How to delete or uninstall applications on Android

How to delete applications on Android

Last update: October 24, 2023

When purchasing or updating the operating system of a mobile phone or tablet with Android we realize that there are applications installed that we do not need and that are taking up tens or hundreds of megabytes of our device's storage.

Certain manufacturers of Android devices, especially the cheaper models, tend to install applications and video games on the devices, sometimes they are applications of the same brand with the aim of forcing us to use their services for which they charge or receive income from advertising and On other occasions, developers pay manufacturers a certain amount of money for each mobile phone and tablet that comes with their application installed.

On older devices, some of these applications cannot be deleted, only disabled. In any case, if we are not going to use an application, it is best to delete or disable it so that it does not consume resources or take up space on our device.

Whether this is your case, or if you simply cannot or do not remember how to uninstall an application on your phone or tablet, you can follow the following steps to completely delete that application and free up storage space on your device.

Estimated time: 2 minutes.

Step 1:

To begin, we must open the phone or tablet settings. This is the icon of a cogwheel or gear that you can find on the home screen.

If you can't find it on the home screen, slide your finger from the right to the left to move to the different desktops and when you find the icon, press to open it.

Step 2:

If you can't find the Settings icon on the home screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to display the full list of applications.

From here you can see all the applications installed on your device, both those included in the operating system and those installed.

Step 3:

You can use the search engine at the top to type “Settings” and find access to the settings more easily.

Step 4:

Once you are in the device settings, look for the section called “Apps & notifications” or simply “Applications”.

You can use the search engine at the top of the Settings app to find it.

Step 5:

The recently opened applications will appear. To see the complete list of applications that we can uninstall, click on “See all… applications”.

Step 6:

Search for the application you want to uninstall or disable, scroll down the list until you find it and click on its name to open the available options.

Step 7:

Within the application options we will have the possibility of opening, uninstalling and force stopping.

Click on “uninstall” to delete this application completely from the system. If the word “uninstall” does not appear, “disable” will appear, this means that it is an application of the operating system itself and it is not possible to delete it.

Step 8:

A confirmation message will be displayed to prevent us from accidentally deleting an application. This is an action that cannot be reversed, that is, deleting an application will also delete the data associated with that application and its settings.

In any case, once deleted it can be installed again from the application store (if it is still available) and we can configure it again.

Step 9:

The uninstallation will take a few seconds to complete and the list of applications that we have installed will be displayed again. If you want to continue freeing up space, you can repeat the process with other applications that you want to delete.