Debloating for mobile OS (Android)?

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CodeBro

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Hey,

would like to know if there are tools out there who can debloat a mobile OS aswell as NTLite can debloat windows.

I am asking this because of my 'Redmi Note 13 4G Saphire" phone is not eligable for a custom ROM unfortunately and hence my question if I am able to atleast debloat android 14-15 so heavily that it comes close to a custom rom.

Ty for your responses!
 
garlin said:
This question should be on an Android tweaker's forum, but some folks appear to like the Universal Android Debloater (runs on Windows):
https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater
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ty garlin for the quick response, however, could you tell me if it also debloats DEEPLY like ntlite does for windows, not just 1-2 level of bloat (apps and obvious services) but also deeper level stuff? cause i would like to basically create a quite litteral barebone android rom
 
You're asking an iPhone guy. Head over to XDA forum.
 
adbappcontrol.com

ADB AppControl

Official website of the ADB AppControl application. Free Download. Latest release. The ultimate applications manager and debloat tool for Android devices.
adbappcontrol.com adbappcontrol.com
 
MacVap said:
This fork is more maintained:
github.com

GitHub - Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-android-debloater-next-generation: Cross-platform GUI written in Rust using ADB to debloat non-rooted Android devices. Improve your privacy, the security and battery life of your device.

Cross-platform GUI written in Rust using ADB to debloat non-rooted Android devices. Improve your privacy, the security and battery life of your device. - Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-andr...
github.com github.com
Click to expand...
My issue with that tool is that it seems to only debloat on a surface level, not as I desire it to work, on a deeper level like you can do right now with NTLite for windows :/
 
MacVap said:
This fork is more maintained:

github.com

GitHub - Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-android-debloater-next-generation: Cross-platform GUI written in Rust using ADB to debloat non-rooted Android devices. Improve your privacy, the security and battery life of your device.

Cross-platform GUI written in Rust using ADB to debloat non-rooted Android devices. Improve your privacy, the security and battery life of your device. - Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-andr...
github.com github.com
Click to expand...

This especially is what concerns me..
Whilst UAD-ng can remove system apps, it cannot detect or remove potentially malicious system services or drivers baked into the firmware of your device by various vendors; some vendor-specific apps are only UI front-ends to vendor-provided system services, and as such disabling/uninstalling those apps will not stop a service from running. Additional information can be found in package descriptions inside the Universal Android Debloater Next Generation application.
Click to expand...
Is there any tool of your knowledge which can go deeper and remove more stuff?
 
CodeBro said:
Is there any tool of your knowledge which can go deeper and remove more stuff?
Click to expand...
No, but I don't take much interest in deep of these things because I use LineageOS. In fact, I buy only phones that support it (but I "struggle" with the official OS until the support/warranty ends).

I know there are other such "Lited" Androids, but I also haven't explored them much.
 
MacVap said:
No, but I don't take much interest in deep of these things because I use LineageOS. In fact, I buy only phones that support it (but I "struggle" with the official OS until the support/warranty ends).

I know there are other such "Lited" Androids, but I also haven't explored them much.
Click to expand...
sadly I got this smartphone by my dad and i cannot simply replace it (it would be very unfair to him) but sadly yes I do not find any working custom rom for redmi note 4G saphire which makes things very hard right now cause i hate to run around with this bloated mess of a phone in terms of cooperate (spying) software it comes with.
 
CodeBro said:
sadly I got this smartphone by my dad and i cannot simply replace it (it would be very unfair to him) but sadly yes I do not find any working custom rom for redmi note 4G saphire which makes things very hard right now cause i hate to run around with this bloated mess of a phone in terms of cooperate (spying) software it comes with.
Click to expand...
This doesn't exactly improve the situation much, but: I've noticed UAD(-ng) doesn't expose all of the packages. There's always a few it leaves out for some reason.

EDIT: also, ADB can't give you all of the packages. As an example, full ADB list from one of my devices contains 486 packages, and a custom app I made running on the device shows 532. I haven't actually checked if the app is just buggy, but I'm going with the assumption that it's not doubling random packages.
 
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Dazuz said:
This doesn't exactly improve the situation much, but: I've noticed UAD(-ng) doesn't expose all of the packages. There's always a few it leaves out for some reason.

EDIT: also, ADB can't give you all of the packages. As an example, full ADB list from one of my devices contains 486 packages, and a custom app I made running on the device shows 532. I haven't actually checked if the app is just buggy, but I'm going with the assumption that it's not doubling random packages.
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what shall I do then lmao, ofc it does not improve it..

and the reason it leaves them out is because it simply is not advanced enough to go deeper and delete the deep rooted crap ware from other vendors
 
CodeBro said:
what shall I do then lmao, ofc it does not improve it..

and the reason it leaves them out is because it simply is not advanced enough to go deeper and delete the deep rooted crap ware from other vendors
Click to expand...
Slight misunderstanding: I meant you can potentially disable/uninstall a few extra packages without UAD(-ng), which does not display all of the packages.

Also, it kept bothering me, so I checked it: the app running on the device does indeed show a few packages that "cmd package list packages -u" does not, but you can still manipulate them via ADB.

It does not fix the core issue, but it possibly slightly improves it. Just trying to make the best out of what's realistically available, outside of rooting/custom ROM.
 
Dazuz said:
Slight misunderstanding: I meant you can potentially disable/uninstall a few extra packages without UAD(-ng), which does not display all of the packages.

Also, it kept bothering me, so I checked it: the app running on the device does indeed show a few packages that "cmd package list packages -u" does not, but you can still manipulate them via ADB.

It does not fix the core issue, but it possibly slightly improves it. Just trying to make the best out of what's realistically available, outside of rooting/custom ROM.
Click to expand...
okay thank you for the insight, did not want to sound meany before so my appologize; however, what would your suggestion be in regards to make a ROM myself, considering I do have 0 knowledge in this area, would it be to much of a pain point to begin learning that or how do you evaluate that part?
 
The last time I looked deeper into this was around Android 7 time and I concluded it isn't possible or worth it to lite it too much. And forget about creating custom ROM yourself. Android has different philosophy and you can't translate Windows concepts 1:1. I was looking at the components and even at that time there were many more of them than what you see in NTLite/Windows nowadays, many with unknown/undocumented names or what they do.

The main obstacle is that you need to root in order to really lite it, and nowadays that's harder to do, and many apps that you would like to run have checks for that and refuse to run if rooted. There is Magisk for that (it avoided detection at that time), but I haven't explored it much and I don't know its current status and what it's capable of.

One program/app that i toyed with at that time was Autorun Manager (Pro). That took care of some of the bloat, but I also don't know its current status.

In general, the bloat (autostart items) on Android is done through Receivers, so you need to find a program/app that can work with them/disable them. This is my limited understanding.

Also, at that time there wasn't a proper firewall for Android, don't know about now.
 
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