I freed up over 1GB of storage on my Galaxy S26 by deleting these 7 useless apps

I’ve used a lot of Android phones over the years, and if there’s one thing Samsung has done right compared to other Android flagship makers, it’s software. One UI is possibly one of the best Android skins I’ve used, and it only gets better with One UI 8.5 on the Galaxy S26 series.

It offers a level of stability as well as great customization options that, yet, you don’t even see on Apple iPhones. That said, not everything is good, as despite the clean software experience, Samsung phones still come with quite a bit of bloatware and pre-installed apps that many users may not find useful.

Furthermore, these pre-installed apps take up a noticeable amount of space. Depending on the Galaxy device you have and the region you are in, the amount of bloatware on your device may vary. Good news? You can free up a lot of space by removing these seven apps that you almost certainly don’t need.

But after using the Galaxy S26 Ultra for the past month and a half, I removed about seven pre-installed apps right after setting it up, and you can probably do the same.

The first app I usually uninstall from every Samsung phone I set up, including the Galaxy S26 Ultra, is the Samsung Shop app. As the name suggests, it is for browsing and purchasing Samsung products. This leads to personalized recommendations, but in my experience, it also sends too many notifications that clutter your notification tray.

To be honest, most of these sound like advertisements for Samsung’s latest products. If you’re not interested in persistent notifications and want to free up some storage, I would recommend uninstalling Samsung Shop immediately after setup. And, by the way, you can always check out Samsung’s website separately whenever you’re really looking for a deal.

If this app sounds familiar, that’s probably because it’s the same free TV streaming app you see on Samsung smart TVs – and it comes pre-installed on Samsung flagship phones too. As the name suggests, Samsung TV Plus lets you stream free, ad-supported channels directly to your phone. Depending on your region, you can access different types of content, including live TV.

Although this may seem useful to some people, you’re probably better off using it on a Smart TV. On your phone, it takes up most of the storage space. If you just want to watch free content, I would recommend using YouTube instead of relying on the TV Plus app.

Samsung ships an app on Galaxy devices called Global Goals, created in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The app promotes sustainability and donations by letting users watch ads and engage with content to earn credits, which can then be donated to support the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, with Samsung contributing.

This sounds great in theory, and the idea behind it makes sense. But in reality, it’s ultimately just another pre-installed app that most people don’t actively use. The app also changes your lock screen wallpaper once opened, which can be a bit annoying if you like to keep your setup just to your liking. And if you’re serious about supporting issues, you’re probably better off donating directly.

The Samsung Kids app on Galaxy devices transforms the device into a safe, kid-friendly environment. It restricts access to your personal data and regular apps, and instead offers a curated space with games, basic apps, and tools designed for kids. You can also set parental controls, manage screen time, and customize available apps. That said, if you don’t have kids around, this will just be another app taking up storage space on your phone.

In addition to Google apps, Samsung also ships several Microsoft apps pre-installed, including M365 Copilot. The app is essentially a rebranded version of the Microsoft 365 Office apps, which acts as an AI-powered hub for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, along with a built-in AI chatbot.

While this may be useful for people who work with documents on their phones, I find it pretty unnecessary, especially since I mostly rely on Google Docs and Sheets, so I never actually open it.

On top of that, with Samsung already pushing its own AI features like Gemini screen automation and even Perplexity-powered Bixby, adding yet another AI assistant to the phone seems unnecessary.

Similar to the M365 CoPilot, Samsung also pre-installs Galaxy phones with the OneDrive app, and again, I find this quite unnecessary. The basic requirement for using an Android phone is a Google account, and as soon as you set up your Galaxy S26, you’re already signed in, meaning Google Drive is readily available.

Sure, if you’re deeply invested in Microsoft’s ecosystem, OneDrive can be useful, especially for work, but I think its use case is quite limited for many users. Most people probably won’t even open OneDrive on their Galaxy phones.

And if you need it, you can always install it from the Play Store. I’m not entirely sure why Samsung still ships it pre-installed on Galaxy devices, but at least it’s easy to remove.

Galaxy devices also come with LinkedIn pre-installed, and this is another app that is probably unnecessary for most users. LinkedIn is a professional networking app, and while it may be useful for some people, I’m not sure it would be appropriate to have it installed by default for everyone. This isn’t something most people need on their phone right away.

For many users, it just sits there unused. And even if you use LinkedIn occasionally, it’s easy enough to download it from the Play Store whenever you need it. Personally, I would prefer the option to install it yourself instead of having it preloaded.

Add all these apps together, and when you delete all seven, you’ll have over 1GB of storage free up on your phone. The final calculations may vary slightly, but for something that takes a few minutes, it’s not bad at all.

I understand that some people worry that removing pre-installed apps may affect performance or cause problems, but that’s usually not the case. Most of these apps are there because of Samsung partnerships, promotions, or bundled services — not because your phone actually depends on them to function properly.

I wish Samsung would give users the option to choose which apps they want during setup, but it doesn’t work that way right now. Thankfully, you can easily uninstall or disable most of them after you complete your device setup.