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If you allowed deleting the pre-installed apps entirely, rather than just disabling them, the device could no longer be factory-reset to the original state. Tha

by jsnell 5y ago

If you allowed deleting the pre-installed apps entirely, rather than just disabling them, the device could no longer be factory-reset to the original state. That's not acceptable.

ape4 5y ago
Or omit crapware from the original state.
Arrath 5y ago
Why couldn't the carrier keep images of stock configurations and the phone download them OTA when factory reset? Conversely, maybe I don't want those pre-installed apps in the first place.
- jsnell 5y ago
  Then the ability to factory reset the phone would depend on having working network connectivity, on the manufacturer of the phone actually hosting those factory reset images, and on them continuing to do so indefinitely. It would stop being a feature you can actually rely on.
btdmaster 5y ago
The APK bundle could definitely be kept in the factory image while still allowing true removal, there's no reason it is done this way.
- Anon1096 5y ago
  That's effectively what disabling apps on Android does already. All that is left is a stub in the rom.
  - btdmaster 5y ago
    I'm almost sure that that is not the case -- for example, it explicitly asks whether to uninstall updates only when those are installed. Though I would love to know what the technical details actually are.
    - jsnell 5y ago
      The pre-installed apps are on a read-only partition. And it's not a stub of the app, it is the full app. When you install an update for one of those apps, the device will have both the original version on the read-only partition and the updated version on a mutable one. Uninstalling will only remove the updated version. There is no explicit factory image stored somewhere, the reset to a factory state is achieved by clearing the mutable storage. This achieves getting the device to a clean state since the read-only storage is guaranteed to be in the same state as to begin with. (The read-only storage does get updated on an OS upgrade. That's why a factory reset will not downgrade the OS itself.)
deleted 5y ago
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by jsnell 5y ago

If you allowed deleting the pre-installed apps entirely, rather than just disabling them, the device could no longer be factory-reset to the original state. That's not acceptable.

ape4 5y ago

Or omit crapware from the original state.

Arrath 5y ago

Why couldn't the carrier keep images of stock configurations and the phone download them OTA when factory reset? Conversely, maybe I don't want those pre-installed apps in the first place.

jsnell 5y ago
Then the ability to factory reset the phone would depend on having working network connectivity, on the manufacturer of the phone actually hosting those factory reset images, and on them continuing to do so indefinitely. It would stop being a feature you can actually rely on.

btdmaster 5y ago

The APK bundle could definitely be kept in the factory image while still allowing true removal, there's no reason it is done this way.

Anon1096 5y ago
That's effectively what disabling apps on Android does already. All that is left is a stub in the rom.
- btdmaster 5y ago
  I'm almost sure that that is not the case -- for example, it explicitly asks whether to uninstall updates only when those are installed. Though I would love to know what the technical details actually are.
  - jsnell 5y ago
    The pre-installed apps are on a read-only partition. And it's not a stub of the app, it is the full app. When you install an update for one of those apps, the device will have both the original version on the read-only partition and the updated version on a mutable one. Uninstalling will only remove the updated version. There is no explicit factory image stored somewhere, the reset to a factory state is achieved by clearing the mutable storage. This achieves getting the device to a clean state since the read-only storage is guaranteed to be in the same state as to begin with. (The read-only storage does get updated on an OS upgrade. That's why a factory reset will not downgrade the OS itself.)

deleted 5y ago

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