User installed apps can be disabled feature

[deleted]

GrapheneOS adds support for disabling user installed apps instead of only being able to disable system apps. This allows users to completely prevent one of the apps they've installed from being able to run without being forced to uninstall it and lose their app data. This is much stricter than the standard force stop feature which only prevents an app from starting itself and the app will start running again as soon as another app tries to open an activity or service it provides.

I'm not 100% sure but isn't this a default stock/AOSP behaviour too? Outside of system apps and certain bundled apps it's possible disable user installed apps, unless I'm misunderstanding the feature entirely.

treequell

[deleted] Admittedly I haven't used stock Android for a while, but last time I checked, it certainly was not possible to disable user-installed apps. It was only possible to install apps bundled with the phone.

A recent update to GrapheneOS hides the disabled status of apps you use from app stores, so you can update disabled apps without them being enabled again by the update.
https://grapheneos.org/releases#2023041100

On a related note, it is recommended that you don't disable any system apps. It is likely to break things.

[deleted]

treequell last time I checked, it certainly was not possible to disable user-installed apps. It was only possible to install apps bundled with the phone.

You probably mean it was only possible to disable apps bundled with your phone and not user installed ones. If so that might be what I'm conflating. I just checked OxygenOS device lying around the house, and sure enough, it's not possible to disable the user-installed apps, only some apps bundled with the device. User installed apps you can only uninstall or force stop. Case closed.

Advantage GrapheneOS.

treequell

[deleted] You probably mean it was only possible to disable apps bundled with your phone and not user installed ones.

Yes, exactly. I'm glad you understood me :)

Oggyo

I can confirm (recently checked) that on P6a with a fully updated stock OS, there is no option to disable apps.

csis01

On "stock OS", it actually was possible to disable user-installed applications, HOWEVER, you had to know what you were doing to actually do so, since it had to be done from the command line using the command "pm disable {packagename}".

[deleted]

csis01

This is to prevent people from easily disabling bloatware that OEMs bundle with their phones.

csis01

[deleted] The reasoning for doing it is irrelevant/

[deleted]

This is excellent - I can now disable intrusive travel apps until I actually need them, without having to re-download them from being forced to uninstall them. 👍👍👍 Definitely Advantage GOS.