Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#381

Post by vatueil » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 9:00 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #369

vatueil wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Functionally, isn't that much the same as disabling an Android system app? I wonder if these articles would cease if Android simply changed the label "disable" to "delete" and removed the ability to view and re-enable disabled apps.

Android system apps can be reenabled without redownloading them, IIRC. On iOS you must download the app again to use it.

You would probably want to download the latest update rather than using the old version from the system image, but that's correct. Though IIRC the Facebook "app" the article complains is just a minimal placeholder, with the real app downloaded from the Play Store.

There are some built-in iOS apps that can't be deleted at all, such as Photos. For those that can be "deleted" Apple says users can restore them by downloading the app from the App Store.

But if a user deletes all the built-in apps that can be deleted, are they restored if the iOS device is reset? I would assume so, since wiping a phone is recommended before reselling it and a new user may be confused if default apps are missing, though I don't want to wipe my device just to confirm.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#382

Post by jdmichal » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 9:01 PM UTC

LeonM wrote: post #20

It's not just FB, my Samsung S9 came preloaded with 'undeletable' Microsoft apps too. But this is nothing new, Samsung phones have came preloaded with bloat since forever. When buying a new phone I always spend some time deleting all Samsung, Microsoft, Facebook and carrier related apps. Yes, you can delete 'undeletable' apps through ADB, without rooting the device. pm uninstall -k --user 0

Whatever Microsoft stuff was on there was probably added by the carrier. I purchased an unlocked S9 directly from Samsung and it did not have any Microsoft apps.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#383

Post by saagarjha » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 9:02 PM UTC

mancerayder wrote: post #291

This story (and from different outlets) is now all over the press, which is great. Can I add another qualm in a similar vein? It involves Samsung TV's. I'm convinced Samsung is increasingly mean. I only use streaming services (Netflix, et. al.), and for the past year I've been pretty pleased with "Smart TV" functionality, which makes life easy. That is, until the following happened. After a recent update, the TV: * N…

My parents have unfortunately decided to buy a Samsung TV, so the first thing I did was to tell them to never connect it to the internet. We have an Apple TV connected to it and the TV spends most of its time in HDMI 1.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#384

Post by awad » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 9:02 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #360

propogandist wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would understand if the clock was connecting to a dedicated service to sync the time, but the clock app is just an interface where I can set alarms, use stopwatch etc. The system time is managed (and synced) at the Android OS level and so there is no need for apps to connect to the internet, nor for it to have updates. For the finder app, the index should be local. There is no way I want my apps, documents and file…

Your “time” example is unfortunately problematic. You need to sync time with something external to the device. If not over the Internet, you’d need to sync via the cell network or GPS or something similar. No getting around it. Component manufactuters have not solved clock drift yet. The other examples are reasonable.

Isn't cell network exactly how it used to be done? What is wrong with that?

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#385

Post by saagarjha » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 9:04 PM UTC

jessriedel wrote: post #315

Bahamut wrote: post #132

While I like using FB, this is type of behavior by Android OEMs that largely drove me to the iPhone. The main reason I rooted my phone prior was to get rid of crappy apps I don't use from being on my screen. Around 4-5 years ago, Android phone manufacturers started locking down their phones more while not letting them be rooted. They didn't solve the problem of having undeleteable apps waste my time & space with clea…

Google recognizes this issue, which is part of the drive behind bringing Android One to the high-end phone market. This is a branding designation that Google sells to OEMs that requires them to drop almost all bloatware: > Android One is a series of smartphones that run the unmodified Android operating system. It is a hardware and software technical standard created by Google intended to provide a consistent user exp…

> Google recognizes this issue, which is part of the drive behind bringing Android One to the high-end phone market.

Sorry, did you mean "low-end" here? Because the Pixel serves the high-end market quite well, I think.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#386

Post by jdmichal » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 9:04 PM UTC

iscrewyou wrote: post #378

madeofpalk wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, no, you can just hide the icon on the screen. That’s all that does, just like how you can ‘disable’ Facebook on the Samsung phones.

I don’t think that’s what it does. When you redownload a now-deleted-preloaded app, it actually downloads it. You can see the progression in the App Store. Which makes me think that Apple actually removes the App package from the phone.

This is how disabling apps in Android works also. There is a baseline version baked into the ROM, but any updates are installed into normal memory. Disabling the app removes the updates from normal memory, so when you enable the app again it will (likely) need to update.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#387

Post by drugme » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 9:06 PM UTC

Inside the flat a fruity voice was reading out a list of figures which had something to do with the production of pig-iron. The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#388

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 9:09 PM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #229

simulate wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All phones have undeletable apps provided by their manufacturers. For example, on iPhones you cannot delete Messages, Phone, Safari, Clock, Photos, Health, App Store, and Camera in a conventional way.

Phone Not much of a phone without a phone app. But Apple does sell an iPhone without a Phone app. It's called an iPod.

[deleted]

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#389

Post by vatueil » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 9:09 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #371

vatueil wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the default apps are restored after a factory reset then "deleting" a built-in app in iOS isn't really any different from disabling an Android system app.

Apple distinguishes between deleting apps and hiding them: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204221

What happens if you resell an iPhone from which you've "deleted" apps such as Contacts, Maps, and Music? Does wiping and resetting the device restore it to stock condition, including those default apps?

If not, that seems potentially confusing for secondhand users. Some apps such as Phone and Photos cannot be removed in any way, but users may still be confused if other default apps are missing.

Re: Samsung Phone Users Perturbed to Find They Can't Delete Facebook

#390

Post by tapland » Wed, Jan 09, 2019, 9:11 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #371

vatueil wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the default apps are restored after a factory reset then "deleting" a built-in app in iOS isn't really any different from disabling an Android system app.

Apple distinguishes between deleting apps and hiding them: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204221

It reads just like the android way of disabling: Removes cache and user data, if you go to the app-store to 'enable' it again it has a small install file already on system and either automatically updates before use (iOS) or puts available updates in the download queue (android).