How To Remove Bloatware Apps From Xiaomi Smartphones And Free Up Storage Space

Last Updated on May 23, 2022 by Rupesh Patil

If you recently bought a new Xiaomi smartphone, you’ll find a bunch of pre-installed apps that you won’t use. Android smartphone brands frequently collaborate with other app developers and brands to pre-install apps on their devices. Such apps not only eat up valuable storage space on your phone but also send unwanted push notifications that disturb you. In this post, we will take a look at how you can remove bloatware apps from Xiaomi smartphones and free up storage space.

What Is Bloatware? And Why Should You Care?

Bloatware is unwanted software that you won’t use and causes your device to slow down by using storage space, memory, and battery power. These applications also use mobile data or Wi-Fi in the background and send you unwanted notifications. On some smartphones, these apps can be easily uninstalled, and on others, they can only be disabled but can’t be completely uninstalled.

How To Disable Unwanted Applications In Xiaomi’s Smartphones Running MIUI

There are a few ways using which you can remove bloatware from your Xiaomi smartphone or tablet. You can uninstall or disable apps. When you uninstall an app, it is completely removed from your smartphone. Disabling, on the other hand, cuts the application’s legs, preventing it from running in the background and draining power.

However, there are some disadvantages to removing pre-installed apps. It is possible that deleting some preinstalled apps can cause system instability, and you won’t be able to quickly reinstall those apps. On newer Xiaomi smartphones (running MIUI 12 or newer), this may not be feasible. Here’s how you can disable applications on your Xiaomi smartphone.

• Step 1: Head over to the Google Play Store and search for Hidden Settings MIUI. Alternatively, you could click here to access the same app.
• Step 2: Select the application developed by Yunus Ceyhan, and tap on Install.
• Step 3: Open the Hidden Settings MIUI app on your smartphones and head over to Settings > Manage Applications in the Settings menu. This will open a hidden MIUI Settings menu where you can disable applications.
• Step 4: From that list of accessible applications, select the application you’d like to disable.
• Step 5: Under the App Info section of the particular application, click on the Disable button and choose Disable App.

How To Uninstall Bloatware From Your Xiaomi Phone [No Root Access]

Depending on the smartphone brand, the process for uninstalling bloatware may differ from app to app. While some apps can be removed with only a few clicks, others, such as the built-in Calculator or Phone Dialer apps, may require a few more steps.

Method 1: Remove Uninstallable Apps

There are some apps that you can simply remove, like any other Android app. For example, you might be able to uninstall pre-installed bloatware like Helo and Opera Browser. Here’s how you can uninstall applications from your Xiaomi smartphone.

• Step 1: Tap and hold on the app’s icon that you would like to remove.
• Step 2: You’ll see two options: ‘App Info’ and ‘Share’. Select App Info from the menu.
• Step 3: MIUI will take you to the App Info page for that particular app. Choose Uninstall and then tap on OK.

With this, The selected app as well as all of its associated files will be deleted from your smartphone.

Method 2: Use ADB And Fastboot

ADB (Android Debug Bridge) may be able to assist you if you consider a particular set of applications to be bloatware but are unable to uninstall or disable them via Settings. Here’s how you can use ADB to force uninstall system applications. You would need a PC running a Windows operating system to use this method. We recommend you take a complete backup before messing with ADB and command-line executables.

Uninstalling some system apps might be risky, since it may end up with you bricking the device. It’s advisable not to interfere with essential apps like built-in Camera, Dialer, and Messages apps. Only uninstalling bloatware apps is a good choice.

• Step 1: Head over to Settings > About Phone on your Xiaomi smartphone and tap on the MIUI version seven times to enable Developer Options.
• Step 2: Make sure you have ADB setup on your computer and ready to go. If you dont, download the Android SDK Platform Tools for Windows, macOS or Linux and move ahead.
• Step 3: Navigate to the directory or folder where ADB is installed and open a new Command/Terminal window. On Windows, this can be achieved by pressing the Shift Key, right clicking in an empty space and choosing Open in Windows Terminal. macOS users can do so by opening a new Terminal Window and moving forward to the path using the cd command.
• Step 4: Connect your smartphone to the PC using a USB cable, type adb devices in the command line, and press Enter. If you’re using ADB for the first time on your phone, you’ll get a pop-up menu asking for authorisation. Accept the permission and proceed.
• Step 5: Rerun the adb devices command, and if the connection is successful, you should see a string of characters that is your phone’s serial number; If that’s the case, you’re good to go.

• Step 6: Then, from the command prompt, type adb shell. To retrieve a list of all Xiaomi packages, run pm list packages | grep ‘xiaomi’.
• Step 7: Finally, to uninstall a system application from your Xiaomi smartphone, use the following command: pm uninstall -k —user 0 PackageName. You need to replace PackageName in this command with the full name of the package of the app that you saw in the list of Xiaomi packages in Step 6. You’ll have to perform the command for each application you want to remove from your smartphone.

If you want to reinstall a package on your smartphone via the command line, follow these steps.

• Step 1: Reconnect your smartphone to your computer, open a Command Window in the ADB folder, and type adb shell into the command prompt.
• Step 2: To install an existing package, type pm install-existing PackageName and press Enter.

Method 3: Use Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot Tools

If command-line or ADB commands aren’t your strong suit, you may check out programmes created by third-party developers that simplify the procedure by providing a graphical user interface. Here’s how to delete pre-installed apps from your Xiaomi smartphone using the Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot Tools.

Users may utilise the Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot tools to uninstall, reinstall, deactivate, and reactivate system apps and services on demand. ADB may also be used to transfer files between a device and a computer, and override the DPI settings to adjust screen density. Other capabilities include the ability to override the width and height settings in the screen resolution, access a wealth of data and information about your device, flash any partition with an image, boot to any image or flash a Fastboot ROM, delete the cache, and conduct a factory reset.

• Step 1: Head over to Github, and download the latest version of the Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot tools for your computer.
• Step 2: Connect your device and open the Xiaomi tools app on your computer.
• Step 3: If this is the first time you’ve used ADB on your phone, the device will ask you to authorise it. Accept the authorization and go through with your plans. After that, you should see the programme identifying your device and displaying the serial number.
• Step 4: Select the programmes you’d like to uninstall after you’re connected. The uninstaller can be found under ADB > Uninstaller.
• Step 5: Tap on Uninstall and you’re done with the process.

The process of re-installing applications, disabling or enabling them is quite similar. Head over to the particular menu under the tool, select the applications and click on the button.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q. Do I need an unlocked bootloader or root access to uninstall system applications on Xiaomi smartphones?

A. No, you do not require an unlocked bootloader or root access to uninstall system applications from your Xiaomi smartphone. Installing a custom ROM or flashing a file, on the other hand, requires an unlocked bootloader.

Q. Is it Safe to Uninstall Apps from my Xiaomi Device?

A. While the answer varies depending on the application being uninstalled, most apps are safe to remove. However, programmes that offer basic functionality, such as the Dialer application, MIUI framework, and others, should not be tampered with.

Q. Do Uninstalled System Apps Affect OTA Updates?

A. No, deleting apps from your smartphone has no effect on your smartphone’s OTA software upgrades.