From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system

This is a macOS repost for those who debloat Android on Apple hardware...
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android,alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.os.linux
Subject: PSA: Using the PC adb to save a list of all Android apps installed by the user in order
Date: Sun, 31 May 2026 10:46:30 -0600
Message-ID: <10vhol6$20vl$[email protected]>

So how does one run Canta debloating on the PC (Linux, Windows or macOS)?
I don't know. I never did it. I just use adb & Muntashirakon myself.

So I looked it up.
Using my own links.

Typo on a prior link (it was missing the last character of "html"):
<https://kevinboone.me/canta.html>
<https://maketecheasier.com/canta-debloat-android-phone-without-adb/>
<https://www.reddit.com/r/androidroot/comments/1tkf7bi/how_to_remove_bloatware_on_android_with_no_root/>

Canta uses a list of bloatware from the Universal Debloater Alliance. <https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-android-debloater-next-generation/>
which is a file that contains
a. the package name (e.g., com.samsung.android.bixby.agent)
b. a description of what the app does
c. safety level (Recommended / Advanced / Expert / Unsafe)
d. whether it's safe to disable or uninstall
e. descriptive tags (e.g., "bloatware", "analytics", "carrier", etc.)

Canta (cantar, to sing) is the Rust-based compiler that takes raw package definitions & turns them into the final uad_lists.json that UAD-NG uses.
a. You never install anything called "Canta"
b. You never run it either.
c. It's just part of the build system.

On Android:
a. Enable USB debugging in the Developer options
b. Connect the phone (via Wi-Fi or USB) to the PC adb
c. Run the PC Canta command listed below to open the GUI

It's a good idea to dump all the currently installed packages:
adb shell pm list packages > installed_packages_backup.txt
Because you can re-install them if/when you make a mistake:
adb shell cmd package install-existing com.samsung.android.bixby.agent

For Linux (instructions are similar for macOS)
Download & extract the uad-ng-linux.tar.gz tarball.
<https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-android-debloater-next-generation/releases/download/v1.2.0/uad-ng-linux.tar.gz>
Or download the uad-ng-linux binary binary:
<https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-android-debloater-next-generation/releases/download/v1.2.0/uad-ng-linux>
Install adb on Linux:
$ sudo apt install android-tools-adb (Debian/Ubuntu/Mint)
$ sudo dnf install android-tools (Fedora/Centos/Redhat)
$ sudo pacman -S android-tools (Arch/Manjaro/EndeavorOS)
Run the Canta debloater:
$ chmod +x uad-ng-linux
$ ./uad-ng-linux
a. Pick a category (Recommended is safest)
b. Click a package (example: Facebook App Manager)
c. Click Uninstall

For Windows:
Download the uad-ng-windows.exe for Windows.
<https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-android-debloater-next-generation/releases/download/v1.2.0/uad-ng-windows.exe>

uad-ng-windows.exe

a. Wait for UAD-NG to detect your phone
b. Choose the "Recommended" category
c. Pick a package (e.g., Facebook App Manager)
d. Click Uninstall

After a while, you'll want to export your debloated list.
a. Open UAD-NG
b. Go to File -> Export selection
c. Save the file (usually a .json or .txt list)
This file contains:
A. Every package you uninstalled
B. Their package names
C. Their categories

You can restore using Canta
a. Open UAD-NG
b. File -> Import selection
c. Click Restore (sometimes called "Install")

Note that almost always, you can't harm the system, if you
go slowly, because almost always you can re-install the pkg.

Out of ~400 system packages I manually removed, only 1 bit me back.
--
My conversations are deep because they cover more detail than most do.
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