How to show system apps on Android, and how to read the list

Settings > Apps starts out showing only the apps you can open. One switch, usually called Show system or Show system apps, reveals everything else: the parts of Android, the phone maker's services and the carrier's tools. This guide shows where the switch is and how to make sense of the long list it opens.

Where is the Show system apps option?

It is in the app list in Settings on every brand, behind a menu or filter:

• Pixel and Motorola: Settings > Apps > See all apps, then the three-dot menu > Show system.
• Samsung: Settings > Apps, then the sort-and-filter icon > Show system apps > OK.
• Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO: Settings > Apps > Manage apps, then the three-dot menu > Show all apps.
• OnePlus and OPPO: Settings > Apps > App management, then the three-dot menu > Show system.

If your menu looks different, search Settings for "system apps". The option resets on some phones when you leave the screen, so you may need to turn it on again next time.

What does the full list include?

Expect the list to grow from a few dozen apps to a few hundred. The extra entries fall into a few groups:

• Android's own parts: System UI, Settings, the package installer, the permission controller, the print spooler, the media storage provider, Bluetooth and network services.
• Google's services, on phones that use them: Google Play services, the Play Store, Android System WebView, Carrier Services and others.
• The phone maker's services: the launcher, camera, gallery, update client, cloud and account services, and the maker's extras.
• Carrier software, if the phone came from a carrier or the SIM triggered it.
• Updatable system modules, which Google refreshes through Google Play system updates. Several of them appear with plain technical names.

Most of these have no icon and use almost no resources when idle. A long list is not a sign that anything is wrong.

How do I read a package name?

Some entries show a friendly name such as "Carrier Services". Others show only a package name, such as com.android.printspooler. The package name is the app's permanent ID. Read it from left to right, like a web address in reverse:

• com.android is part of Android itself.
• com.google.android is Google.
• com.samsung, com.sec and com.samsung.android are Samsung.
• com.miui and com.xiaomi are Xiaomi; com.oplus, com.coloros and com.heytap are OPPO and OnePlus; com.motorola is Motorola.
• com.vzw and com.verizon are Verizon; com.att is AT&T; com.tmobile is T-Mobile.

Our guide to Android package names covers this in more depth, and the package lookup tells you what any name is and whether you can turn it off.

How can I tell a system app from one I installed?

Open an entry and look at the buttons at the top or bottom of App info:

• Uninstall alone: an app you or a store installed. You can remove it completely.
• Disable (or Turn off): a preinstalled system app. You can switch it off but not delete it from the system area.
• Uninstall updates, in the three-dot menu: a system app that has been updated since the phone shipped. This rolls it back.
• Both buttons greyed out: a part the phone needs. Leave it alone.

Some brands blur the line. Xiaomi and OnePlus let you fully uninstall several preinstalled apps, and Samsung lets you uninstall some partner apps.

What else does App info tell me?

App info is the best quick profile of any app:

• Notifications: whether it can alert you, and which kinds.
• Permissions: what it can reach. A system app holding location or contacts usually has a reason, but it is worth checking.
• Storage & cache: how much space it uses, split into the app, its data and its cache.
• Mobile data and battery: what it used recently, including in the background.
• Advanced or More details: the version, and on some phones the store it came from.

Sorting helps on long lists. Samsung and several other brands let you sort by size from the same filter menu, which brings the biggest apps to the top.

Can I see the list on a computer?

With ADB set up (see how to set up ADB), one command prints every system package:

adb shell pm list packages -s

Use -3 for apps you installed, -d for disabled packages, and -u to include packages removed for your user. Save the output to a file and paste it into the package-list audit to see a verdict next to each line.

adb shell pm list packages -s > system-apps.txt

What should I do with the list?

Nothing, if your phone works well. If you want to trim it, start with the apps marked Safe to disable for your brand. The remove bloatware guide has the method, and the Android system apps list explains each category and links to every documented package.