Debloat Android

Jun 21, 2020 · 3 min read | Android

This article goes over using ADB Platform Tools and utilizing adb to uninstall packages by using these tools.

Pre-Requisites for Using ADB

Setup all of the following to use ADB

Windows Install with Chocolatey choco install adb
Linux Install with Terminal sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot
MacOS Install with Homebrew
- Homebrew install - ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
- ADB Homebrew Install - brew cask install android-platform-tools

Open Settings, and select “About”.
Tap on “Build number” seven times.
Go back, and select “Developer options”.
Scroll down, and check the “Android debugging” or “USB debugging” entry under “Debugging”.
Plug your device into your computer.
On the computer, open up a terminal/command prompt and type adb devices.
A dialog should show on your device, asking you to allow usb debugging. Check “always allow”, and choose “OK”.
- Note: If you don’t see this prompt on you device change the usb connection to MTP or File Transfer on the device

adb devices - shows all connected adb devices
adb shell - launches a shell on the device
adb shell pm list packages - list all installed packages on the device
adb shell pm list packages -3"|cut -f 2 -d ": - lists all user installed packages
adb push <local> <remote> - pushes the file to
adb pull <remote> [<local>] - pulls the file to . If isn’t specified, it will pull to the current folder.
adb logcat - allows you to view the device log in real-time. You can use adb logcat -b radio to view radio logs, and adb logcat -C to view logs in colour
adb install <file> - installs the given .apk file to your device
adb uninstall com.packagename - uninstalls package from shell pm list packages
- Note: if you encounter “[DELETE_FAILED_INTERNAL_ERROR]” type this to bypass: adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 <appname>
adb reboot - reboots system
adb reboot bootloader - reboots to bootloader
adb reboot recovery - reboots into recovery mode
adb reboot fastboot - reboots into fastboot mode

fastboot devices - shows all connected devices
fastboot reboot - reboots device - can add bootloader, recovery, and fastboot
fastboot oem device-info - shows oem bootloader status (unlocked or locked)
fastboot oem unlock - unlocks oem phones - note: aosp and unlocked phones don’t need this
fastboot flashing unlock - unlocks system for custom rom in pixel and other phones
fastboot flashing unlock_critical - unlocks bootloader and system partitions - note: this isn’t generally needed
fastboot format:ext4 userdata - format userdata on device - note: this will erase your entire device
fastboot boot recovery.img - test recovery image without flashing
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img - flash recovery image then run fastboot reboot recovery to boot into it.
fastboot flash boot boot.img - flash boot image - this is the kernel
fastboot -w - wipes device
fastboot update </path/to/your/Rom.zip> - flashes zip to the device