Verizon’s Galaxy S7 now has a piece of software that can remotely install bloatware and today I want to show you how to disable it completely.
Bloatware is a double-edged sword in the mobile industry. . .but a lot of people see them as completely negative. Carriers feel they need to install the apps because it can help their customers and they can also get a chance to make some money from 3rd-party companies as well. Some customers actually do enjoy pre-installed software and this is why bloatware should be considered subjective.
Verizon just recently updated the Galaxy S7 with security patches, but this update also included a piece of software called DT Ignite.
DT Ignite is a background service that Verizon can connect to anytime they’d like. With this software, Verizon has the ability to remotely install any piece of software they’d like. They won’t use this to install any piece of malware (knowingly), but they do seem to have plans to install more bloatware. This could be another Amazon application, an application for one of their unannounced services, or any other 3rd-party application that they choose. This is generally done in a deal with the 3rd-party company where Verizon gets X amount of money for each install they can give them.
If you don’t mind Verizon having the ability to install these types of apps without your consent (because you won’t be prompted about the install), then you don’t need to disable DT Ignite. If you do have a problem with Verizon having that type of access to your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, then let me show you how to disable it right now.
Galaxy S7 Disable DT Ignite
- Launch the Settings Application
- Scroll Down and Tap on the ‘Applications’ Option
- Then Tap on the ‘Application Manager’ Option
- Tap on the ‘More’ Button at the Top Right
- Tap on the ‘Show System Apps’ Option
- Locate and Tap on the ‘DT Ignite’ Application
- Then Tap on the ‘Disable’ Button
Explanation
Sadly we can’t uninstall DT Ignite from the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge without root access. Some of you do have root access and you can dig through the file system with a root explorer app and remote the APK file if you’d like. The app is barely over 100KB in size so you don’t gain much from uninstalling it compare to disabling it. Verizon can’t enable the DT Ignite application again without doing an OTA update. But we won’t know if they’ll be aggressive about that until the next update they push out.
If you remember reading through my how to disable an app on the Galaxy S7 tutorial, then this process will be very familiar to you. DT Ignite is not listed as a regular application though. Instead, you’ll have to look for it under the System Apps section. So like before, you’ll want to launch the Settings application. Then you need to scroll down and tap on the Application option so you can then tap on the Application Manager option. From here, you’re going to get a list of all of the regular applications you have installed on the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.
Remember though, DT Ignite will not be listed here. Instead, you’ll need to tap on the More button at the top right and then tap on the Show System Apps. Once you tap this button, the list of apps will refresh and you’ll be shown a lot more than you saw before. These will be a mix of all the regular applications you have installed, and all of the system apps you have installed. This is where DT Ignite will be listed. So simply scroll down to the Ds and then tap on the DT Ignite app that you see listed here.
Now, you’ll see Disable and Force Stop buttons just like you do with all the other apps from within the Application Manager section of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. All you have to do is tap the Disable button here and then tap the Disable button again in the popup dialog box that asks you to confirm your choice. This dialog box will give you a little warning about how it could cause errors, but this is just the regular error that you get when you disable any application from within the Application Manager.
Disabling certain apps can cause errors with the Android OS but this is not one of them. You are safe to disable DT Ignite and there shouldn’t be any issues in the future. If there ever is though, you can easily come back to the Application Manager and enable DT Ignite again. I’ve had it disabled on mine for a couple of days (as of writing this) and I haven’t experienced any type of errors.
