Samsung makes some of the best phones out there and I buy them too their review over the past 14 years. A common problem is all the bloatware and pre-installed apps, so one of my first steps is to clean most of them. Samsung is slowly moving towards Google apps by default, but here are the apps I’ve uninstalled or disabled on every Galaxy phone.
You know exactly what I’m talking about. You get a shiny new one Galaxy S26 Ultraturn it on, install everything, and then realize that dozens of gigabytes are wasted on unnecessary Samsung applications, Microsoft products, games, etc.
It’s common enough for people to uninstall or disable bloatware, but some of Samsung’s apps are just as useless, so get rid of them.
Samsung TV Plus
We already have enough streaming apps
Samsung TV Plus is a streaming service that’s been around for years, and even though I’ve tried it a few times, it just seems pointless. The app is Samsung’s take on free, ad-supported TV and movies, but it’s endlessly old content available from dozens of other apps or streaming services.
You’ve probably seen the Samsung TV Plus app on your TV, but it’s bundled into almost every Galaxy phone and you probably don’t need it. Of course, you don’t need a subscription, credit card, or even a login, but the content isn’t that great, and neither are the ads. Hit that delete button, you won’t miss it.
Samsung internet browser
Not as shiny as Chrome
You only need a web browser on your phone, just like you only need a keyboard and a phone dialer. And for a while Samsung’s Internet app is a decent web browser and some enjoy it all it has to offer, I just stick with Google Chrome.
Google Chrome comes on almost all Android phones, which means you already have an app with Samsung Web, and you probably already use Chrome on most other devices.
Don’t get me wrong, Samsung Web is fast enough, decently customizable, and certainly serviceable, but it’s based on the same Chromium engine and isn’t nearly as polished. You don’t need to save it personally.
Samsung Global Goals
Weird app to push every Galaxy
Every year, Samsung releases a new phone and talks about renewable energy goals, clean product initiatives, and related initiatives. Then it pre-installs the Samsung Global Goals humanitarian app on our phones. I’ve opened it a few times and looked around, but at the end you’ll be asked to donate to the program.
I don’t know why, but it feels weird. The basic idea is to donate to humanitarian programs or view ads that will pay them to support a cause. I am asked to collect or donate at every grocery store, Walmart, and other places, and I sometimes accept. However, this is not where I would expect these requests to go on the phone I bought.
I’m all for a good cause, so go ahead and donate if you want, or watch a few ads, then uninstall the app and get some storage space.
Samsung tips
May be useful for first time buyer
Another app I quickly uninstall on every Samsung Galaxy phone is Tips. It’s basically a central hub for Samsung to share tips about the phone, its features and software, usage suggestions, guides, and sometimes new feature announcements.
I can see how this would be useful for a first-time buyer coming from an iPhone or Pixel, but if you’ve ever owned a Samsung Galaxy phone, go ahead and delete it. It doesn’t help that all the screenshots in the Galaxy Store show off One UI 6, even though we’re on One UI 8.5 and gearing up for One UI 9.
Plus, you can always come to How-To Geek and find out more about it new or hidden Galaxy features you’ll love.
Samsung records
I’ll stick with Google Keep
The apps you use daily or uninstall quickly depend on personal preferences. For example, one of our writers Absolutely love Samsung Notes and uses it on a number of other office programs. The problem is that most people are already logged into the Google suite, Microsoft apps, or something like Google Keep, myself included.
Notes are very basic and don’t have nearly the feature set of apps like Google Keep, Evernote, or other popular note-taking apps these days. The only way I can see the Samsung Notes being really useful is for the few people who use the S-Pen a lot on something like the Galaxy S26 Ultra or older Note devices.
- Brand
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Samsung
- SoC
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Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Get the new Galaxy S26 Ultra with AI and an all-new privacy screen. It’s big, powerful, packed with artificial intelligence, and you’ll love the S-Pen stylus.
And this is just the beginning
Bloatware comes in many forms, whether it’s all Microsoft junk, junk Samsung apps, random games, or the increasingly awful number of carrier apps from T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T.
I always uninstall these five apps on any new Samsung Galaxy phone, if not more, and I uninstall many carrier apps during my tenure, so should you.
I keep the Samsung Members app for signing up for betas, troubleshooting issues, and a small user forum, but I delete everything I can. And when you can’t delete something, turn it off instead so at least it’s hidden from your app tray. Check these out when you’re done open source software worth installing.
