How to Delete Bloatware in Xiaomi/Mi/Redmi/Poco?

Xiaomi has become a household name when it comes to budget to mid-range devices, especially in regions like Asia. Though the devices are quite affordable and provide you with some premium features, there is one thing that has always been the weakest point of Xiaomi, and that is the presence of Bloatware. Xiaomi does a lot of cost-cutting and tries to make a profit in areas like advertising, partnership with certain apps, pushing users to use pre-installed crapware or bloatware on Xiaomi devices which include Mi, Redmi and Poco.

If you also own a Xiaomi device and are tired of the unwanted crapware or bloatware installed on your device, then this post is just for you. Because in this post, we will give you some effective methods that you can make use of to uninstall or remove the bloatware from your phone. With that being said, let us jump straight into the article itself:

What is Bloatware?

Well, before we begin, it is better to understand what you are dealing with. Bloatware is a term used in the smartphone industry for the apps that come pre-installed on specific branded devices and are manufactured by manufacturers, like Samsung, Xiaomi, HTC, etc. Notably, these apps cannot be uninstalled or removed from the device.

No standard or regular procedure can be used to uninstall this bloatware. However, if you have a rooted Xiaomi unit, then you can easily uninstall the bloatware. Luckily for you, this post comprises methods that do not require you to root your phone to remove the unwanted apps.

Methods To Remove Bloatware In Xiaomi Devices

Now, that you have understood what is bloatware, let us take a look at the different methods that you can apply to get rid of useless system apps without root.

Using Smartphone

This is one of the easiest ways of removing bloatware from your Xiaomi phone right from your smartphone.

1. First, you need to figure out the apps that you do not want on your Xiaomi device. Since Xiaomi has considerably reduced the number of bloatware, newer devices will come with fewer pre-installed apps.
2. Let say you do not wish to have apps like Amazon, Netflix, Facebook and LinkedIn, Mi Remote, Mi Credit, Mi Doc, etc. then to remove them, you need to head over to Settings.
3. Then go to Apps>>Manage apps.
   
4. Here you need to select all the apps that you wish to remove.

Note that some of the apps will only have the option to disable, this is because these are apps that cannot be removed unless you have a rooting option. You can disable such apps as this will restrict them to use your mobile data or hog onto the battery life of your phone.

Using ADB and Fastboot

One of the best methods to remove bloatware from your Xiaomi phone is to use ADB and Fastboot commands. It is a universal method and can be used by pretty much any Android device. But we would advise you to go through a separate guide specifically meant for your Android smartphone. Besides, you need to follow all the steps correctly and as mentioned to avoid any issues.

Pre-requisites

You first need to enable the USB Debugging option in your Xiaomi device to proceed further in this method. In order to do that;

1. You need to go to Settings>> About phone.
   
2. Press the MIUI Version multiple times. A message will pop-up saying “You are now a developer.”
   
3. Now, head over to Additional settings>> Developer options.
   
4. Here, enable USB debugging.
5. This will make sure you will connect to a PC properly.

Once everything, as said above, is done, you now need to connect your Xiaomi device with the PC using the USB cable. Follow the steps below;

1. Install the Android SDK package from here.
2. Now, connect your Xiaomi device to your PC.
3. Open the command prompt and enter: adb devices
   
4. You will see a message prompt on your device asking you to allow USB Debugging. Hit OK. The above command will ensure if your device is connected or not.
5. After this, enter the command: adb shell
   
6. Here you need to enter the below command. However, do remember to replace the <package name> with the actual package name of the app that you wish to remove.
   pm uninstall –user 0 <package name>
   
7. For example: pm uninstall –user 0 com.mi.health, if you want to remove the Mi Health app.
8. You can follow the same procedure to delete and uninstall as many apps that you want. But be careful not to remove any system apps because that will damage the software of your phone and your phone might get permanently bricked.

Using Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot Tools

If you find the above universal ADB and Fastboot method a bit complicated, then you can try this specific method meant for Xiaomi phones. You need to install Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot Tools, which is a Java-based multi-purpose tool that lets you enable, disable, uninstall, and re-install multiple system apps on MIUI 10, 11, and 12. It is notably available for all popular platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux.

1. Grab the Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot tools software from GitHub.
2. Download the latest version of the Java SE Development Kit (JDK).
3. Make sure to enable USB Debugging on your Xiaomi phone.
4. Double click on XiaomiADBFastbootTools.jar to launch Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot Tools.
5. Connect your Xiaomi device to the PC using a USB cable.
   
6. The Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot tool will list all the bloatware with their package names you can uninstall from your device.
7. You simply need to press on the bloatware that you wish to uninstall and click on Uninstall button.
8. Tap the Yes button to confirm app uninstallation.

Conclusion

So, that’s it from my side in this post. I hope you liked this post. Let us know in the comments section below, which one of the methods you found easy and convenient to remove the bloatware from your Xiaomi phone. You can also check out our DigitBin YouTube channel for more such awesome content. With that said until the next post…Cheers!