How to Uninstall Android Apps Programmatically?

In this article, we are going to see how we can programmatically uninstall any Android device from your Android device programmatically by specifying the App name. A sample video is given below to get an idea about what we are going to do in this article.

Step-by-Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project in Android Studio

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio. Note that select Kotlin as the programming language.

Step 2:

Open Your Mainfest File Navigate to app->mainfest->AndroidManifest.xml and add below two permissions in your mainfest file.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES"
        tools:ignore="QueryAllPackagesPermission" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.REQUEST_DELETE_PACKAGES"/>

• android.permission.QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES: This permission allows the app to query information about all installed packages on the device. It iss used to retrieve a list of installed applications programmatically.
• android.permission.REQUEST_DELETE_PACKAGES: This permission grants the app the ability to request the deletion of packages (apps) on the device. It is used to programmatically initiate the uninstallation process of specified applications.

Step 3:

We have created one basic UI with one edit-text(for user input which package(app) to uninstall),Button(to let user submit) and one Text-View if package is uninstalled sucessfully then it’ll display one message indicating uninstallation is successful.

activity_main3.xml:

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:background="@color/white"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:padding="16dp"
    tools:context=".MainActivity3">

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/input"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="Enter app name"
        android:textColor="@color/black"
        android:inputType="text"/>

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btn"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Uninstall"
        android:textColor="@color/black"
        android:layout_gravity="center"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"/>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/Output"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:textColor="@color/black"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        android:textStyle="bold"/>

</LinearLayout>

Step 4: Working with the MainActivity.kt file

Go to the MainActivity.kt file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity.kt file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

Kotlin

package com.ayush.gfgapp

import android.content.Intent
import android.content.pm.PackageManager
import android.net.Uri
import android.os.Bundle
import android.widget.Button
import android.widget.EditText
import android.widget.TextView
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity

class MainActivity3 : AppCompatActivity() {

    private lateinit var namePkg: EditText
    private lateinit var textView: TextView
    private lateinit var btnUni:Button

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main3)

        textView = findViewById(R.id.Output)
        namePkg = findViewById(R.id.input)
        btnUni = findViewById(R.id.btn)
        btnUni.setOnClickListener {
              // Calling Function on button click
            UninstallPkg()
        }

    }

    private fun UninstallPkg() {
        // Geting the entered package name from the EditText
          // and convert it to lowercase
        val stringAppName = namePkg.text.toString().toLowerCase()

        // Geting a list of all installed applications on the device
        val applicationInfoList = packageManager.getInstalledApplications(PackageManager.GET_META_DATA)

        // Initializing a variable to hold the package name
        var stringPackageName: String? = null

        // Loop through the list of installed applications
        for (applicationInfo in applicationInfoList) {
            // Check if the package name contains the entered app name
            if (applicationInfo.packageName.contains(stringAppName)) {
                // If a match is found assigning the package name
                  // to the variable and exit the loop
                stringPackageName = applicationInfo.packageName
                break
            }
        }

        // Checking if a matching package name was found
        if (stringPackageName == null) {
            // If no match was found displaying a message
              // indicating unsuccessful deletion
            textView.text = "Deleting unsuccessful"
            return // Exit the function
        }

        // Creating an intent to request the deletion
          // of the specified package
        val intent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_DELETE)

        // Seting the data of the intent to specify the
          // package to be uninstalled
        intent.data = Uri.parse("package:$stringPackageName")

        // Staringt the uninstallation
          // process by sending the intent
        startActivity(intent)

        // Display a success message
        textView.text = "Uninstalled Success:- $stringPackageName"
    }

}

Notes:

• Make Sure There is no any whitespace when you’re entering the App named
• This can uninstall system apps so code it wisely

Output: