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Somehow the Gmail app has disappeared from my new Android phone (Motorola Moto G 3, Android 5.1.1 Lollipop).

I thought it was impossible to uninstall Gmail so I suspect a hardware failure or an Android bug.

A previous thread says that Gmail can not be uninstalled on KitKat:

How to (cleanly) remove Gmail app from KitKat? I have fully moved over to Inbox

But can Gmail be removed from Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop)?

UPDATE: To avoid confusion here perhaps I should add that I can not find Gmail in Google Play under "Installed" apps and not in "Settings -> Apps -> All".

UPDATE 2: Today Gmail is back on my phone. (Yes, I am sure it was not there.) So I guess this was the automatic uninstall + reinstall that Android uses when there seem to be some problem with an app. However I am not sure why this happened. It can be hardware problem or a bug in Gmail that was hit because of my huge amount of mail messages. Is there some way to get information about this from Google/Android?

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    Are you rooted? It is possible to uninstall a system app with Root privilege.
    – Ankush
    Commented Oct 28, 2015 at 23:29
  • No, it is a new phone so it is not rooted. I got it just a few days ago. I updated Android, of course, and the apps.
    – Leo
    Commented Oct 28, 2015 at 23:45
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    Or, perhaps it is rooted? I am trying to find a check for this, but I am unable to do that. (I have installed a terminal emulator and it says "su: not found", but that does not mean the phone is not rooted.) Does anyone know how to check root access for sure? (The apps I have seen seems to just check for the su binary.)
    – Leo
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 0:32
  • There is a thread that is discussing how to check for root access, but there is no answer on that (on the level I need, see my comment to the "best answer" there) in that thread: android.stackexchange.com/questions/13335/…
    – Leo
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 0:38
  • Or rather see my discussion with Lie Ryan there under his answer (where he suggest using the Root Checker app).
    – Leo
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 1:38

3 Answers 3

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If it's built into Android as a system app (built into the system, uninstallable by normal means), no, not unless you have root or unless your device has some rare functionality which will allow you to (I don't even know if such a device exists). If it's an app you installed yourself and isn't a system app, then yes.

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  • That is what I thought, but I do not have a source for this. Do you have that?
    – Leo
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 22:15
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    I'm not sure what you mean by source - if you mean some kind of reference, there are a few articles on the internet about uninstalling system apps with root, etc. I myself have experienced this too.
    – Joe
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 22:57
  • Thanks, yes, I know there are a lot of web pages saying this. The reason I asked the (original) question was that I needed to be totally sure that I had not uninstalled Gmail (accidentally) myself. That is why I am asking for references. Now, since Gmail came back, I assume that it was the automatic uninstall. (See my updates to the question.)
    – Leo
    Commented Oct 30, 2015 at 1:03
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    Ah I see. Sometimes apps can disappear magically and not be registered by the system. I'm not exactly sure why, but I believe sometimes it can be because the app was moved to some means of external storage (usually microSD), and if the app's data on the external storage goes missing or is registered as not there for some reason, Android seems to lock down the app. However I'm not sure GMail can be moved to external storage - I don't have the app as I use another one instead (Inbox).
    – Joe
    Commented Oct 30, 2015 at 9:18
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    A strange issue. If it becomes a problem or persists you might want to consider opening a new question, but if it's fine then all should be OK.
    – Joe
    Commented Oct 30, 2015 at 14:49
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Try this :

  • Install Terminal App on your phone.

  • Open the app, write command to check gmail app is there or not, this command will show every app installed on your phone

    adb shell pm list packages

  • once you got your package name [gmail app], use this command to uninstall it.

    adb uninstall package name

Hope that helps !!

Original Source:

How to completely uninstall an app on Android Lollipop?

https://seo-michael.co.uk/how-to-uninstall-packages-and-applications-with-adb/

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  • Thanks for the link. Though this was not what I was asking about. I wondered if Gmail could be uninstalled. Not how to do it. ;-)
    – Leo
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 11:40
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Are you Root?

if no: then get root, or try using adb (android debug bridge) through a laptop.

if yes: get a root browser (I recommend Solid Explorer), in settings activate root privileges, then navigate to directory: "/system/app/" and search for one that says something like: com.google.gmail2 (or gmail) or something like that with gmail in it. and simply delete the folder.

althoigh dont piss around with root if you dont know what youre doing. system folders are very sensitive and can cause hardbootloops (these are bad).

GL (Inbox is great)

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  • Thanks, but the question is about wether Gmail can be uninstalled without root. Not how to do it.
    – Leo
    Commented Oct 29, 2015 at 13:25

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