System apps on your Android phone have a reputation for being untouchable. And a lot of them honestly are. But there are also a few that don’t do anything useful or power features you probably don’t care about. Disabling these can free up much-needed storage space and also make your phone feel a little lighter.
AI wallpaper
A gimmick you’ve already forgotten about
You may have noticed an “AI wallpaper” option on your phone while trying to change the home screen or lock screen wallpaper — or maybe you haven’t, because you don’t care for it. AI wallpaper is a standalone Google app that lets you generate wallpapers using simple prompts. It seems fun for a couple of minutes, but after a while, it stops feeling cool.
The only good thing about it is that you can disable it without breaking anything, since your wallpaper and themes run through a separate component. Head to Settings > Apps > AI Wallpaper and choose Disable.
AICore
6GB for features you don’t use
AICore is available on almost all phones running Android 14 or later. It’s an on-device AI model that powers text and voice-related features. If you’ve ever used the grammar checker in Gboard, smart replies in Messages or summarization in the Recorder app, this is the app that powers it behind the scenes. On a Pixel phone, this also powers features like Pixel Screenshot, Call Notes, Magic Compose, and a few others.
AICore promises two things: faster processing and more privacy. Since the model runs on your device, it doesn’t need to exchange data with any server. This also lets it process things much faster. The reason you might still want to disable it, though, is the amount of storage it takes. On my Galaxy S26, it was taking close to 6GB of storage. And since I wasn’t using any of its features, disabling it was an easy call.
Google Play Services for AR
AR sounded cool in 2019, but not anymore
Google Play Services is absolutely critical for your Android phone, but Google Play Services for AR is a different story. It’s a system app that powers augmented reality features in apps and games. This includes Google Maps Live View, IKEA Place, AR Ruler, or games like Pokemon Go.
But unless you’re using AR apps, this system app is just sitting there doing nothing. It doesn’t hurt battery life or take too much storage space. Still, if you don’t use it, there’s no point in keeping it enabled. Also, if you ever want to use an AR app in the future, re-enabling it is just as easy.
Android Auto
Not useful for everyone
Android Auto is Google’s in-car experience that mirrors your phone’s interface to your car’s infotainment system. It’s a great app if you need access to navigation, music, and calls while driving. So yes, this suggestion may apply to everyone, but if you don’t have a car, or use one that doesn’t have Android Auto, this is another app you can safely disable.
Doing so doesn’t affect anything on your phone. You can still use Google Maps and everything else as before. Android Auto only does something when you plug it into a compatible unit, and if that’s never happening, there’s no reason to keep it around.
Customization Service (Samsung only)
The first thing to disable on a Galaxy phone
Customization Service is a Samsung system app that tries to personalize your experience and show you relevant suggestions across all your apps. It’s something that’s enabled as soon as you sign in with a Samsung account and its biggest issue is how much data it collects.
We’re talking about contacts, call logs, calendar data, location history, and a lot more. Heck, it even goes as far as logging the type of music you listen to. So yes, your privacy takes a huge hit with this app. Another problem is battery drain. Since this app needs to be running constantly to collect data, it drains your phone’s battery faster than usual. And even if neither of those things bother you, there’s still no good reason to keep Customization Service enabled.
Google Chrome
There are better options out there
If you’ve already switched to a better Android browser like Brave or Firefox, you can disable Chrome too. Android no longer forces it as a hard dependency the way it once did. Most of the system-level web rendering now goes through Android System WebView, which is a separate component. That means as long as you have another browser installed, your browsing and system web content loading will work just fine.
I wish Google let us remove Chrome completely at some point, but until that happens, your best option is to disable the app.