Enable and disable system apps via ADB

Is there any adb command to enable/disable a system app?

Thanks

Answer

Yes. The command is pm disable . You must be root in order to do this:

Open shell and get root:

PC> adb shell
shell@hammerhead:/ $ su

List all enabled apps, filter by "calculator":

root@hammerhead:/ # pm list packages -e | grep 'calculator'
package:com.android.calculator2

Disable app:

root@hammerhead:/ # pm disable com.android.calculator2
Package com.android.calculator2 new state: disabled

List all disabled apps:

root@hammerhead:/ # pm list packages -d
package:com.android.calculator2

package:com.google.android.apps.inputmethod.hindi
package:jp.co.omronsoft.iwnnime.ml
package:com.google.android.inputmethod.pinyin
package:com.google.android.inputmethod.korean
package:com.google.earth
root@hammerhead:/ #

Some other things worth noting:

1. In my testing, apps disabled in this manner disappear completely from the Settings > Apps list. They do not even seem to be displayed in the "Disabled" tab



2. You can re-enable apps with pm enable . In fact, this seems to be the only way to re-enable them, in my experience.