How to Uninstall Built‑In Android Apps Using ADB: Step‑by‑Step Guide

Introduction

Many Android phones come with pre‑installed apps that cannot be removed through the normal UI, often cluttering storage and showing ads. Rooting used to be a solution, but modern devices make rooting difficult, so this guide demonstrates how to uninstall such apps safely using ADB.

Required Tools

PC with the provided ADB tool.

Phone file manager (e.g., ES File Explorer) to view installed packages.

Phone‑Side Steps

Connect the phone to the PC with a USB cable.

Enable Developer Options by repeatedly tapping the build number in Settings → About Phone.

Open Developer Options and turn on USB debugging.

When the phone prompts for authorization, accept it.

At this point roughly 50% of the preparation is complete.

Computer‑Side Steps

Launch the provided ADB tool.

In the ADB folder, hold Shift and right‑click to open a command window.

Run adb devices to verify the phone is recognized.

Enter interactive mode with adb shell.

Uninstall the target app using pm uninstall -k --user 0 <package_name>.

Finding the Package Name

Open ES File Explorer, tap Applications → User installed apps → System apps .

Select the desired app; the package name is displayed (e.g., com.vivo.wallet).

Uninstall Example

On an iQOO phone, the Vivo Wallet app (package com.vivo.wallet) was removed. After running the uninstall command, the output showed Success! and the app disappeared from the device.

Summary

Phone: enable Developer Options, turn on USB debugging, and authorize the PC.

Computer: verify connection with adb devices and use adb shell.

Uninstall with pm uninstall -k --user 0 <package_name>.

This method works on most mainstream Android brands without requiring root access.