How Do I Permanently Remove Chrome From My Android Device?

Chrome comes baked into Android as a system app, so the normal long-press menu will not uninstall it. That is a shame, because an always-available browser is the loophole that undoes every other cleanup you do: a friend sends a link, you tap it, and you are scrolling again. With ADB, you can remove Chrome for your user account in under a minute.

TL;DR: Run adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.android.chrome from a laptop with ADB. It works without root and is reversible.

Before You Start: What Still Works?

Removing Chrome does not brick anything critical. The Android System WebView component, which other apps use to render links inside themselves, is a separate package and stays installed. Some apps, like Gmail, will open links in whatever other browser you have. If Chrome is your only browser, those links will simply have no app to open with, which for a distraction free setup is the outcome you want.

Step 1: Connect and Confirm

adb devices

If ADB is not set up on your laptop yet, our Android SDK guide covers installation in five minutes.

Step 2: Find Chrome's Package Name

adb shell pm list packages | grep -i chrome

You will see two things: com.android.chrome, which is the browser, and com.google.android.webview, which is the rendering component. Only remove the first one.

Step 3: Uninstall It for Your User

adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.android.chrome

Some devices ship a variant that answers to a slightly different name. If the command fails, look at the grep output again and substitute the exact package name it listed. A plain adb uninstall com.android.chrome will also work on devices where Chrome was updated over the system version.

Step 4: Verify

adb shell pm list packages | grep -i chrome

The browser package should be gone. WebView staying behind is normal and harmless.

If you want reinstalling to take real effort, our Play Store removal guide closes that door.

Changing Your Mind

adb shell cmd package install-existing com.android.chrome

This restores the system copy instantly, bookmarks and all, since your data was left on the read-only partition. The same command works for other system apps, as our guide to restoring an uninstalled system app explains.