Pre-installed software has always been a scourge Android – smartphones. Realizing that not only Google, but also themselves can make money on this, manufacturers began to massively offer their partners to install their applications into the firmware of their devices. This is how Facebook, Twitter, SwiftKey, etc. appeared on most modern devices. But not only did they just appear in the firmware, but the manufacturers also forbade them to be deleted. But, in addition to clients of social networks, smartphones today are bursting with software from Chinese developers, which most users did not need from the word at all. Therefore, it is logical that special utilities began to appear for finding and removing such software.
There is a special application for removing Chinese software
Despite the fact that often Chinese software differs from non-Chinese only in its origin, many users dream of getting rid of it. Moreover, if you tell them that the application they want to remove has, say, French or Guinean origin, they will most likely agree to leave it. Apparently, the image of China as a rising superpower, trying to seize control over users from all over the world, has affected. Whether this is really so, I cannot judge, but I can help with the removal of Chinese applications.
How to find Chinese apps
- Go to 'Settings' – 'Security' and enable download from untrusted sources;
- Follow this link and download the Remove China Apps application (until recently it was available on Google Play, but Google considered that it violated the rules for listing in the directory and removed it from there);
Today you can download Remove China Apps only from the official website of the developer
- Launch Chrome – 'Downloaded Files' and install Remove China Apps;
Run a smartphone scan and wait for the algorithms to find all Chinese apps
- Run the Remove China Apps application and wait for the scan to finish (the application will scan your smartphone for Chinese software);
- Confirm the removal of Chinese applications if the application was able to identify them as a result of the analysis.
I do not know on the basis of what criteria Remove China Apps detects Chinese applications, because after the first launch it could not find any corresponding programs on my Honor View 20, the software for which was obviously developed by Chinese masters. Therefore, for the purpose of experiment, I had to independently install the WeChat messenger from Google Play on my smartphone. After that, I re-scanned and the Remove China Apps algorithms detected the enemy software and offered to remove it.
Chinese apps for Android
How algorithms understand which application is Chinese and which is not is not clear
Most likely, the application has a certain list of Chinese programs that were either released by developers affiliated with the PRC government, or were caught collecting user data. Moreover, one does not exclude the other, since WeChat is the development of the Tencent Holdings studio, which, although it is private, but, according to experts, is closely connected with the Chinese government and, obviously, collects data in its interests. Therefore, branded applications Huawei were not marked as 'Chinese', but WeChat was.
If you are not satisfied with the method of searching for Chinese applications from Remove China Apps, you can try, if not uninstall, then at least block them. This can be done very easily using the standard tools of the smartphone itself. By the way, the instructions described below are equally effective for any application in general, regardless of who is their developer or publisher.
How to stop applications on Android
- Go to 'Settings' – 'Applications' and find the program you want to block;
- Go to the page of this application by tapping on its icon;
If the application is not uninstalled, you can simply stop it.
- In the window that opens, select the 'Stop' option;
- Repeat this manipulation for all applications that you want to block.
This action will stop the application from running. Despite the fact that it does not remove it, from now on it will not function, run without your knowledge and collect data, if any. Yes, this is a compromise method, but if you do not want to get root rights by hacking your smartphone and voluntarily voiding your warranty, then simply stopping the application is the most effective and efficient method that should not be neglected.