Quick Tip: Hide those pesky carrier bloatware icons once and for all

By Adam Zeis on 26 Aug 2011 02:09 pm

It's been called spam, bloatware, crap, carrier garbage, junk icons and much more. They are those pesky little icons you get when you first fire up a new device or load a new OS. Your carrier pushes various shortcuts that link to downloads for games, apps and other carrier junk. On my BlackBerry Bold 9900 I have icons for Bejweled, Need for Speed Shift, PAC-MAN, AT&T Code Scanner, The Weather Channel and others that all landed on my device when the service books were sent when first installing my OS.

Now normally you can simply hide these icons (highlight the icon, choose Menu then Hide Icon) and they won't show again -- however on the latest leaked OS I installed (7.0.0.353) the icons magically reappear at will. I've never had this happen before and it's nothing less than frustrating, but there is a simple solution. Since you can't fully remove the icons, the best bet is to create a junk folder for all of them and then hide the entire folder. This will keep the icons out of sight and out of mind regardless of whether they are individually hidden or not. To do this, follow these simple steps (keep in mind the menu items may vary by OS)

Press Menu then choose Add Folder
Name your folder Junk (or whatever you choose)
Highlight the bloatware icon, press Menu then Move to Folder
Choose your Junk folder
After you do this for all of your bloatware, highlight the Junk folder then press Menu and choose Hide Icon

That's it! Your junk folder is now hidden as well as all of the items it contains, so while they'll technically still be there, they are now hidden so you won't have to see them and they won't get in the way.

If you have any BlackBerry tips of your own you think should be featured in the blogs, send them along to tips(at)crackberry.com

Topics: BlackBerry 101 Quick Tips Bloatware Help, How-To & Tips BlackBerry 101

Adam Zeis 3031 (articles) 2790 (forum posts)

48 comments

RoseBud68 Aug 26, 2011 at 2:11 pm

Sweet,1st.

mahsoud Aug 26, 2011 at 2:18 pm

we need to remind RIM that such "junk" sort of ruins the user experience... and RIM should push on carriers to allow users to delete those suggested shortcuts... useless is useless!

AbuYazeedUK Aug 26, 2011 at 2:20 pm

Thanks 3rd, 4th, 5th etc

NinjaRAT Aug 26, 2011 at 2:23 pm

I've always moved crapware icons to a "crapware" folder and hidden it, so in case I have to Show All, this crap doesn't reappear. Maybe a bit anal, but I'm funny that way.

coffee-turtle Aug 26, 2011 at 3:09 pm

Yup, me too. I just named the folder to the carrier's name and did the same thing.

DrLouie Aug 27, 2011 at 10:32 am

That's exactly what I have an att folder that I have hidden.

thepinkcurve Aug 29, 2011 at 6:09 am

Its all good!!

Valgi Aug 26, 2011 at 2:30 pm

You named your WiFi 'Toby'? Haha.

thepinkcurve Aug 29, 2011 at 6:10 am

Toby??? Lol my wifis crap anyway

hoppyjr Aug 26, 2011 at 2:37 pm

Good post Adam! It's almost as if you read my mind........or my post from last night ;)

http://forums.crackberry.com/leaked-beta-os-f95/leaked-os-7-0-0-353-blac...

scottae316 Aug 26, 2011 at 2:39 pm

I just delete those that I don't want, if they won't allow it then I hide them.

cletis Aug 29, 2011 at 10:12 am

Ah, reading. Not so fundamental anymore...

SteelGreek Aug 26, 2011 at 2:42 pm

I have always used software to shrink my OS before installing so that this stuff isn't there to begin with

Zizzzzy Aug 26, 2011 at 2:49 pm

These are not part of the OS, they are pushed by the carrier

jeffjcc Aug 26, 2011 at 2:50 pm

So annoying. My folder is called "useless crap". Hey Adam Zies... Any way to hide/change/get rid of those pesky carrier bookmarks in the browser???

Xterra2 Aug 26, 2011 at 11:30 pm

Yh. Me too been looking for how to do it, but still no way :(

KjKharismatic Aug 26, 2011 at 2:50 pm

Duh! Why didn't I think of that? I've spent countless time trying to delete the browser configurations for those icons only to see them reappear after I restart the device..

UnknownError507 Aug 26, 2011 at 2:50 pm

I did this for long time ago and i showed to a couple of friends the same thing, make a folder "Hide" put all the junk i the folder then Hide it.
Clean Home screen and more space for better Apps Like 6tools,QL,BeBuzd and so on.

@SteelGreek
Some times the push content from provide you cant delete them and they will be pushed to you back and reappear on the Home screen, the only way to get rid of them is to delete some of the Keys, but i dont suggest to do that if you dont know what to delete.

ba_hamilton Aug 26, 2011 at 3:05 pm

I've been doing this for a couple of years now. My junk folder has more icons in it than what shows up on my app screen.

jdesignz Aug 26, 2011 at 3:09 pm

Thanks for the tip!

