Debloat a Samsung phone safely with adb (no root)
Catalog status: tested on a Galaxy S22 (One UI, Android 16): Game Launcher, Game Booster, Sticker Center, Digital Wellbeing, Bixby Voice and voice wake-up, the three Facebook stubs, Gemini, Speech Services and the Google app were changed and restored. The other Samsung entries come from community debloat lists and are marked as such. The safeguards (role protection, health checks, automatic rollback, restore) apply to every entry. Reports from other models are welcome on GitHub.
Samsung phones ship with a second set of apps next to Google’s: Bixby, Samsung Free, Game Launcher, AR features and more. You can remove many of them for your user over adb, without root and without deleting anything from the system, so they can be brought back at any time.
What the Samsung catalog can offer
| Item | Action | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Bixby Voice | Turn off | Medium; not offered if you use voice |
| Bixby voice wake-up | Turn off | Medium; not offered if you use voice |
| Bixby Vision | Turn off | Low; not offered if you use the camera |
| Samsung Free (the left home-screen page) | Remove for this user | Medium |
| Game Launcher | Remove for this user | Low |
| Game Booster | Remove for this user | Low |
| AR Emoji | Remove for this user | Low; not offered if you use the camera |
| AR Doodle | Remove for this user | Low; not offered if you use the camera |
| Samsung Tips | Remove for this user | Low |
| Sticker Center | Remove for this user | Low |
| Samsung Digital Wellbeing | Turn off | Medium |
Google preinstalled apps you never open (for example Google Meet, Google News or Google Play Games) and preinstalled third-party apps such as Facebook App Manager or OneDrive can be offered too, if the catalog lists them and you have not used them in the last 60 days. Settings such as halved animations, Bluetooth off or location off are offered only when they fit your answers.
What is never touched
- Samsung Knox packages are on the never-touch list.
- Your current launcher (One UI Home), keyboard (Samsung Keyboard or another), dialer, SMS app, WebView and accessibility services are protected live, right before every change.
- Core packages: Settings, System UI, Google Play services, the Play Store, system providers and others.
- Unknown Samsung system packages are listed in the audit but never offered.
Knox refusals
On some Samsung devices Knox refuses certain removals. When the device refuses, the item is reported as failed in the run, nothing else is affected, and the rest of the plan continues. There is no workaround attempt.
Run it
android-cleanup-agent devices
android-cleanup-agent audit --summary
android-cleanup-agent plan --uses calls,sms,camera,bluetooth,location,photos --power battery --symptoms battery,slow-apps
android-cleanup-agent approvals init
android-cleanup-agent approvals show
android-cleanup-agent approvals set --category oem-apps=true --category games=true
android-cleanup-agent apply
android-cleanup-agent apply --yes
android-cleanup-agent resultsThe answers are examples; use your own.
Undo and system updates
android-cleanup-agent restore --yes brings removed preinstalled apps back with cmd package install-existing, re-enables disabled ones and resets changed settings. Samsung phones also carry apps that the carrier or the Galaxy Store installed during setup (Samsung Notes, Health, Wallet, SmartThings and others often are). Those are not in the system image: removing one deletes it, and you get it back by reinstalling it from the Galaxy Store or Play Store (Android keeps its data on the device). The tool tells you which ones those are before you approve anything. One UI updates can re-enable or reinstall some apps; run android-cleanup-agent verify after an update to see what changed back. A factory reset brings all preinstalled apps back.