Removing Apps From Custom ROMs - Dangerous?

[Guest TCA]

Hi all

I'm wondering on the benefits (or dangers) or removing unwanted apps from the phone. I have root access (running an old 2.5 version of Tillaz's AtomicMod ROM) and can see a lot of stuff in ./system/app that I could probably/possibly do without.

The main memory hoggers that I don't use are Maps.apk (6.2MB) and a mixed bunch of apps of just 1MB such as Browser.apk, Email.apk, Gallery3D.apk, Music.apk and LiveWallpapers.apk. For the avoidance of doubt I use Dolphin HD, Gmail, QuickPic and TTPod in place of the above.

Would there be any reasons why I could not just delete these unwanted apps? Should I just keep them seeing as they're doing no harm or would my phone function better with more internal memory?

On a similar note, I'm trying to find out how to remove the low battery notifications beeps and pop-ups at 15%,10% and 5%. From googling it appears (on other phones) that the file LowBattery.ogg in ./system/media/audio/ui is the offending item. Can this just be deleted?

Thanks

TCA

[Guest utternoob]

Apps, yes. Tone, not so sure. Keep a backup of it and see

[Guest TCA]

Thanks for the super-fast reply. So apps can go with a simple "delete" via AndroZip Pro? Or just move to the SD card? I don't see the ability to uninstall them via settings/manage applications etc...... And no fear of effect elsewhere because they're part of the system ROM?

Re LowBattery.ogg - is it a simple case of copying onto the SD card prior to deleting? Again, no danger of affecting anything else on the phone?

[Guest utternoob]

Should be fine to copy over to SD card before deleting. Keep backup of system before changing anything first if something goes wrong

[Guest Redstarr1]

You can remove most of the apps you mention, but your phone won't function faster with free system memory, better to keep that as full as possible, but keep some space to integrate updates of system apps later on. If you have a system partition of 150 mb right now and reduce the contents to 120mb, that free 30mb is just wasted space. It would be more useful to have that space in your data partition.

I wouldn't remove Browser.apk. You might use DolphinHD, but removing the stock browser will have some nasty side-effects, there are other apps that require the browser even if you don't see it.

What I would do in your case, if you really want more free memory: First remove the system apps you don't need, check how big the system partition is now. Then make a custom TPT with TPT Helper (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amphoras.tpthelper), make the system size a few mb bigger than what you actually need. BEFORE you actually do the TPT, you can remove the same apps from the flashable zip of AtomicMod, or you can make a Nandroid backup of everything in Clockworkmod. THEN you do the TPT, and either flash your litened version of AtomicMod or restore your backup. Bit of a dirty way, but at least it's easy :P.

[Guest Redstarr1]

Oh and you can uninstall system apps with Link2SD or TitaniumBackup.

[Guest TCA]

Thanks a lot Redstarr. I wasn't aware that freeing up internal memory could be disadvantageous. My only reason for doing so was that I thought it might make the phone a bit faster. In that case I probably won't meddle. Not quite up on the partitioning/TPT-ing thing and if it ain't broke, I ain't fixing it.

The memory stuff confuses me. Within Settings, Storage settings, internal storage says 35.3MB available space and that's probably what got me started as it seemed low. Looking in Settings/Applications/Manage Applications, the internal storage is showing as 110MB used and 53MB free.

RAM showing as 102MB used and 271MB free. Task Manager shows System Used 256MB, System Free 163MB and System Total 419MB. Don't understand this either.

Anyway, I think I've actually increased the free internal amount by undoing updates for stuff I don't use, for Maps.apk and the like. Should I update again to use up some of the free memory?

[Guest TCA]

You can remove most of the apps you mention, but your phone won't function faster with free system memory, better to keep that as full as possible

Is it worth going to the bother of re-updating apps which I don't use to fill up the memory a bit more? In Settings/Applications/Manage Applications, the internal storage is showing as 110MB used and 53MB free. I unrolled updates to things like Maps.apk in the belief that this would improve performance.

Edited August 28, 2012 by TCA

[Guest Redstarr1]

I'd recommend updating Maps, downloading of map areas got improved a while back, it's a big improvement.

[Guest TCA]

I'd recommend updating Maps, downloading of map areas got improved a while back, it's a big improvement.

I don't use it. This is why I wanted to delete it in the first place. I'm only asking about updating because you said it was better to keep the system memory as full as possible.