Well, on T-mobile smart phones with HTC Sense/Android 4 (HTC One S, for example), you cannot really uninstall (as in "remove") any of the pre-installed bloatware apps unless you root the phone, but you can disable many of them. Phone-operation-wise, the effect of disabling an app is the same as that of uninstalling (i.e. removing) it.
Yes, MobileLife Contacts can be disabled!
Here are the steps (assuming you are running HTC Sense 4):
1. Settings - Apps - All
2. Disable Customization Setup.
3. Disable Customization Settings Provider.
4. Disable MobileLife Contacts.
5. Enable Customization Settings Provider (yes, in the reverse order).
6. Enable Customization Setup.
It appears that quite a few T-mobile's "pest apps" can be disabled this way. Have fun experimenting, but don't blame me if you screw something up (a standard disclaimer).
NOTE: On a smart phone running stock Android 4 (not HTC Sense 4) just do steps 1 and 4 described above.
UPDATE for HTC Sense 4+
It appears that in HTC Sense 4.5 (aka HTC Sense 4+) you cannot disable Customization Setup and Customization Settings Provider from the GUI anymore. Thanks to Marco Duran for bringing it to my attention.
My guess is that you should be able to disable them via terminal (you will need to install a terminal emulator) using something like this:
pm disable com.htc.CustomizationSetuppm disable com.htc.provider.CustomizationSettingsThen, once you are done getting rid of MobileLife Contacts, you can enable those back:
pm enable com.htc.provider.CustomizationSettingspm enable com.htc.CustomizationSetup
Unless HTC introduced some additional dependencies in HTC Sense 4+ (which I don't know), this should work, but I cannot guarantee it as I have not tried it myself.
Another UPDATE for HTC Sense 4+
I hate to disappoint you, but it appears that on phones with HTC Sense 4+ this method works only if you are superuser, which means that your phone needs to be rooted.
14 comments:
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
You are most welcome.
MobileLife Contacts notification just showed up on my Samsung Gallaxy 2. Got phone in Nov '12. Has latest op system. Cannot find the program. How to delete?
I don't have a Samsung Galaxy 2 in front of me right now, but, as far as I can remember, it's even easier to disable MobileLife Contacts on it than it is on a phone with HTC Sense 4. You just do steps 1 and 4 described in the post above. Go to "Settings", then - "Apps". If you can't see MobileLife Contacts there, hit "All". It should be there. Then just tap on it, and it should show you the application details. Hit the "Disable" button and confirm by hitting "OK" in the pop-up dialog. This should take care of the "pest". It _may_ show up again after a system update.
IP, thanks for the Samsung S2 comment. That worked for my wife's phone.
You are welcome, Duane.
Hello, thanks for the hint
Whta do you mean by disabling the Custom settings provider? I don't have any system app in "All" named somewaht near that. I do have HTC Sense 4.
Thanks
Hi, Marco,
Thanks for bringing it to my attention. It appears that in HTC Sense 4.5 (aka HTC Sense 4+) you can't disable Customization Setup and Customization Settings Provider from the GUI.
My educated guess is that you should be able to disable them via terminal using something like this:
pm disable com.htc.CustomizationSetup
pm disable com.htc.provider.CustomizationSettings
Then, once you are done getting rid of MobileLife Contacts, you can enable those back:
pm enable com.htc.provider.CustomizationSettings
pm enable com.htc.CustomizationSetup
It's just a thought. I have not tried it myself.
the commands work like a charm on my HTC One S - through adb shell or Terminal Emulator. But the commands have to be executed as root. Some apps, e.g. Flickr for HTC Sense can still not be disabled. Thanks anyway
You are welcome, pascala. So were you able to disable MobileLife Contacts (specifically MobileLife Contacts - not Flickr or anything else) using the "pm disable" command to disable Customization Setup and Customization Settings Provider or not?
I tried the updated method on my htc one s with sense 4.1+ but it doesn't work. Is there anything I can do to remove mobile life contact?
Jeff,
As I suspected, you need to be "root" for the updated method to work. I am afraid there is hardly anything you can do without rooting the phone. Sorry to disappoint you!
I have an s2 so I do not know if this will work on an HTC
1) go into settings/application manager/all
2) go into the following 2 programs while unchecking the "Show Notifications" box: "MobileLife Contacts", "Visual Voicemail"
This will disable the annoying audio alarm which is pure overkill! For those of you who need to disable Tmobile MobilLife even more, then:
1) repeat step 1 above
2) go into "MobileLife Contacts" then click on "Disable" then OK
Thanks for your comment. Because your Samsung Galaxy S2 - unlike HTC - runs stock Android, I believe you can disable MobileLife Contacts without any problems. Unfortunately, it is a little more complicated on HTC (because of the customization).
If all attempts to disable an application fail, just disabling its notifications is better than nothing.
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