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I have a Samsung Galaxy Express phone running Android 4.1.2

Is there a way to delete Google Drive from the phone [without rooting it]? In the Application Manager, there is no DELETE button for Drive. The only buttons are to FORCE STOP and UNINSTALL UPDATES.

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    Sorry, apart form rooting it/installing a custom ROM, there is no way to remove system apps. You can, however, try to uninstall all updates and see, whether you are able to deactivate it.
    – GiantTree
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 3:26

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You cannot "delete" Google Drive without rooting the device, but you can at least disable the app or force stop it which is like deleting it except that you will not get the disk space that the app is using up back.

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I don't beleive so. Drive (I beleive), along with Gmail, Maps, etc is a required app that Samsung must include with their phones, and it can't be uninstalled - at least not easily without the likes of rooting.

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  • You're right, but no need for "believing" here, Nucleotide – the matter is pretty clear: If you see a button labeled "uninstall updates", that's a system app which you cannot remove without root powers (user-installed apps never have that "uninstall updates").
    – Izzy
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 6:31
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If you see a button labeled "uninstall updates", that's a system app which you cannot remove without root powers. User-installed apps never have that "uninstall updates" button, for a simple technical reason:

  • a "system app" has its original .apk file installed on the /system partition, which is mounted read-only. If it receives an update, it thus cannot simply replace its original .apk – so the update gets placed on the /data partition (along with the user-installed apps).
  • a user-installed app gets installed straight on /data – so if there's an update, it replaces the originally installed .apk.

Hence, by the simple existence of a button labeled "uninstall updates" you can tell that's a system app. You then can push that button: after uninstalling updates, in most cases it changes its lable to "disable". Push that button again, and the app is "disabled" – i.e. doesn't turn up in your app drawer, on your homescreen, or anywhere else except for Settings › Apps (where you could re-enable it when needed). That's the closest you can come to uninstalling without rooting your device.

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  • Does the downvoter care to explain what's wrong with this answer? I'm always willing to consider critics and learn from them – but for that I need facts :)
    – Izzy
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 22:08

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