How to uninstall android system app programmatically?

Question

I can get a list of installed apps (both user and system apps). I am also able to uninstall user apps, however, not able to uninstall system apps.

Is there any way to uninstall system app? If the phone is already rooted, will the following code work?

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_DELETE);
intent.setData(Uri.parse("package:"+appPackageName.getText().toString()));
                        context.startActivity(intent);

Below link may be helpful. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6813322/install-uninstall-apks-programmatically-packagemanager-vs-intents — Pradeep PK, Dec 21 '15 at 15:07

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 26 '18 at 18:08

you can execute root commands with:

runCommand("su");
runCommand("rm /data/system/application.package.apk");
runCommand("rm /data/data/application.package");

//when this doesn´t work try
runCommand("rm -r /data/system/application.package.apk");
runCommand("rm -r /data/data/application.package");

public static void runCommand(String command){
try {
        Process chmod = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);

        BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(
                new InputStreamReader(chmod.getInputStream()));
        int read;
        char[] buffer = new char[4096];
        StringBuffer output = new StringBuffer();
        while ((read = reader.read(buffer)) > 0) {
            output.append(buffer, 0, read);
        }
        reader.close();
        chmod.waitFor();
        outputString =  output.toString();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        throw new RuntimeException(e);
    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
        throw new RuntimeException(e);
    }
}

There is also a nice library: https://github.com/Free-Software-for-Android/RootCommands

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 21 '15 at 15:09

0

You need to have root access in order to remove system or vendor apps.

$ su
# rm /data/system/application.package.apk
# rm /data/data/application.package

answered Dec 21 '15 at 15:09

Andrey Kopeyko

1,556
15
14

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 13 '19 at 09:32

Try this on Rooted Device...it works

        Process reboot = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su");
        DataOutputStream os = new DataOutputStream(reboot.getOutputStream());
        os.writeBytes("pm uninstall co.example.demo\n");
        os.flush();
        os.writeBytes("exit\n");
        os.flush();
        reboot.waitFor();

How to uninstall android system app programmatically?

3 Answers3

Linked