[android] adb uninstall failed

I am writing some sample apps.
After I debug these apps, I don't see an uninstall button in my device's application management.
When I do adb uninstall, it always says Failure without any reason.
In DDMS I saw that my apk is stored in /data/app/com.k2g.leaveDemo-1.apk.
I am not sure what am I missing.
I always have to reset my device to get rid of these apps :(

Do I need to do sign something?
Do I need to do something in debug mode?
Or does it depend on the version?

I am using Samsung S2.

You should have to manually delete apps. got to Setting-> Application Management -> Running application, tap on it and you can remove, stop apps from there.

You have the name of the apk and not the package name: You should first know the package name. Fot this tape:

adb shel pm list packages

Once you have the package name (be carefull, package name is like com.intel.... and not package:com.intel...), tape:

adb shell pm uninstall -k "package_name"

and Bingo!

I assume that you enable developer mode on your android device and you are connected to your device and you have shell access (adb shell).

Once this is done you can uninstall application with this command pm uninstall --user 0 <package.name>. Where 0 is ID of main user in Android system. This way you don't need to root your device.

Here is an example how I did on my Huawei p10 lite device.

# gain shell access
$ adb shell

# check who you are
$ whoami
shell

# obtain user id
$ id
uid=2000(shell) gid=2000(shell)

# list packages
$ pm list packages | grep google                                                                                                                                                         
package:com.google.android.youtube
package:com.google.android.ext.services
package:com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox
package:com.google.android.onetimeinitializer
package:com.google.android.ext.shared
package:com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets
package:com.google.android.configupdater
package:com.google.android.marvin.talkback
package:com.google.android.apps.tachyon
package:com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor
package:com.google.android.setupwizard
package:com.google.android.music
package:com.google.android.apps.docs
package:com.google.android.apps.maps
package:com.google.android.webview
package:com.google.android.syncadapters.contacts
package:com.google.android.packageinstaller
package:com.google.android.gm
package:com.google.android.gms
package:com.google.android.gsf
package:com.google.android.tts
package:com.google.android.partnersetup
package:com.google.android.videos
package:com.google.android.feedback
package:com.google.android.printservice.recommendation
package:com.google.android.apps.photos
package:com.google.android.syncadapters.calendar
package:com.google.android.gsf.login
package:com.google.android.backuptransport
package:com.google.android.inputmethod.latin

# uninstall gmail app
pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.gms

Seems like you have an app that contains a hidden Device Administrator like this one here: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2013-060411-4146-99

you can only uninstall such an app when you disable the device admin first. You can use https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trendmicro.mtrt.hiddenDAcleaner to disable it or do it by your own by sending the intent to the app that invokes the receiver that will disable the device admin.

This worked for me:

This is the directory where all the APKs are stored:

cd /system/app

List them:

ls

Choose one to remove.

pm install -r <app_to_remove>.apk

Example:

$ pm install -r Google-Play-services.apk
        pkg: Google-Play-services.apk
Success

---

I noticed that I get failure if the application I'm trying to remove is running, so kill it first.

Also, I noticed you might have to run (on a rooted device):

$ su
# mount -o remount +rw /

If You use Xiomi Device then You need to Login in MI Account.

After Successful Registration you can install and Uninstall via ADB.

Mine was on samsung j7 pro, issue was simple.

j7y17lte:/system $ pm list packages|grep airtel                                                                                                                                                                                            
package:com.samsung.android.airtel.stubapp

j7y17lte:/system $ pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.airtel.stubapp

DO NO-NOT include the word package in the unistall command

Make sure you enter the full package name with application name:

com.domain.app

This is not an exact answer, but if you're looking to uninstall the app because you have an updated .apk to install, you can try this:

adb install -r yourapp.apk

The -r option tells adb to reinstall the app

I had a failure when using adb shell uninstall com.package.app/

removed / (so adb shell uninstall com.package.app) and it works

In my case I often get this issue when I first complise a app in debug mode and later try to install the google signed app.