Viloria Aug 26, 2011 at 3:13 pm

Yeah, the same issue happens to me for the PlayBook, too.

mooshka360 Aug 26, 2011 at 3:44 pm

I did the same thing ever since i was able to create a folder, i made a "crap" folder and anything annoying that would let me get rid of it i just dump it in the "crap" folder and hide it. Mainly cause i do show all everyonce in a while and i dont want to see all those stupid pre-loaded icons, just my other folders that i hide to keep out of the way. Kinda surprised this is one of the first times this issue has been talked about really.

bluegreen1965 Aug 26, 2011 at 3:59 pm

Great idea. My 9780 had a free folder and I just labeled it for such items.

bobaloo Aug 26, 2011 at 4:02 pm

Im' a little less vicious and call my folder "seldom used." Not only are the spam DL links in there, but also the icons I don't use, like the manage connections, all my individual email folders, the phone app icon, power off, Sounds, and more.

I have all my icons/folders take up only one screen's worth of space. Keeps things nice and tidy not having to scroll around on the main screen.

bpgui Aug 26, 2011 at 10:28 pm

I like to keep my icons minimal as well.

tnhrocks Aug 26, 2011 at 4:10 pm

Pac-Man- junk? I think not! LOL

thepinkcurve Aug 29, 2011 at 6:13 am

It isn't junk, TAKE IT OUT FROM YOUR CRAPWEAR FOLDER!!!

jtash Aug 26, 2011 at 4:13 pm

Thanks. Why do the carriers think that if we went to the effort to hide those icons, we would actually like them to reappear?

conservator13 Aug 26, 2011 at 4:21 pm

Good tip. I went on a minor rampage with my 9930 this morning and uninstalled a bunch of crap that came preloaded...Google Talk, Twitter, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, BlackBerry Messenger. It required me to reboot a few times, but so worth it...I got annoyed when App World started bugging me to update this crap that I don't use...I text/email with friends/family, and I'm on Facebook, and that's more than enough.

thepinkcurve Aug 29, 2011 at 7:57 am

:o bbm isn't crap! Its awsome so is messanger. Most stuff you taken off is awsome, the thing you've taken off is crap!!!

Ok, rant over. Good day.

TanGyal Aug 26, 2011 at 4:48 pm

I just hide those icons. In some cases you can delete them. I like to keep my All screen minimal, even w/ the Torch.

JM19 Aug 26, 2011 at 5:09 pm

Great advice. I kinda figured this out on my own when I got my Torch 9800 back in January. I created a folder and labeled it "unwanted apps", then I hid the folder.

Its a pain though that the icons can't be deleted.

Shadowsong Aug 26, 2011 at 5:15 pm

I've been doing this for a while on my 9700 - but my folder is called 'Recycle Bin'. I think I'll rename it to junk :-)

Pilot Prop Aug 26, 2011 at 6:04 pm

I did this as soon as I got my 9810 last year...I hate having all those useless icons on my device

shea2378 Aug 26, 2011 at 7:11 pm

I just remove the service books for them. They stay out of my sight until I reboot my device.

maxiang Aug 26, 2011 at 10:22 pm

LOL!!! I've named my crap folder "Junk" since my 8110 :D
Now if AT&T would just release the 9900 so I can do it to a new Berry :(

bpgui Aug 26, 2011 at 10:27 pm

I've done this since my first BB, only my folder is named "hidden crap"

Pilot Prop Aug 26, 2011 at 10:37 pm

Lol my folder is called "Y"...as in why is this crap here?!!!

erndog Aug 26, 2011 at 10:44 pm

I have been doing this exact method for years. I make one called email and put all my email account icons in it and then hide that folder, since I just use the message folder to view all my emails. I then create other folders called Junk, Verizon, etc. and put all junk icons in the junk folder and all the icons from verizon like VZW Music, VZW Navigator, Visual Voice Mail in the folder and then hide it.

Flip4Bytes Aug 27, 2011 at 1:45 am

Haha so true, everyone's BB that I touch, I create the "junk" folder and throw all of that in there :P

mrskittens Aug 27, 2011 at 7:21 am

I've always done this too; I call the folder "Crap." :)

JasW Aug 29, 2011 at 7:49 am

Been doing this for a while, but my hidden folder is pointedly called "AT&T Crap." This folder should come standard containing the bloatware on all AT&T BBs, so you can immediately hide it.

BGK Aug 27, 2011 at 12:12 pm

I've been doing this for my previous BB's too! I call my folder "Useless Crap" it would be great to pick a folder style that had a garbage can on it or something though lol.

grassman333 Aug 27, 2011 at 1:44 pm

Thanks for the tip!