1. Why your phone comes with apps you can't uninstall
When you buy a new phone, both the manufacturer (Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola...) and the carrier (Movistar, Vodafone, Orange...) usually include their own "factory" apps: content stores, assistants, tech support apps, or line management apps. This set is usually called bloatware.
The problem is that these apps aren't installed like any app you download from Google Play: they're part of the system firmware, the part of storage that Android protects so it can't be freely modified. That's why, when you open their info from settings, you often won't find the usual "Uninstall" button, only "Disable" or "Force stop."
2. How to disable a preinstalled app step by step
Disabling is the option designed for these cases, and it works on the vast majority of Android phones:
- Step 1: open Settings → Apps (on some phones it shows up as "Apps," or inside Apps you need to tap "See all apps").
- Step 2: find the app you want out of the way and tap it to open its info.
- Step 3: if "Disable" appears instead of "Uninstall," tap that button and confirm the system's prompt.
When you disable an app, its icon disappears from the app drawer and the home screen, it stops running in the background, and it no longer shows you notifications or uses battery or data. That said, it isn't deleted completely: the app's file still takes up its space in storage, and you can turn it back on from that same menu whenever you want.
Not every system app can be disabled. Android blocks this option on apps it considers critical for the phone to work normally, such as parts of the operating system itself, Google Play services, or the Settings app. If you try to disable one of these, you'll see the button appear grayed out or simply unavailable: it's a safety measure, not a bug.
3. Disable, force stop, and clear data: what's the difference
In the info screen of any preinstalled app, several options usually coexist that look similar but do different things:
- Disable: hides the app, stops it, and keeps it from running on its own again. It's the most complete of the three options and the closest thing to "getting it out of the way" without uninstalling it.
- Force stop: closes the app immediately if it's frozen or using resources at that moment, but it doesn't disable it or stop it from opening again; if you tap it again, or if another process calls it, it can restart on its own.
- Clear data or clear cache: deletes the temporary files (cache) or all the app's saved settings and data (data), but it doesn't uninstall or disable it. After clearing data, the app is like freshly installed the next time you open it.
In short: if what you want is to stop seeing and dealing with a preinstalled app, "Disable" is the right option. "Force stop" is more of a one-off patch for an app that's running slow or has frozen, and "Clear data/cache" is for freeing up space or fixing glitches, not for getting the app out of the way.
4. Hiding apps from the app drawer without disabling them
Some Android skins, like Samsung's One UI or Xiaomi's MIUI/HyperOS, also include a "hide apps" feature that's different from disabling. It's usually found by long-pressing the home screen and going into something like "Home screen settings" → "Hide apps."
The difference matters: hiding an app only removes its icon from view (from the drawer or the home screen), but the app stays installed, active, and running exactly as before in the background, with its usual notifications and resource use. It's mainly useful for tidiness or privacy, not for saving battery, data, or space, which is what disabling actually achieves.
5. Removing them completely with ADB: why it's not that simple
There is a way to truly uninstall a system app, not just disable it, but it's worth knowing the conditions before trying it. It requires enabling Developer Options and USB Debugging on the phone, connecting it to a computer with a cable, and using a tool called ADB (Android Debug Bridge) to uninstall the corresponding package through text command lines.
We're not going to detail the specific commands here, and for a reason: it's a technical process with real risk if it isn't done carefully. Removing the wrong package, or one that another part of the system depends on, can leave the phone unstable, with strange errors, or even unable to start up normally. On top of that, on many phones this change only applies to the current user and can come back after a system update or a factory reset.
If you don't know exactly what ADB is, how to identify the correct package name, and what depends on what on your specific phone, the sensible thing is not to use this route. It isn't a method meant for the average user, but for people with technical knowledge who consciously take on the risk.
6. The simplest alternative if the problem is just space or battery
Before thinking about more technical solutions, it's worth asking what's really bothering you about that preinstalled app. If the problem is that it takes up room in the drawer, shows up in notifications, or uses battery or data in the background, disabling it usually solves it completely, without needing to touch anything else.
The space taken up by the app's file itself is usually just a few megabytes, a fairly minor amount on most phones today. If the goal is to free up more storage overall, it's more worthwhile to check the accumulated cache and the photos or downloads you actually control, as explained in our guide to freeing up space on your phone without deleting your photos.