to replace the not wanted SONY stuff by the desired stuff mostly AOSP.
Your phone should be rooted and CWM should be installed.
Then we have to build a fitting flashable zip file.
But to succeed we fist need to test if the wanted apps will work on our phone. (i will test for example: Dialer from CM11)
If these Apps work, then we should have a deeper look on the creating of such a flashable.zip file. I have found a lot of howtos in the web. But to be sure we should backup those SONY-Apps
Here are 2 links i would use:
http://www.android-hilfe.de/root-hacking-modding-fuer-lenovo-ideapad-a1/268272-how-cwm-update-zips-erstellen.html german
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1721680 english here at XDA
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2764533 this can also be useful
The updater - script within this zip-file could be adjusted to our needs. Deleting the not wanted Sony.apps from /system /app and replace them with the wanted Apps. If i find the time i could provide such a file - but i can't test it.
The simple Trick:
But you could do it more simple - you just need a root explorer (i prefer ES File Explorer). Go to the above mentioned folder /system/app or system/private. There you should find the not wanted apps. Just copy them in a backup folder on your sdcard, delete the sony apk in the system - partition, copy your desired apk in the folder, where you have deleted the Sony-apk, give the right permissions and then reboot.
If the new app fails - just delete it in the same manner as described above and copy the backupped app in the corresponding folder and check the permissions again. - reboot.
I would really appreciate posting your results and if there are any further questions.... do not hesitate - we are all here to learn and get our phone better
Cheers
Rhonin
I probably have time to test this on the weekend.
I'll let you know how it goes.
I copied over Contacts, Contacts Prvovider and the Dialer apks.
However I couldn't get them to work.
Neither the Contacts nor the Dialer app showed up in the app drawer.
Email didn't work either.
Deskclock works fine. I'd love dialler to work...