I know you know how to uninstall app from Samsung Galaxy phone. Sometimes however you may find certain apps can’t be removed in the regular way. If you head to the Settings >> Application Manager >> App info. You will find the Uninstall button is grayed out.
If you can’t uninstall an Android app installed from Google Play store or other Android market on your Samsung mobile phone, this could be your problem. Go to Samsung phone Settings >> Security >> Device administrators.
You can then find a list of all device administrators on Samsung mobile phone. You can view or turn off device administrators on Samsung phone here. These are the apps on your phone that have the device administrator privileges. You can’t delete them from App Manager on the phone, they can’t be removed even when you perform a factory data reset on Samsung phone. To delete an Android app with device administrator permission on the phone, you need to firstly deactivate it from the Samsung phone Device Administrator list. You can disable or enable any administrator on the list here. See the check marks next to the names? Touch the check box to deselect or disable it. Note that Settings layouts and option titles may slightly differ between Samsung models. You can find more details about how to enable or disable device administrators on Samsung phone here.
Then you will be taken to a screen of this device administrator app on Samsung phone.
Administrator active. This allows the app to perform the following operations.
- Manage applications
- Manage Enterprise Device Admin
- Manage application permissions dynamically
- Manage application backup data
- ….
Different device administrators on Android phone may require different privileges and rights. To disable the device administrator, tap on the Deactivate button at the lower right corner. After that you should be able to remove the app from your Samsung phone from App Manager.
What device administrator apps can do on my phone?
Different device administrators on Android phone may require different privileges and rights. Some device administrator app can erase all data on your phone, set password rules, monitor screen-unlock attempts, lock the phone screen, set storage encryption, disable cameras, set SD card encryption, disable POP and IMAP emails, disable SD card, disable Wi-Fi, disable Bluetooth, prevent the installation of unknown apps, disable third party apps, disable native apps, etc.
Is it OK to give device administration privileges to an app?
You should only allow this for an app if you trust the app developer and understand why it needs to be enabled. You should be very careful when changing the security settings on our mobile phone.
Can’t find suspicious apps from Device Administrators on the phone?
Some device administrators may be hidden on your phone so you can’t find them from the phone settings. In this case, you need to download some special security app, such as ‘hidden device administrator app detector’, from Google Play store or other Android app store. These apps can help you find hidden device administrator apps and disable them on the phone.