Google Play Services is a part of GMS or Google Mobile Services and they are an essential piece of the Android system. However, some users, probably due to errors or slow system performance, want to remove Google Play Services for good. Don’t forget about people that favor their privacy over everything. But, for one reason or another, they can’t disable Google Play Services on Android.
Today, we’ll try and explain how to disable or uninstall Google Play Services from your Android. Also, why that’s not the best idea? Custom ROMs are a way to go if you want a life without Google on Android.
How do I uninstall Google Play Services?
First of all, you can’t remove Google Play Services at all on some Android skins. Some OEMs are strict regarding essential services on their ROMs so that’s a thing to know. Strangely enough, you can usually disable this app on devices with stock or close-to-stock ROMs while “more heavy” skins like Samsung’s OneUI or Xiaomi’s MIUI don’t allow it.
To check if you can or can’t disable Google Play Services, navigate to Settings > Apps > All apps > Google Play Services. If the Uninstall (Disable) option is grayed out, you are out of luck. If not, you can disable the app. But, there are some consequences to it.
And now the question arises: should you even try disabling Google Play Services on your Android? As we said, this essential system service works in the background and connects all apps to your Google Account. Without it, Google Play Store and Google apps won’t work as intended. The Store won’t work at all without Play Services.
This system app also regulates how first-party and third-party apps work in the background and what kind of access they have to your Google Account data. Whenever you try to sign in somewhere with Google Account, Google Play Services will kick in and prompt you about requested permissions.
So, if you are super privacy-oriented and don’t want Google and its apps on your device, we think your best bet is a custom ROM like LineageOS. If you want a standard Android experience, running Android without Google Play Services is almost impossible.
In case you experience some issues with Google Play Services, we offer a few ways to solve them.
That should do it. Thank you for reading and don’t forget to share your thoughts with us. What are the reasons behind your wish to delete Google Play Services? Feel free to explain in the comments section below.
Editor’s note: This article was initially published in October 2021. We made sure to revamp it for freshness and accuracy.