That is because both apps have the same package name but diffent signatures. Since I upgraded to Android lollypop I sometimes even get this error if I uninstall the app via the settings\Apps. If you have this problem check if the app is installed in a other User profile and uninstall it in all user accounts.

You can follow below steps to uninstall the app from the device via command prompt.

1. execute the command : adb -s [devicename] uninstall -k [packagename]. this command will retain the data and cache in the device but will remove the app from the device.
2. To remove the data and cache also from the device along with the application execute the command below. adb shell pm uninstall -k [packagename].

if it shows sucess your app is uninstalled successfully'

It can be something as simple as typing the package name in the wrong case...

I had the same problem - turned out I was entering the package name in all lower case when the actual package name included upper case characters.

adb uninstall -k <packageName - eg. com.test.app>

( If you're explicitly uninstalling you probably don't want the -k which keeps the app data and cache directories around. )

okey I was in same situation I tried all of this without result.. and the last answer was close.. I got it doing the follow:

in order to get the right name of your package do the follow:

adb shell pm list packages | grep "name of your app here"

you should see the right name of your app.. so now this one just works:

adb uninstall com.your-real-app-name

finally the command run works again:

ionic run android

Maybe you're trying to uninstall an app that is a phone administrator.

To be able to uninstall it, go to Seetings > Security > Phone Administrators. If the app is listed, uncheck it and confirm the operation.

After that, you should be able to uninstall it using the App settings area or adb.

Try disable "Instant run" from settings window

If it is an Android internal app you may need to:

• adb shell
• mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
• rm /system/app/your_app
• rm /data/data/your_app
• remove any entries in /data/system/packages.xml
• remove any entries in /data/system/packages.list
• edit AndroidManifest.xml and get rid of android:sharedUserId="android.uid.shared"

This is at your own risk;-|, try in emulator first...

Try disable "Instant run" from Preference! It's working for me.

Just run ADB and use the following command:

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 <package name>

And you should get this return:

successful

Yes, mobile device management would bring its own problems, but i bet 'Failure' is a dos2unix problem. On my Linux machines, adb is appending a DOS newline which causes 'Failure' because uninstall thinks the CR character is part of the package name. Also remove '-1.apk' from the end of the package-1.apk filename.

adb root
adb shell
pm list packages
pm uninstall com.android.chrome

In my case, i have a phone that is in permanent 'Safe mode' so only apps under /system/app/ have a chance of running. So i install them to get the .apk files copied off, then uninstall in bulk and copy to /system/app/, wipe the /cache and reboot. Now i have more apps running even though in safe mdoe.

# adb root
# pm list packages -3 > /root/bulkuninstall.txt
# vi /root/bulkuninstall.txt  and check ^M characters at end of each line.   
   If ^M, then must run dos2unix /root/bulkuninstall.txt.  
   Remove '-1.apk' using vi search and replace:  
        :%s/-1\.apk//g 
   Or sed...

# cp /data/app/* /storage/sdcard1/APKs/
# for f in `cat /root/bulkuninstall.txt`; do echo $f; pm uninstall $f; done;
# 
# echo Now remount system and copy the APK files to /system/app/
# mount | grep system
# mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/(use block device from previous step)  /system 
# cp /storage/sdcard1/APKs/* /system/app/
# reboot

wipe cache power on.

I had a instance of an emulator running and a device connected.

When I ran command `adb -d uninstall PACKAGE_NAME', I got an error 'DELETE_FAILED_INTERNAL_ERROR' but when I killed the Emulator instance, I got a 'success' in un-installation process.

I find that adb shell pm uninstall <package> works consistently, where adb uninstall <package> does not.

Open your application Manifest and check the application's package first.

After that, be sure that your device is set into debugger mode.

Check if ADB can interact with your device:

adb devices

If your device is listed, then run:

adb uninstall PACKAGE_WRITTEN_IN_MANIFEST

If you have problems uninstalling through adb, I can recommend the following tool:

https://github.com/patrickfav/uber-adb-tools

you can use wildcards and supports multiple devices, also has some better error handling than the vanilla ADB (but uses it in background of course). Will work on your platform.

^{Full disclaimer: I am the developer}