[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Questions & Answers] witecat:
Successfull debloat without root and additional apps

Hiya, SoYaThink,

The thread is a bit old, but still hope this will help somebody:

I soft bricked my phone about 10 times trying different ways to root it.

Blew up the warranty bit as well (no biggie for me, since I don't intend to use Samsung Pay and Knox)

Finally stumbled upon a brilliant solution (apologies for not being able to give proper credits, lost the link)

What you need is ADB tools, a nice USB cable and your fone!

(I used ADB fastboot)

I also installed an app called "Package inspector" in order to be able to verify the package names, so I did not risk to remove something wrong. Any app that lists your system packages and does not require root should do.

Before the long novel, I'd like to say that if you need more info or help give me a shout and I'll try to help.

I'm no expert, but I went through some fun and boot loops with my phone, so I seem to do ok for someone that has no clue :)

FIRST and foremost! Few words of caution.

Do not unistall anything that you are even slightly unsure about.

Yes, you can brick your phone by using the below method if you are not careful!

Therefore, I do not recommend using ready-made scripts, unless you read thoroughly and understand very well what they actually will remove. (I did brick my phone using a script, and I thought I was sure what was going on...)

Fully manual, line-by-line may seem tedious and time consuming, but it's mild compared to what an un-bricking will take (if it is even possible to un-brick...)

So, if you are unsure about a package, research WWW and make sure it will not affect your phone in negative way.

My phone specs after un-bricking:

Samsung s7 Edge

SM-G935F (EUR/UK)

Android 8.0.0 Oreo (hero2lte)

So here it goes:

- Download and install /or unzip/ ADB tools in a dir of your choice

- Enable Developer Options on your phone

(How: Settings -> About Phone -> Software Informations -> Tap on Build Number 7 times)

Now you should see Developer Options at the bottom of your Settings

- In the Developer options menu, enable USB debugging.

- Connect Your phone to computer with USB.

You should see a prompt on yur phone about the RSA key. Klick OK. If you want, you can also check "Always allow from this computer" - will save you more clicking on prompts further on.

- On the computer, start CMD (command prompt) in the same directory as adb.exe (Right click in the folder and choose "Open command window here")

- To test whether ADB is working properly, in CMD, type

adb devices

You should see a line "List of devices attached" and under it a device alphanumeric code.

If this doesn't work for you, you might need to install drivers for your phone.

Now the fun part begins.

- On your phone, check the name of the app package that you want to remove, for example Instagram.

- Open adb shell by typing in CMD

adb shell

- Execute the command (WITHOUT the curly brackets quotes) to find specific package names:

pm list packages | grep '{part or whole package name}'

for Instagram, the command would be

pm list packages | grep 'instagram'

Note: packages may or may not contain a key word derived from the app name, and

Some apps have more that one package that need to be removed.

Hence why you could use a package listing app

You could remove it when you're debloated.

- To uninstal a specific package, in adb execute the following command:

pm uninstall -k --user 0 {name of package}

For Instagram, that would be:

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.instagram.android

Voila! One bloatware gone!

Now go on and do the same for all pesky bloats that you want gone.

Here's (a very) cautious list of what I removed:

(Not a lot, but I'm happy with it:

Healt app

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.app.shealth

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.service.health

Samsung Pay

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.spay

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.spayfw

Start vodafone app

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.vodafone.vodafone360updates

SmartThings

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.easysetup

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.beaconmanager

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.oneconnect

Google music and videos

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.music

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.videos

Google Hangouts

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.talk

Instagram

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.instagram.android

Samsung Gear

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.watchmanager

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.hmt.vrsvc

(com.samsung.android.app.watchmanagerstub - NO)

Facebook

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.facebook.katana

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.facebook.services

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.facebook.system

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.facebook.appmanager

Samsung Members

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.voc

Secure Folder

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.knox.securefolder.setuppage

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.knox.securefolder

Samsung Internet

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.sbrowseredge

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.app.sbrowser

Misc

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.cnn.mobile.android.phone.edgepanel

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.widgetapp.yahooedge.finance

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.widgetapp.yahooedge.sport

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.widgetapp.briefing

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.widgetapp.samsungapps

Unused Language packs

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.svoice.lang.de_DE

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.svoice.lang.es_ES

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.svoice.lang.fr_FR

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.svoice.lang.it_IT

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.svoice.lang.ru_RU

Upday (disable first)

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.widgetapp.samsungappsde.axelspringer.yana.zeropage

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.widgetapp.samsungappscom.sec.android.app.apex

Video Editor

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.widgetapp.samsungappscom.sec.android.app.vepreload

Story Video Editor

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.widgetapp.samsungappscom.samsung.app.highlightplayer

Video trimmer

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.sec.android.widgetapp.samsungappscom.samsung.app.newtrim

Some day I might even be inspired yo post this with pretty pictures on my blog...

But for now, best of luck!