Carrier bloatware: Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile apps you can remove

A phone bought from Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile carries the carrier's software on top of the phone maker's: account apps, messaging and voicemail clients, call filters, security suites, cloud backup, diagnostics and setup helpers. Some of it is useful. Much of it duplicates what Android already does. A few packages, though, handle calls and the network itself, and those must stay.

What do carriers add to Android phones?

Carrier software falls into three groups:

• Account and extras. The carrier's account app, its messaging app, cloud backup, call filtering, security and family apps. These are optional.
• Network plumbing. Carrier configuration, IMS (the service behind VoLTE, Wi-Fi calling and RCS), device management that pushes settings and updates, and APN settings. These are not optional.
• Setup and partner installs. Apps that run during setup and may install the carrier's or partners' apps.

Unlocked phones get the network plumbing too, because Android loads the carrier's configuration when it sees the SIM. What they skip is most of the first and third group.

Which carrier apps are safe to remove?

Names change over time and between phone makers, so confirm each one on your own list.

Verizon

• com.vzw.hss.myverizon: My Verizon. Everything in it is also on verizon.com.
• com.verizon.messaging.vzmsgs: Verizon Messages (Message+), if Google Messages or Samsung Messages is your texting app.
• com.vcast.mediamanager: Verizon Cloud, if you back up with Google or Samsung instead.
• com.vzw.ecid: Call Filter, if you do not subscribe to it.
• com.securityandprivacy.android.verizon.vms: Digital Secure.

AT&T

• com.att.myWireless: the myAT&T app.
• com.att.dh: Device Help.
• com.att.mobilesecurity and com.att.callprotect: AT&T ActiveArmor's security and call-blocking apps, if you do not use them.
• com.att.android.attsmartwifi: Smart Wi-Fi.
• com.att.iqi: a network diagnostics agent.
• com.synchronoss.dcs.att.r2g: the setup helper that installs AT&T apps, once setup is finished.

T-Mobile

• The T-Mobile account app, which is a normal app you can uninstall.
• com.tmobile.pr.adapt: a device diagnostics agent.
• com.tmobile.echolocate: a network diagnostics agent.
• com.tmobile.services.nameid: the Scam Shield app. Scam labels on incoming calls come from T-Mobile's network, and Scam Block can be turned on by dialing #662#, so both keep working without the app; you lose its settings screen and call log.

Which carrier apps are advanced?

• Visual voicemail apps: com.att.mobile.android.vvm on AT&T and com.tmobile.vvm.application on T-Mobile. If you remove them, you check voicemail by calling it.
• com.google.android.ims: Carrier Services, which handles RCS chat and IMS features on many phones. Without it, chats in Google Messages fall back to SMS and MMS; ordinary calls and texts keep working.
• com.verizon.obdm and com.verizon.obdm_permissions: Verizon's device management service, which provisions network settings. Community lists treat it as removable, but no Verizon source confirms that; disable both or neither, and turn them back on if activation or updates misbehave.
• com.vzw.apnlib: Verizon's APN library, which sets up mobile data. Community reports link removing it to lost calls, texts and Wi-Fi calling on a Verizon line; with another carrier's SIM it does nothing. On Verizon, keep it.
• com.sprint.ms.smf.services: Carrier Hub on T-Mobile phones, which provisions Wi-Fi calling and VoLTE on many models. Keep it if your phone relies on it for Wi-Fi calling.

Which carrier packages must stay?

These run the connection itself. Removing them can stop calls, texts, mobile data or Wi-Fi calling.

• com.android.carrierconfig: the carrier settings Android loads for your SIM.
• com.android.phone: the telephony service.
• com.sec.imsservice: Samsung's IMS service for VoLTE, Wi-Fi calling and RCS.

If a carrier package's name contains ims, config, apn, provisioning or omadm, leave it alone.

Will removing carrier apps break Wi-Fi calling?

Not if you leave the packages above in place. Wi-Fi calling is part of the phone's calling stack, not the account app. You switch it on in Settings (search for "Wi-Fi calling"), and every carrier requires an emergency address first, because 911 calls over Wi-Fi cannot be located the usual way. Verizon asks for that address when you turn Wi-Fi calling on; T-Mobile ties it to your account. You can set or change it on the carrier's website without the account app.

If Wi-Fi calling stops after a debloat, re-enable the packages you changed, starting with anything whose name mentions ims or carrier, then restart.

Will removing carrier apps affect unlocking?

Removing account apps does not change whether your phone can be unlocked. Each carrier's policy decides that, based mainly on whether the phone is paid off and how long it has been active, and the carrier applies the unlock on its side. Check the current rules on the carrier's unlock page, since they change.

The exception is an unlock app on the phone itself. Some carrier phones, especially on T-Mobile, receive the unlock through a Device Unlock app (on many models com.tmobile.rsuapp). Keep it until the phone shows as unlocked in Settings.

Do carrier apps come back?

A factory reset brings them all back, and setup can reinstall the carrier's apps when the SIM is inserted again. Major system updates sometimes do the same. Save your list and check it after updates; see what changes after an Android update.

The carrier hubs for Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile list every carrier package we document with its verdict. For the method, see how to remove bloatware.