How we decide a verdict: sources and confidence

The four verdicts

Keep: Needed for the phone to work, or for updates and security. Disabling it breaks something basic.
Safe to disable: Disable it from Settings or with ADB and you lose nothing you will miss.
Advanced: Safe for most people, with a caveat: a feature stops working, a device needs it, or it must be back on before an update.
Do not remove: Uninstalling or force-disabling it can cause boot loops, loss of calls or data, or a locked phone.

A verdict answers one question: what happens to an ordinary user if this package is disabled. We look for what the package is part of, what calls on it, and what the maker says about it, and we write down the concrete consequence on every page under "If you disable it". When the evidence points two ways, the verdict leans toward keeping the package.

Confidence levels

Vendor documentation: Backed by the maker's own documentation, the Android source or the Play listing.
Community evidence: Backed by community debloat lists and forum reports, not by the maker.
Unverified: Not yet confirmed by a source we trust. Treat the verdict with care.

Packages marked unverified are published with that label so you can see what is known, but they are not counted among the 494 documented packages.

Where the information comes from

Vendor documentation: The maker's own support and help pages: Google, Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, OPPO, Motorola and the carriers.
Android source: The Android Open Source Project: the source code and manifests that show what a package is and what it is part of.
Google Play listing: A package's Google Play listing, when it has one: who publishes it and what they say it does.
Community list: Community debloat lists and forum reports. Cited as evidence, never copied, and never the only support for a Keep or Do not remove verdict.
Press: Reporting from technology publications, used for dated events such as a faulty update.
Developer documentation: Developer documentation, such as Android Developers and the Chromium WebView docs.

Every source link on a page answered when the page was written. Links in a page's Sources section carry rel="nofollow": they are citations, not recommendations.

Dates and re-checks

Each page shows the date it was last checked against its sources. The home page counts the pages checked in the last 92 days, and any page more than a year old goes on our re-check list. Software changes; when a phone maker moves or renames something, the page changes with it and shows the new date.

How pages are written

Every description is written fresh from its sources. Nothing is lifted from a debloat list, a forum or another site.
No page asks you to root your phone, install an APK or use a "cleaner" app.
We recommend disabling over uninstalling, because it is easier to undo, and every page gives the command that undoes it.
No verdict, ranking or listing is paid for.

Corrections

If a page is wrong for your phone, tell us through the contact form with the package name, your phone model and its Android version. We check the report against the sources, and if the page changes, its verified date changes too. The changelog lists recent checks.